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Skillen Flooring Project
Hi Joe! I stumbled onto one of your videos after I had already purchased the bulk of my flooring and supplies. I had already watched a lot of videos and was ready to jump in, then I found your stuff. Great videos. You have no idea, (well, you probably do) how much you are helping me. I have attached the basic floor plan according to your instructions. It’s not the most accurate plan, but you get the idea of the layout from it. I have another compounding problem with this project. I have a cement slab, and there’s some cracks and unlevel spots I will need to address. I feel confident enough to tackle them, but I would definitely like to have a pro like you available to provide some guidance in case I end up over my head at some point like I’m bound to be… This will mostly be done by my son and I, with the help of my other son, daughter, wife and two daughter in laws as needed for things like leveling rooms where time is of the essence, etc. I watched all of your flooring reviews and as luck would have it, fortunately we picked an excellent quality product based on your recommendations that I watched after the fact. So we got lucky there. Unfortunately, I also purchased the plastic moisture barrier based on “essential” suggestions from other videos. Your explanation made so much sense though. So I will return that. But should I get quietwalk underlayment, or just go with the backing already built in? I will leave it here for now. I’m pretty much ready to start demo. I will have to work room to room as I will only be able to get help 1 or 2 days a week for the most part and the rest of the time it’s all me except for the few days where I will make plans with everyone if I really need their help for those things that one person just can’t do. My son will jump in and help as he can, but we both work at a place that doesn’t really give us the ability to take a week or 2 off to knock this out. So I’m just gonna get it going and go as hard as I can until I’m done. Thank you so much for your passion and willingness to do this, God bless!
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6 Replies
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Thanks for the video Joe, it was a huge help. So, my floor plan wasn’t the best as far as accuracy, but it was close. I’m thinking an East West direction for installation. Mainly because the hallway’s longest stretch will be in that direction and it seems to me, based on most of your videos that I’ve watched, that it will be better with having the planks go down the hallway lengthwise and most of the light will be down that way too. In the floor plan you can’t tell but, coming from the kitchen, down the hallway, there’s a straight shot into that bedroom. On the floor plan, I didn’t catch that little detail about the door being in the way, but I can start on the west wall in the kitchen and run planks all the way into that bedroom that I titled “Craft Room” so I think East West is probably best. I was originally planning on starting in the Dining Room, which I know you said I could do. But I agree with you that starting in the bedroom will probably work out best. I’m wrapped up around the unlevel floor issue which is why I was focused on the dining room. I’m attaching some pics of the floor damage in the Dining Room so you can see what actually prompted me to do this project to begin with. I’m afraid I will probably run into some similar issues once I pull up the carpet and linoleum in the bedroom going into the master bathroom too. It seems to me that there may be some unlevel spots in there as well.
So, to answer your questions, our home was built in 1973. Its a single story home. We live in Susanville, CA which is about 90 miles northwest of Reno, NV. It’s high mountain desert. We are on the East side of the Sierra Nevada mountains and there really isn’t any issues with moisture at all. So, if not running any moisture barrier works for you in the land of 1,000 lakes, I think we should be just fine to go without it too. I’m sending some pics of our planks. For the majority of the house we will be using the Cali Vinyl Pro. They are 4 ft. long by 7 and 1/8th” wide. We are using the Smart Core Ultra in the bathrooms. I have 2 T-Moldings that are just under 73″ each that I was planning to cut to size and likely glue in based on what I watched in one of your videos. I also really like the glue method for securing the floors.
I’ve attached the pics you requested of the flooring. I’ve also attached some pics of the floor damage. I’m not sure if I should level the entire floor, grind some high spots down and fill in some low spots, or just fill and feather some of the low spots? I was leaning towards just doing the whole floor. My best guess after just doing a couple attempts at trying to see how unlevel it is with a laser level and a rod, it appears that the floor in the dining room is about 1/4″ or so off in different places. I’ve watched those videos you suggested already on floor prep, but I will definitely be watching them again before I dive into this thing. I need to make sure I have my plan figured out before I start messing things up, lol. If you need me to do a video or anything, I’m sure I can make that happen. I can shoot a tour and show you close ups of anything you want to see. Just having you in our corner is such a huge relief. I was starting to feel like maybe I was in over my head, but just knowing I have someone who can say “you might wanna think about this or I’d suggest you do that” is a HUGE relief! It’s just such a relief to know that I can bounce any questions off you if I get stuck anywhere in this process, so THANK YOU! I appreciate you SO MUCH!
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Here is your blueprint – https://somup.com/c36O2NvUr2
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Here is the bathroom blueprint’s – https://somup.com/c36wIPvaag
