The Flooring Guru

Vinyl flooring looks only as good as the floor underneath. If you have been around flooring long enough, that phrase is repeated quite often and it’s true.

Installing a vinyl floor over irregularities in the sub floor causes those irregularities to telegraph or show through the vinyl floor’s surface, much like installing wallpaper over rough walls would.

Vinyl flooring can be installed over most surfaces providing that the surfaces are prepared properly. If for instance you were to install a vinyl floor over another floor, it is recommended that a patching compound or embossing leveler be used to keep the pattern of the existing floor from showing through.

Once a floor is prepared correctly, there are do it yourself installation kits available to assist you with the cutting process by utilizing a paper pattern. These kits are a very positive way to ensure that your new vinyl floor is properly cut to fit without making any mistakes.

After a vinyl floor is fitted to your room, you are ready to glue it to the subfloor. Important note: Use the recommended trowel notch! Too much adhesive will show through the floor’s surface giving it the look of play dough underneath. All the rolling in the world will not get rid of this effect.

When finshed glueing, all vinyl flooring should be secured 100% around the perimeter with some type of trim, caulking compound, and transitions at the doorways.

Usually a carpet installation starts with removing the old carpet first. I am frequently asked, “How do you remove carpeting that has been glued down? ”

Depending on how long the carpet has been installed and the type of glue that was used, determines how it comes up.

If the carpet is coming up too hard in large pieces you will have to cut it into smaller strips. Generally 12″ strips like you see in the picture work very well.  Tip: If you cut slots in the strip of carpet that you are pulling up , it creates hand holes for an easier grip :0)

Ok. The carpet isn’t coming up off the floor in 12″ strips very easy. That means you will have to cut them into even smaller strips. The fact is that the harder the carpet comes up, the smaller the strips will have to be.

The strips are now 4″ and the carpet is coming up REALLY hard, now what? You will have to rent a floor stripper. This becomes a two man operation at this point because one person has to pull while the other scrapes with the machine.

Just a little technical advice. When using the floor stripper, the blade has one edge that is beveled. The bevel side goes up when the subfloor underneath the carpet is concrete and bevel side down when it is wood :0)

I have been asked if it would be easier to soak the carpet with water and then remove it. My answer would be no. It is really messy and it could cause problems with the existing sub floor.

After methodically removing all the old carpet, you are ready for your new flooring. The question at this point would be , “Do I have to remove all the old adhesive residue that is left on the floor?”

My answer to that is . . . in an upcoming post.

The shopping is over and your spouse is excited!

You’ve made your choice and its time to start installing your new hardwood flooring.

Once you get your flooring home, begin with these steps:

• Clear the room of everything possible (including the baseboard)
• Remove old floor covering if necessary
• Take off the doors in the room for ease of undercutting
• Set up your work station
• Undercut everything possible
• Do the necessary floor preparation

These steps are approximately 1/3 of the job. Although every situation is different for a hardwood floor installation, the steps are basically the same.

With some installations being on concrete, some on wood, some over crawl spaces, …etc. , you will have to learn the specifics for your own unique situation when it comes to the floor preparation step.

Once you make it through the floor preparation step you are on your way to a brand new look for your home.

Take your time, and enjoy your project!

Oh, and by the way Having Fun is the mandatory first step to any project!

Wall to wall carpeting brings comfort to your home and with the newest styles available, carpeting is always improving in performance.

The green movement is ushering in a new era offering fiber solutions with less impact to the environment that actually feel softer and wear better than the traditional nylons.

Built in stain resistance is constantly being improved to decrease the chances of a spill absolutely ruining your carpet. As you probably know, a stain that doesn’t come out can absolutely ruin the comfort in your room.

Worse than that, a bad carpet installation really compromises your intended wall to wall comfort. Choosing the right professional is a must when spending hundreds… even thousands of dollars!

When choosing carpet at your local retailer, find out which installer will be coming to your home for your carpet installation. Many times you aren’t told who is coming to your home. Once you find out, ask for references. You can even call him or her to talk to them prior to your installation to get a feel for how they treat you on the phone.

Doing a little research can go a long way. Protecting your investment is just plain wise. A professional carpet installation is the first step when bringing wall to wall comfort home.

Older homes pose a challenge to certain flooring types because of the valleys and humps caused by floor joists that have either sagged or warped with time.

The manufacturers recommendations for a wood laminate floor for instance, requires that the floor underneath be within a certain tolerance before the new floor can be installed over it.

My home is a perfect example of this very situation. I have an old farmhouse that was built in 1913. Over the years, the floor joists have dropped from the main beam and around the outside walls creating a hump in the middle of the house and a ramp up at the edges of the rooms.

I had a couple of options. I could have installed a cosmetic type sub floor such as luaun over the old existing hardwood and used vinyl plank flooring to simulate the look of hardwood or I could fix the problem.

If you find yourself faced with a similar situation , your decision would depend on what you truly wanted for your new floor, your budget, and how much effort you want to put into the project.

The point here is to make sure that before you buy and install a new floor in an older home with rolling floors, that you find out what you can and can’t go over with your new floor.

Oh, and by the way, I chose to fix the problem before installing new laminate flooring.

What does ” I am looking for discount hardwood flooring” really mean? It could mean different things to people, but it might be better said, ” I am looking for hardwood flooring that is discounted.”

It is considered to be a good buy if you can find quality hardwood at a close out price. The draw back here would be if you didn’t purchase enough to complete the task at hand. Chances are high that you wouldn’t be able to match it if you did run out. Double check your measurements!

Another good buy is when the grades of hardwood are a mix of standard and select boards. This would mean that some boards have more knots than others in the batch. That is OK if you know prior to your purchase that that is what you are getting.

Discount hardwood flooring shouldn’t mean poorly made. If you decide to buy hardwood flooring at a discount, find out why it’s being discounted. Like anything that you buy, you get what you pay for. Depending on where you want to have the hardwood flooring installed, certain qualities or lesser characteristics might just work.

Here are a few suggestions for buying discount hardwood flooring.

• Find out what type of finish is being used on the product that you are considering.
• Check the board lengths so that you won’t be surprised to find out that the boards are all short boards. (This is OK if that is the look that you are desiring.)
• Look for negative reviews that might accompany the product.
• If you can actually handle the product, put a few pieces together to make sure that the milling is square, even, and straight.
• Find out if you can return it
• Just because it claims to be discounted, quickly check prices for the same product elsewhere
• Ask why it is being discounted

I am always in favor of saving money. If you do your homework right, buying hardwood flooring at a discount price is a great way to save a few bucks.