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I Finished My Installation Today
Finally finished up my installation today! I started tearing up the old floor covering March 15th and started installing at the end of March. I had to pull up carpet and sheet flooring with 1/4″ plywood underlayment it. I worked at it on my days off and took a break for a week too. I’m fortunate to have a relative who works in construction and he came and helped for a day.
I have Mannington Adura Rigid LVP in Aspen Drift. 7″x48″ The entire house except the main bathroom is the same floor. We had carpet in the living room, bedrooms, hallway and sheet flooring in the bathrooms, kitchen/dining, and laundry.
The demo was easy on the mind, but it sure is a lot of work to tear it all out. The plywood and all the staples was the worst part. I rented a dumpster to dispose of the old materials. It was worth every penny.
I had about 8 low spots I needed to level. Took about 5 7lb boxes of Henry 549 to do that. These areas were 1/8″-1/4″ low. I could feel the low spots just by walking over them. Floor leveling is an art I didn’t quite master. It’s easy in theory, but in practice it was a little challenging.
I enjoyed planning the layout. It worked out PERFECTLY throughout the entire house to center the hallway and have a seam right down the middle. The smallest I had to rip a row of planks was about 3 1/2″. It was fun measuring and snapping lines.
Then the best part! Installing the planks was a lot of fun too, but my body would disagree. I followed Joe’s advice about where and how to start. It worked great. I had an angled doorway and a short angled wall to work around. I burned through 4 planks on 1 side before I got it right. The other side I did right the 1st time. I actually used a tape measure for door jambs and walls more than a cheater board. Plane and glue will save your sanity! You find out pretty quickly where you’ll need to use that technique. I have to put baseboards back in 2 rooms and put in an end molding still.
I used a jigsaw for 90% of my cuts. I really only used my table saw for rips. I found the best jigsaw blades are Milwaukee 48-42-5311. The Diablo and Bosch blades I tried dulled within a few cuts. The Milwaukee blades last probably 4-5 times as long before getting dull. Make sure to have plenty of blades. This stuff will eat them up. Follow Joe’s advice and get The Striker tapping block. It’s kind of pricey, but worth its weight in gold. More convenient than a mallet and block and it works better. I had a cheap pull bar that worked well.
It’s nice to have new flooring, but I’m kind of sad I’m done because I enjoyed doing it. I learned a LOT along the way. Joe, thanks so much for having this website, answering questions, and the blueprint. I knew next to nothing about installing flooring before I found your website. Now, I’ve installed new floors in the whole house. I learned everything I needed to know here. I couldn’t have done it without your help.
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2 Replies
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They liked it right away ????
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Wow!! This looks great Alex! Thank you for detailed post of your project. I felt I wad on the ride with you. Good stuff my friend.
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