Anyone install their own floor?
 

I watched a You Tube video on DIY installation of vinyl plank flooring. It looked pretty easy. I want to pull up the old carpeting in my soon-to-be new sewing room and put down the vinyl plank flooring. Anyone with experience in doing this?

sandy

no but when we built this house I put down the vinyl tiles and my husband did the hardwood flooring, we bought lots of books and tapes and did all the inside! good luck

i've done lots of different floors, but not vinyl plank... always wanted to, though. the most important part of doing any floor is to make sure you start with a perfectly straight line.

We had vinyl plank put down several months ago. It did not look to hard if you are able to get down on the floor. We just can't do that anymore. They smeared glue on the clean concrete, which was the color blue, then when the blue disappeared and turned clear it was ready to put the plank down. It was sticky of course and they started at the door and worked in. It turned out real nice and I just love it and it is so easy to care for. We used to do all kind of home projects but some just cannot do any more.

I am getting ready to install some vinyl plank in the little basement bathroom we are building. I bought Smartcore flooring from Lowes and I agree that it looks fairly simple to install.

Good luck. If you do it let us know how it went!

We (or should I say DH) put the vinyl plank flooring from Home Depot - Allure - in our dining room. They have 2 grades - 10 yr warranty and lifetime warranty. We did the lifetime. The only issue he had was needing to cut a hole to go around the pipe for our hot water baseboard heating in that room. Since we have 'big boy toys' on the property, he eventually got sometime to punch the correct size hole. He did an excellent job. No glue...it's a floating floor system. My understanding is that they did have some issues with the product when it was initially released but those have been resolved. He actually did the entire room in only a few hours. Cutting to length where necessary was not nearly as problematic as trying to punch the hole. It, apparently, does take a couple of minutes to get used to how it correctly fits together but once you get the hang of that it goes very quickly. We are planning to put the same flooring in our bedroom as well, just different color. The overall job will look much better if you take off the existing baseboard trim, put down the flooring and then replace the trim. We did the dark walnut with a somewhat 'distressed' look. You really have to look closely and feel it to think it's not wood.

Well, i put the "bug" in DH ear....he was not confident that I could tackle it myself.....i expect him to come around in a few days tho. It usually works this way. ;). I do think I could do it myself tho. Like cutting out quilt blocks!

Yes, the floating system.

sandy

I have installed Allure vinyl plank flooring. It is very easy to do.

My brother and I installed Ikea flooring at Dad's house and I installed maple flooring in Mum's dining room.

The Allure was the easiest and I will probably put it in two rooms in the basement.

Great info, Tothill! Thanks
sandy

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

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.

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.

Great tips! Thanks!
Sandy

vinyl flooring
 

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]

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

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!

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.

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.

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

I am in the process of getting rid of the carpeting in my house. I put the snap together flooring in my sewing and living room and one of the bathrooms. I am glad my son helped me on the bigger rooms. I needed his strength for a lot of it. The bathroom I did myself. They are floating floors and I love them. With your husbands help you should have no problem and I think you could do it by yourself too. I watched lots of how to videos and read directions on the internet and if I can do it anyone can!
Lynda

I just found this in a magazine. What fun flooring!

http://www.mirthstudio.com/

peace

I just bought floating floor at Lumbar Liquidators today--220 square feet, click and lock. Seemed to be a decent price, I hope it goes together quickly. Its for a new sewing room and I'm anxious to move in!