judith ann

DH and I installed the plank flooring in our family room(now my sewing room). Be sure to put down the barrier for the floating floor. We also put it in our motor home. There is a trick to sliding one piece into the other but you will catch on quick. You will need to buy the tapping block and will need a rubber mallet to tap the block.The only thing I would do differently is make it a heated floor.
Good luck

ladydukes

When I was married to my ex, he installed wood flooring in the house and I installed ceramic and porcelain tile in it. When my current DH and I bought this house, I removed the carpet in the office and designed how I wanted to lay the porcelain tile and did it all myself.

My daughter installed porcelain tile in her house on point rather than straight lines. She did a fantastic job. After about 8 years she got a wild hair that she wanted wood, so she removed the tile and laid the wood flooring - all of it done by herself.

GingerK

Just be aware that the dust from cutting the flooring bothers some people. Best to wear a mask if you are using an electric cutting implement. We put Allure in our basement. DH and did it ourselves. We used the Dri-core from Home Depot as a base and also installed that ourselves. Love the Dri-core because it is mold resistant.

Sandygirl

Great tips! Thanks!
Sandy

gvolle44

I have - did over 500 sq ft basement last fall. I had the planks in the room acclimating to temperatures for several weeks and laid they very tight. There isn't much of a lip to snap so it's a bit tricky. After making sure the seams were incredibly tight I was disappointed that the seams separated when the weather changed. Some of the seams opened more than a quarter inch. I have heated flooring mat installed below the vinyl ad the thin wires can be felt through the floor. I love the floor heated, not crazy about the seams coming apart, and am happy with the overall ease of cleaning and maintenance on the floor - If I were to do it over I think I would have use single sheet vinyl and rolled it out preventing the seam problems. Overall the planks weren't too hard to install (I did it myself since DH can't get on the floor) There is lots of cutting and measuring, too. [ATTACH=CONFIG]503489[/ATTACH]

Sandygirl

Gvolle, i assume the basement installation and the heating elements likely cause the shifting of the seams. Two forces at work, IMHO. That is too bad. But good info just the same. My room is on the second floor and it is wood plank . (Farmhouse). I guess that I am optimistic that this will work out. We glued a room size carpet remnant onto the unpainted floor. We shall see. DH has not signed off on this yet. I did price out the cost for the vinyl plank and brought home some samples.

sandy

QuiltingVagabond

That is one of the advantages of the new Smartcore flooring according to the company info - no need to acclimate, the material is so stable it does not expand and contract. It also will not transfer the imprint of the existing flooring or lack thereof. Hope it is not too good to be true!

captlynhall

We are in the process of having vinyl plank flooring installed at my office. This particular product has the vinyl plank laminated to an inert board, then a thin layer of cork to make up the product. It is floated rather than glued down. The only issue we had was we have a concrete slab as a sub-floor and it was not absolutely level, so the installers had to float a good portion of the floor. So if you are removing carpet from a concrete slab, be prepared to find some bumps and hollows. This will add to the expense.

llong0233

I replaced the wall-to-wall in my sewing room with vinyl plank. This product is exclusive to Home Depot..http://www.homedepot.com/s/allure?NCNI-5
but there might be others like it out there. Each plank sticks to another so there's no nailing, gluing, etc. It can be cut with a box cutter and is easy to install. I say easy, if you or someone you know can kneel comfortably to install it. It looks very nice and is quite affordable. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Sandygirl

Good info! I need to stop in there. Thanks.
sandy