Last of the flooring: Floors No More

Hallway

What's with the title you wonder: I have completed removing all the carpet from the home and replaced with laminate flooring, Yippie.  I know I am the only one celebrating.

There is already a post about how to do laminate flooring, but I thought I would add to that post with some recent photos and some added tricks to help you along the way.

First, if you don't have this app you should: Handyman Calculator.  It is available on Google App Store and is totally free. Sure you can buy the premium version, however the free version gives you so much stuff.  Whether you are doing floors or laying brick you need this tool: it calculates everything including total project price, square yards, square feet and cubic feet, and air volume. Yes, air volume for those who need HVAC calculations.   It does a lot, lot, more and you will not regret the download at all.

Second, put down the measuring tape.  That's right, you don't need a measuring tape to lay laminate, tile, nor hardwood floor.  But what you do need is a Sharpie to mark the boards.  Only use the measuring tape for hard areas that are hard to get around such as closets.  Instead of using the measure twice cut once rule, line up your next cut by laying the board next to the area to be cut and mark it.  You will have to flip the board the opposite direction, but by marking instead of measuring you will get the most accurate cuts and save you some material and frustration.

Additionally, do not throw away all the cardboard boxes from the flooring.  One or two of these will come in handy as templates for entry ways, door jambs and closet opening. By creating a template you will save yourself time, material and money.   To use the box as a template, unseal the edges (top, bottom) of the box and unfold them.  Lay the box under the door jamb and trace it onto the box using your Sharpie, then transfer that to the flooring.   Please Note: the stud  of the door frame is usually about 2 inches away from the sides doorjamb and about 3 inches in the front.  To check the space under you doorjambs use a straight ruler, not a tape measure, and mark it on the ruler.  This will help ensure you have the right depth of cut so that there will be less chance of filling gaps.

Get a Good Underlayment: do not go with the cheap roll of underlayment they will be more trouble then they are worth.  I went with an underlayment that was a little more pricey, but less the hassle. I went back to my store (Lowes) and found this easy cut underlayment that comes in 100 Sq. Ft sheets.  (39.99 pk).   The first floor (see earlier posts) I used the roll type underlayment and I quickly grew frustrated with having to weigh it down so I could cut the next piece to size and tape it down.  This goes on flat and you can cut it with scissors or a knife. Definitely worth the money.  In my pictures you will see 3M Aluminum HVAC Tape securing the underlayment.  Well the reason for this is because aluminum tape is recommended for this type underlayment I purchased.  However, when looking at the price of the tape ($10.00 for a small roll), I looked at the HVAC tape at 8.00 for a large roll, this tape will always come in handy.  You never know when you may find yourself doing some HVAC repair. 

Next ONLY REMOVE the base boards you need to remove:

I have seen and heard of people removing all the baseboards in the room before laying the floor, however, I found it easier and beneficial to only remove those that need to be removed.  These usually tend to be the front of the room and the wall the last row falls.  Why do I say this, the first row of flooring is always going to give you issues and when you are laying it down by yourself  the baseboard will give you that extra hand that you need in keeping the floor from shifting and even.  But how do you know which baseboards to remove?  Once you have decided on which direction the floor will flow (usually determined by light source) the two (3) baseboards will be easy to determine.  In addition, when laying laminate or hardwood flooring you want to ensure you leave at least 1/4" gap from the wall and the floor for expansion.  Leaving some of the baseboards down will ensure you have this safety buffer. You can tap the edges of the flooring under the lip of the baseboards to hold the flooring down, but DO NOT tap them to the base of the wall.

Speaking of Gaps: you will have some gaps around the doorjambs and closets, these are unavoidable but can be easily fixed by using caulk  or adjusting the door casing.  The latter is time consuming and can be tricky so I suggest taking a piece of the flooring with you to your local Flooring store or hardware store and see if you can match the caulk to the floor.  It may not be 100% matching off the shelf but will be close. You can also mix colors to try to get it to an exact match if you like (Art classes pay off ).

Transitions, smansitions why not go transitionless?  Transition-less floors are a thing of beauty and are not hard to accomplish.  There are only (will only be ) two transitions on this floor: bathroom entry and from tile to laminate transition.   Many say don't go transitions-less as buckling can occur but buckling in the floor is only caused by the expansion and contraction of the house or a water leak. This is why they tell

you to keep 1/4" of space from the wall and the floor.  Transition-less flooring allows the  lines of the floor to continue from one room to the next without being interrupted.  It does take some planning and I scratched my head for a moment before I solved my own problem.  See I laid the floor in the main bedroom first and ended it at the doorway before I ripped up the carpet of the hallway.  The floor is measured out so the locking side is placed toward the hallway. As you can see in the pictures there are no transitions from the closets to the hall nor the bedrooms to the hall.  The first room took some time to complete but this is where that template will come in handy.

Closets:  people complain of the doorjambs well my arch enemy was the closets. I have three closets in just the hallway alone not to mention the ones in the bedroom. Each closet was the same but yet each was challenging.  The very first one was at the right of the hallway and I had to start on the right side of the hallway as I had already finished the master bedroom floor and was doing transition-less flooring.  This one closet took me at least 2 hours to do,  UGH!!  The closet was no bigger than 3 or 4 sq. feet, but I managed to get it done and continue into the hallway. There is one good thing about lock and snap flooring, they pretty much go together in any direction as was the case with this first closet.  The closet floor actually is laid horizontally as opposed to the vertical lines in the hallway.  Again, I am no Pro if I did it over I probably would have figured out the best way to lay the boards in this closet. But I redeemed myself with the other closets in the hallway.

My last two tips for you guys is to invest in a multi-tool and glue.  Doorjamb cutters are way expensive and the handsaw trick will make your life miserable.  The multi-tools come with vibrating/rotating saw blades and make quick work of cutting the baseboards. They do cause a lot of dust so make sure you have a vacuum around which will help with the cleanup.


Why Glue? when you are doing hardwood or laminate you will eventually end up having to butt two pieces together for longer runs of flooring or for those pieces that require only 1-2 inch strips of flooring. Using glue is a process the pros use and is simple to master in order to join two pieces together (big or small).  Remove the locking trim from the edges of the boards to be joined.  If this is a fresh cut and no locking edges you can still use this method.  Using your glue, preferably wood glue, but white (school) glue works well if you don't have any wood glue around; run a bead of glue on both boards and then tap the planks in place until they are joined. Use a damp cloth to remove the excess glue.  You can see this technique on YouTube.


Only thing left to do is re-caulk the baseboards that you removed and install the 1/4 round trim around the base of the floor.  I hope these tricks will prove useful to you. there are some videos on YouTube that may explain the transition-less floor better and help you measure without a tape measure.

Ugh its a Broken Valve!!! Laundry Room Remodel

Well it happened yup the dreaded washing machine died so out it goes, but before I disconnect the machine I shut off the water to the house.  I know its not a necessary step because there are valves that can be closed, however, I didn't trust the valves as they were old.  I turned off the cold water valve pretty easily with a little force, but the hot water would not budge an inch.  I twisted it to open, still would not budge, then twisted it to close still nothing.  I added more pressure on the valve and it gave, I thought thank you Lord, and so I turned it some more and the stem broke off in my hand. It was stuck to the open position and thus couldn't turn the water back on. What a way to end a Saturday afternoon. 

There are many things I am but a plumber is not one of them.  After trying unsuccessfully to try to get a plumber to come out (earliest was Friday of the week), I decided to try it myself.  I used  enlarged the hole around the valve to try and unthread it from the pipe, unfortunately they were braised on, yes the threaded pipe was braised on.  I tried melting the solder using a propane torch. I held it on the valve for 5 minutes and using pliers (pipe wrench) tried to unseat it, but it would not budge. Only thing left to do is to cut the pipe.  

Had to make a 2' x 3' hole in the wall to access the pipes enough to remove the old valves (faucets).  What moron decided it was good to build the wall using two pieces of sheet rock?  After I sawed through both sheets of sheet rock I used my $3.95 pipe cutter to cut the pipes and used steel wool to clean the copper.  I removed the burs caused by the cut and even file the cut to make sure there are no sharp edges. 

Now the trouble starts:  I used Mueller ProLine Push Fittings (female coupler)  that I purchased from Lowes.  I purchased 4 (@ 8.57ea) just in case one or two were bad.  I also purchased a Washing Machine Box (34.95).   The push fittings are supposed to be quick and simple to use and require no glue or sweating the pipes together (this is why I purchased them as I am not good a sweating pipes).  I place the first one on the cold water line and screw in the new valve (test fitting) I then do the same to the hot water line and go outside and turn the water to check for leaks.  Well it didn't take long before I noticed that there was definitely a leak but not from the threaded valve but the push fitting that was said not to leak: FAIL!  It was not just a leak but a steady stream of water pouring from the bottom of the fitting.  So I try again seeing as how the cold water line is holding (has a small drip) compared to the hot water line.  I remove the fitting and try the next three.  I polish the pipe with the steel wool and made sure there was indeed no sharp edges that may break the seal.  All three push fittings FAILED.  

I called a guy I knew and he came over ( a simple job turns into hours) he attempted the same thing (he knew what he was doing as compared to myself)  however, the fittings all leaked. He said "well looks like we gonna have to solder them on I guess."   Solder kit 15.99 at Lowes and 12.00 at Home Depot.  I took the push fittings back to Lowes got my 32.00 back and went to Home Depot.  On the isle I saw the SharkBite push fittings.   I remembered reading online about SharkBite fitting and people using them so I decided to buy both the fittings and the solder kit.  But the guy had to leave so my brother was on his way to sweat the pipes.  He's much better at welding and soldering than I so it should be rather simple for him. 

But I wanted to try these fittings just one more time. So I got home and pushed the fittings on each line and re-tapped the threads of the valves with plumbers tape to do a test fit.  I turn the water on and Viola!!! no leaks.  So apparently the Push Fittings at Lowes (Mueller ProLine) are cheap, worthless imitations:  I guess I shouldn't say cheap at $8.57 each.  The SharkBite fittings were $5.67 each. 

Since the test fit worked and at this time its 7:45 in the evening and I am tired I undo the valves and place the washing machine box in the hole to make it semi presentable and screw everything back in place and turn the water on and check for leaks. Praise God no leaks.  So I secure the box to the wall for now until I can decide if I want to re-sheet rock the area or do a patch job.

All this because of a broken Valve.  Time+$$+Energy x Frustration = experience I guess.  But onto the next phase Tiling. 

The laundry room had linoleum tile in it and it was crumbling (another poor install job) and since we are getting new machines and have to take the old ones out I might as well get started. 

First, if you have a store called Dirt Cheap in your area check them out. They have great prices on tile and other things: you can even buy a pair of jeans for $2.00.  Yup $2.00 you just have to look through the racks of clothes - hopefully they have your size.

But they pretty much carry everything, tools, clothes, shelving, tile and flooring.  After spending 67.00 in supplies that includes a 50lbs bag of white mortar and 5 boxes of 20 x20 tile  we are all set to tile.

I still have not grouted that patio yet as the weather has been freezing lately so why not just start this and grout the other during weekend when it's supposed to be in the 70s.  I did not take a before picture of the laundry room, but trust me it was a mess.  But the tile turned out nicely.  It was a bare making the cuts for the legs of  the water heater stand, but I got that done.  The tiling of the laundry room only took two evenings a total of 8 hours.  Grouting will commence as soon as I can get the moment after work.

 

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