Big Project – Requesting Blueprints

[Joe]

Got it Keith and I will get this to you by Monday. Thank you so much brother and God bless you man!

[Joe]

Watch this – http://somup.com/cr12DLqgBH

[Keith]

Thanks Joe! A lot of great info. I will further digest, review with my wife, and complete my homework assignment then return with answers for you to complete the blueprints.

Thanks again and God Bless.

[Keith]

Hi Joe… We are zeroing in on Mannington ADURA Apex or ADURA Max or ADURA Rigid. What are your thoughts on those 3 with respect to my layouts? The Apex and Max look to be the thicker (8mm) WPC and the Rigid looks thinner (5.5mm) SPC. Are any of these the drop and lock systems you said you are not a fan of? My wife is liking the Painted Bevel Edge Vs the Microbevel edge. Any thoughts on either?

Thanks Joe!

[Keith]

One more thing: There is one Apex color we like and the plank size is 8″ wide by 6 feet long. (Bigger than the 5″ x 4 feet planks we’ve been seeing) With that larger size? Any concern with our layouts? Will the thicker 8″ width actually help us in some areas? Or could I have very difficult issues around doorways?

[Keith]

Hi Joe… Hope you are well. My wife and I will be praying that your knee surgery goes well.

So to prepare for the 103 very heavy boxes of Mannington Apex coming and based on where you have me starting the planks. (Upper Left Bonus Room in second floor and lower right dinning room on the first floor) Where would you suggest I stage the boxes? I know because of the weight I can’t put them all in one or two piles that I would need to spread them out a bit throughout the whole house.

Also, would you stack them in separate piles by pattern and pull from the piles randomly? Or are they boxed random enough that I would not need to worry about that?

Here are my floor plans if you need them to draw on:

First

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pQ7G1rKQfBHVK17e8

Second

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1p5drkuUbx2GeChk6

Thanks!

Keith

[Joe]

http://somup.com/cr1Z2UqMgy

[Keith]

Thanks Brother! Great information. We are almost there in selecting. (About 70% sure on Mannington) We are also finding major price differences. We might just order from a place in Dalton, GA that looks good.

[Keith]

Hi Joe. Hope you are having a blessed weekend in the Lord.

I finally finished all my homework and ordered my LVP. Hopefully this is all the info you need to run through my blueprints. There are a couple new questions as well. Here is a link to a single updated document / Webpage that consolidates everything:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTicGQzHgIkUnYN7VioC1oM2c60zaKWANAN4j7ESqnvFKM2jYHyqJZT_GZk7O-hoBOuQHHhsJCj6ZQv/pub

Thank you brother!

[Joe]

Hey Keith! I will be working on this today and get this to you as soon as I can.

[Keith]

Thanks Joe. No hurry, take your time. Hope you had a blessed holiday weekend.

[Joe]

There will be 3 videos total and here is the first – http://somup.com/criiDfYiXJ

[Keith]

Thanks Joe! You are giving me much confidence with this project. Here are some additional pics you requested. It looks like the vinyl is right on the subfloor and it peels up real easy without much if any glue scraping. On the upstairs reducer transition to the bathroom it looks like I have a 1/4″ gap from the bottom of that metal piece to the top of the LVP if we slide it under. (I’m comfortable grinding away some of that metal piece if beneficial.) But I will go with what you feel makes the best sense.

[Joe]

Here is the blueprint for upstairs – http://somup.com/criibsYiqP

[Joe]

Here is the main floor blueprint – http://somup.com/criiYXYivB

[Keith]

Thanks sooo much for your time on all this Joe! This is all great info!

I found out that my Mannington order is not due to ship until the end of August. Not a big deal for me though as I just turned 60 and not as nimble and fast moving as I use to be. So I will have the perfect amount of that time for floor prep on the second floor, adding plywood to the master bed and laundry, leveling everything, and putting the stairs in. Might even have all the shoe molding rough cut and painted too. Having all that done ahead of time for when the planks show up… a blessing my friend!

Just to tie up a couple loose ends… Top stair nose… I will add that to my Mannington order. For the transition to the bathroom on the first floor we will be virtually level with the tile so I’ll order a Mannington ‘T’ transition there. Not sure yet what to do with the second floor bathroom. (See my added picture above.) I want to order those parts tomorrow just to make sure I can reserve stock and get them shipped at the same time as the planks. Here is the link at Mannington:

https://www.mannington.com/Residential/Adura-Vinyl-Plank/AduraMaxApex/Moldings

Final thoughts and recommendations on those?

[Keith]

Hi Joe… I hope you are well?

Since my Mannington Apex is back order I have been spending my time on floor prep. To that end I finally took a break and watched this main floor video thoroughly through and I started to get real confused. I watched it again and realized it appears you changed the direction of the plank layout around the 18 minute (or so) and then around 42 minute you when back to the correct way (Right to left). (Just before the kitchen to just after.) The problem I see with the butt joint design on the Mannington Apex is I don’t see a way to go reverse end to end (butt to butt) without planning and glue. (I don’t think I can go against the butt joint locking system the way they designed it. But I could be wrong.) Please advise… I fully expect to do plain and glue a number of places (Including butt joints) but to do it on all the butt joints in all the rows through the kitchen seems too much?

Either way… can you take another look at it and possibly re-do from the 18 minute to 42 minute with the normal right to left flow?

I so sorry to be a problem here… It is just that those specific areas look really tricky and I don’t want to mess up by mis-interpreting how do do it in reverse.

[Keith]

Here is a YouTube video directly from Mannington and if you fast forward it to the 1:27 mark you may see what I mean by the butt joint design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut50caQ8fEM&t=4s

[Keith]

My planks are 72″ long. I don’t know if that is good or bad but it may help as you draw them on those tricky areas?

[Joe]

I would order the t molding and the reducer. It looks like mannington has changed their transitions. They were solid wood and now it appears they are not…. i must still be getting what is left in stock.

[Joe]

Sure I can! My power is out and as soon as its back I will get that for you.

[Joe]

Watch this Keith – http://somup.com/crjnohYBvV

[Keith]

Hi Joe… I hope that your wife is doing better… We have been praying for her.

I am sorry to be again, a pain on this. I will look again very carefully tomorrow as I’ll have more time. I did however do a quick view tonight and still found the same thing. Here is additional specifics of what I found:

To establish what exactly is called the tongue and what is the groove on the Mannington Apex, I looked at their own quick install video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut50caQ8fEM&t=4s

Fast forward to the 1:30 mark. Based on your first plan which is the second floor, it all makes sense the way you drew it and explained it here on the second floor plan: http://somup.com/criibsYiqP

Fast forward to the 9:30 mark on the second floor plan. (Basically looking at both the Mannington video and your second floor video, what you call the groove is the exposed part on the bottom where you actually see a groove that the installing plank drops down into. This is true for both the long and short edges.)

So on your second floor plan at the 9:43 mark you state that I would start at the upper left and work to the right. So planks go left to right. In addition, I work at the top of the screen and work down into the rooms.

Second floor makes complete sense to me and I understand all what you said.

Now on the first floor video: http://somup.com/criiYXYivB The way the floor plan is shown on the screen and the way you mentioned to start is to work at the very bottom and work up into the rooms, (through the kitchen, etc.) Fast forward to the 13:19 mark is where you said right to left which is correct when I compared it to the second floor and the rules you said about working away from the groove.

So essentially the way I looked at it is as if I would flip the drawing 180 degrees. Instead of working from the upper left corner, left to right and down…. I would be working in the lower right corner to the left, and then up into the rooms. And initially you had confirmed that in your first floor video when you started. Where things started to go off is at exactly the 17:40 mark on the first floor video. That is where you changed directions from left to right. (With the length wise tongue at the bottom, it would make the short side tongue to the right, correct? So wouldn’t that mean to work away from the groove I would work right to left?)

Thanks Joe!! … and again, I’m sorry that I’m so confused on this. If after you review we’re still off, maybe we can schedule a live zoom or microsoft teams screen share call?

Best regards,

Keith

[Joe]

I am just going to redo it Keith!

[Keith]

Here are a couple sketches of what I’m seeing… (2nd floor is Left to Right since you are working down into the room)

[Keith]

1st floor is right to left since you are working up into the room.

[Joe]

Here is the revised video – http://somup.com/crjfDcYp4s

[Keith]

Thank you Joe! Very much appreciated…

[Joe]

http://somup.com/crjFonYR0v

[Keith]

Hi Joe…. I am right in the middle of the project and have some questions I just put into a video. It is unlisted on this youtube link:

https://youtu.be/uSLevQLuBXg

Since I did the video I was looking at both edge and drum sander rentals in the area… $100 and $250 per week. (I’m okay with either, I just want to get it done quick with minimal struggle if possible. Nonetheless, I have a lot of areas where to level that, 1/16 to 1/8 hard to remove, layer of hardwood that will be completely gone and it might then go easier with that plywood or MDF core or whatever it is… . Let me know your thoughts.

[Joe]

http://somup.com/cr6f2k3fLf

[Keith]

Is the Aluminum Oxide just in the finish or also in the wood itself? I have a 4-1/2″ angle grinder with a 40 Grit Zirconia Alumina flap disc and it removed the coating in this small section in no time. (My thought/question is, if the aluminum Oxide is only in the finish shown removed in this picture, I can use the angle grinder to aggressively remove just the coating on everything then on the real high spots of which there are a lot, I could use the drum sander (or edge sander?) on the wood after the coating was removed and hope it would work much faster. My fear is that even if I purchase a 7 or 9″ angle grinder it will take a long time removing the high spots and more difficult to get clean and even.) Cutting the floor out the floor in the high spots is out because there are a lot of them and the floor is glued and probably nailed too.

[Joe]

Yes, you can do that. Just get the finish off then it should go well.