Heiser Blueprint Request

[Bill]

Attached:

1. visualization of hall (not how it will be installed, e.g. not staggered)

2. image of “support” under kitchen peninsula (facing dining area)

3. images of the plank to show tongue/groove orientation

4. doorway to garage stairs

5. master bath with tile/lino/particleboard to be removed

6. hall bath with “brick” lino/particleboard to be removed

7. kitchen/hall with 3/4″ dip

8. my project plan (minus dates for TBD bathroom work)

+5 More Photos

[Bill]

one more of the kitchen/hall situation

[Bill]

Heiser floorplan

[Bill]

Trap door in master closet

[Bill]

I think that’s everything (not sure how I deleted it the first time). Please let me know if there’s any other info or photos that would help. Thanks for your help!

[Joe]

https://somup.com/c3lQrwwUSu

[Bill]

Thanks for the review, Joe! I’m digesting all that you explained, and mulling over a decision on the bathrooms, the garage stair, and the layout.

In the meantime, here are more photos:

– wall extension and cabinet in the kitchen. The gate seen there in the hallway is temporary (it’s there to manage kitty traffic while I’m doing this work, especially the cement…)

– trap door in the bedroom closet. The trap door slips under the edge of the wall footer 2×4, the door casing, and the edge is under the closet door.

– dip in the living room just as an example. I’m investigating but I think most of them run north/south (lengthwise).

– a sample of some planks cross-wise in the hall (not staggered yet). This plank doesn’t have a bevel, so the individual planks aren’t as pronounced as with some other products, so I think either direction in the hall will be ok. I’m leaning towards north/south plank installation anyway because of what you explained about lengthwise placement being better for dealing with peaks/valleys.

The 15th (or even a little later if you need time) works out great for the blueprint. I still have a lot of work to do on the prep. I’ll get back to you on the bathrooms & plank direction.

Thanks again!

+1 More Photos

[Joe]

https://somup.com/c3llbqwyeL

[Bill]

Thanks, Joe. That’s a great idea I didn’t even think of. That trap door is used for access to that little crawl space for periodic pest inspections (subterranean termites and carpenter ants and are a concern here). I also used it to get down there to add insulation under the floor (it was uninsulated!!). It’s a pretty tight fit already, but another 1.5″ may be ok.

I’ll add a piece of 2×12 to bring the front edge in to eliminate the issue of the flooring running under the wall. It doesn’t seem like there’s really a good solution for flooring there, but I guess I’m thinking maybe running the whole-house flooring up to the edge on the front and right sides of the trap door, and (maybe) to give it a more finished look, use edging on those two edges. Then I can cut flooring pieces to fit to finish the top surface of the trap door, and for the (approx. 1 foot) of space to the left.

I can use a piece of molding to cover that sliver of subfloor at the far edge. I’d want to use some kind of non-permanent glue in case I ever need to replace the flooring in the house. I also want to attach a handle to the door (screw through the flooring into the plywood) – I know screwing through the flooring isn’t advised but maybe in this situation it will be ok as expansion/contraction isn’t really a big concern. I might need to use a dab of glue on the little bit of flooring in the space to the left too.

[Bill]

Hi Joe – I’ve been thinking about your feedback regarding handling the exterior doors. Here are photos of them (front door, dining room slider, bathroom mini door to deck). I think I can handle the slider the way you did in your video (with an edging). For the other two, 3/4″ molding would stick way out. Maybe 1/2″ will be doable and I could miter the ends to slope in to meet the door trim.

[Joe]

https://somup.com/c3llYnwyF7

and

https://somup.com/c3llYFwyY2

[Bill]

Thanks, Joe! All this info is super helpful. I used something similar to Vinpro (but from Lowe’s) when I installed the tile backsplash in my kitchen. What I used there doesn’t have the lip over the edge of the tile (plank) but the idea is similar. I think I’ll stick with this theme and use the Vinpro for the exterior doors and maybe the trap door edge.

[Bill]

Oh, and I’m in Tuolumne County, Calif, in a small community at 3,600′ in the Sierra foothills, about an hour and a quarter from the Yosemite gate.

[Bill]

Hi @joeletendre – I think there were two open questions for me from your first review of my floor plan. I have answers. 😎

1. Bathrooms (I had asked about “pausing” at the doorways to do the bathrooms later. I decided I will do the bathrooms as part of this project. Decision: I will remove the toilets and install new vanities before installing the plank.

2. Plank direction: I laid out a box of planks in each direction in several spots in the house and I don’t see a clear winner aesthetically either way. Decision: I will run the planks front-to-back, east/west).

Here’s my reasoning: The living/dining room, the kitchen, bedroom #3, and the two bathroom lengths are all front-to-back, and it seems like running the long way in a room makes the room look bigger. The Master BR and BR #2 are nearly square. Only the hallway runs the length of the house. Running plank the length of the hallway seems to accentuate how long and narrow the hall is (not desirable). Also from late morning thru evening the sunlight shines in from the back of the house, and I think shining lengthwise on the planks looks better.

I thought most of the peaks in the subfloor ran N/S (long way of the house), but it turns out there’s at least one significant one that runs the other way. I’ll just need to do my best with the Henry 549 to level the valleys.

If you see issues running the plank E/W (front-back) I can be persuaded to change, but otherwise I’ll stick with N/S (end-to-end).

<font color=”rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)” face=”inherit”>Whew, I guess I </font>analyzed<font color=”rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)” face=”inherit”> that one to death🤯. I think that’s all that was pending from me for the blueprint, but please let me know if there are still any open questions I need to decide. </font>

<font color=”rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)” face=”inherit”>I have a question about leveling the valleys. I saw when you used the tool to screed (?) a valley, you used a level (or I can use a 2×4) resting on the surrounding peaks to pull across the cement to smooth it out. How is the smoothing of the cement handled when there is a peak only on one side, e.g. there’s a peak in the room, and a slope all the way to a wall, and the goal is to eliminate the slope?</font>

Thanks!

[Joe]

https://somup.com/c3loo5wBUj

[Bill]

I’m sorry, Joe! I had a typo in the last line of my previous message and created that confusion. I’m looking at option 2, running the plank E/W, unless you see any concerns with it.

In terms of orientation, by “front” I mean the near edge of the drawing, where the front door is in the living room, and BR #2 and BR #3 are. The back of the house is the far edge, where the sliding door is, and where the kitchen is. Sorry, it’s hard to know that from the drawing. I’m totally open to suggestions on where to start and I’ll go with whatever you think will work best.

Another note on the bathrooms – the vanities I’ve picked stand on legs, and they weigh about 200 lbs each (they have an engineered stone top). The instructions say to attach them to the wall (but not the floor). Hopefully these will be ok sitting on the floating plank, because the bottoms are open so the floor will be visible. If this won’t be ok I should find different vanities. I picked these as they are in the right price range and seem well made and I’ll paint them the same gray as I used on the kitchen cabinets.

I attached a couple better photos of the area with the big dip, in the kitchen where it joins the hall. At the far end of the level the gap is 3/4″, and it gradually diminishes as it runs into the hallway. The gate in the photo is temporary. I understand what you suggested about wood or cardboard and it makes sense.

Also I attached a photo of the hall bath – I removed the sheet vinyl and particle board (with a million staples) yesterday. I still need to remove the tiny tiles on particleboard in the master bath.

Thanks for all your help, it’s really appreciated! Good luck with the snow – we had a couple big storms over the past week, but didn’t get much at my elevation. Hopefully there will be more as we’ve been in a bad drought.

[Joe]

https://somup.com/c3lD2vwkeW

[Bill]

Thanks again, Joe! No rush on the blueprint if you need more time to clear out that heavy snow (we get that here too and we call it “Sierra cement”). It’s a back breaker!