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  • Posted by Darren on May 31, 2022 at 6:15 pm

    Hi Joe, I was hoping you could help me finally break ground on my flooring. I purchased Mannington Adura Max LVP and I’m ready to start. I’m a little obsessive when it comes to doing things correctly. I had a home built 10 years ago and I see the imperfections and hassles when fixing things where the builders cut corners. I’m working on my basement and everything is square, so there should be no issues but my main concern is the concrete slab. I need to know how perfect is perfect enough? I took a laser level and made a few hundred measurements on the floor, marking high and low spots and depth. My first question is what variations in the floor will be noticeable? I attached a couple photos and I’m going to level everything off of the H 1/4 marks since I had the level sitting in a 1/4″ low spot. The variation over the floor in the main room is 3/8″ from highest to lowest but not many low or high spots, more a gentle slope. That being said, there are a couple spots where I could mix up some feather finish and fill in some low spots and there is a corner where I could grind down an 1/8th, but for the most part its flat until the area around the bar which drops off to about 3/4in lower than the rest of the floor. The drop is probably over a course of 12 feet and I’m not sure the best way to screed something over that distance or if I should go with self-leveling cement. Once the prep work is done, I have the usual questions about if I should use quiet walk, what transitions I should use between the gym floor (3/4″ rubber mat) and the LVP, and of course, the layout. I was hoping to get everything answered so I have no excuse to not be starting this floor. I have attached a few pictures of the current layout, a blue print and some floor markings.

    Thanks for you help!

    Darren

    Joe replied 1 year, 5 months ago 2 Members · 10 Replies
  • 10 Replies
  • Joe

    Administrator
    June 1, 2022 at 6:00 am
  • Darren

    Member
    June 1, 2022 at 12:22 pm

    Thanks for the info, I tried to attach a zip file to the first post with about 20 pictures, I’ll reattach it if it didn’t come through. I can resend them individually if that was not the correct way to do it. So, I guess I forgot a lot of basic info in my first post. Here are the answers to the questions you asked and some additional info.

    The bar area does not have cabinets yet, I was planning on setting the flooring close then cutting it out with an oscillating tool when I do the cabinets.

    The bathroom will most likely be tile floor but that isn’t definite.

    I added a closet along the whole west wall in the room below the entertainment area which isn’t on the blueprint.

    The difference between the rubber flooring and the LVP is 5/16″.

    I was planning on running the flooring east to west.

    The flooring has the tongue on the north and east sides and the groove on the south and west in relation to the way you drew the plank on the blueprint.

    Thanks again!

    Darren

  • Joe

    Administrator
    June 2, 2022 at 9:02 am

    I have a blueprint to do and then I will get to this.

  • Joe

    Administrator
    June 2, 2022 at 1:13 pm

    Here is your blueprint – http://somup.com/c31nFItOlK

  • Darren

    Member
    June 8, 2022 at 12:29 pm

    Thanks Joe, that will really help. I decided to screed the low spots in the floor, so that should take me a few days/weeks so if I have any questions installing the floor it may not be for a while.

    Thanks again!

    Darren

  • Darren

    Member
    August 10, 2022 at 11:35 am

    Hi Joe, I finally got the slab good enough to start laying the floor, so now I have a few more questions. I struck a line in the center of the bottom room, and here are my questions. The first is the bottom wall is not parallel with the top wall separating the room from the entertainment room. Over the course of the wall, it is out about 3/8 inch. When I measure half the room, should I split the difference or work off the wall separating it from the entertainment area? Second, if I measure out the exact center, I’ll have 9 full planks (6 inch planks) and a plank with ~5 inches on each side (57.5″ total). If I do that, the entertainment area will have a 2″ plank on the long wall and 4.5″ on the opposite side against the steps. I think the 2″ plank here won’t be the best because it is such a long, noticeable wall. If I move half a plank, now I’ll have short 2″ planks in the bottom room, which will be less noticeable because of furniture. This will give a 5″ plank on the long wall and 1.5″ plank by the steps. Does the second sound like a better layout or is there another way? Lastly, is it necessary to transfer the line from the bottom room a specific amount of planks to the entertainment room or will striking a line randomly off the long wall work? I was just going to strike it randomly but I’m not sure if I’m missing something with this. I know you worked a specific number of planks back in your video because you needed the planks to match up with the center of the hallway, but would there be a reason to move a specific number of planks when moving forward?

  • Joe

    Administrator
    August 10, 2022 at 1:50 pm
  • Darren

    Member
    November 22, 2022 at 3:43 pm

    I thought I was done, but now I have a problem. I did 90 % of my floor, and stopped by the bar area and bathroom to finish after I have the shower pan put in. I started to put up trim and baseboard because I need to make most of it livable because a family member needs to move in. When putting the baseboard up against the wall that is perpendicular to the floor boards, there was a gap about 3/8inch. The floor in that room tapered about 1/4 inch from wall to door and two slabs come together close to the wall with the door. These slabs were off a little and when I filled in the relief cut and tapered it, I probably added another 1/8 inch of concrete causing the dip. I initially tried to scribe the baseboard, which made it flush to the floor but was just too noticeable for me. So I decided to pull up the floor and I will level the concrete. While pulling up the floor one small piece by the door was glued and the groove broke off. I’m thinking I can probably trim most away and glue it, and since it is so small and half under the baseboard I think it would be ok. Otherwise I’d have to pull up more between the door which is also glued. I could also try to pull enough up into the other room and install all new pieces. What would you do?

  • Joe

    Administrator
    November 22, 2022 at 4:54 pm

    If you can clean it up and get back together and you feel it looks good, then I would glue it back together.

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