Hey guys! I recently moved into a run-down apartment and the landlord, who's an old lady, wants to make a deal with me that I install flooring for her and she will reduce my rent which I would could really appreciate! I'm kinda handy with tools (worked on cars and motorcycles and have painted my dad's house) but have never installed flooring. I went to Homeless Despot and checked out prices and types of floorings and it seems that vinyl flooring is the go-to these days.I was looking at those rigid "tiles" that interlock (like the chad in pic) and not those flexible tiles with glue. I think that's the way to go.How difficult is it to install these things?Anyone here done it themselves? Any tips on how to calculate how much I need (I can calculate square footage but I'm not sure if I need to add few percent to that figure.Anyway, please HALP!
Interlocking vinyl tiles are good, yeah. Read the instructions twice, and follow them. Get a white rubber mallet so you can hammer the interlocking bits in place without leaving a mark, if need be. Preferably use a piece of vinyl to distribute the force of the mallet over a wider area so you don't smack the flooring directly and dent it.The main thing is to verify that the floor underneath is level within the vinyl mfgr's spec. Some vinyl types come with acoustic dampening preinstalled on the underside. Get those if possible, or you'll need to lay down a thin separate layer of dampening (typically foam) before installing the vinyl. On concrete subfloors the use of a vapor barrier (i.e. plastic sheet 0.2 mil) is recommended before installing the vinyl.Calculate square footage and add 5-10%, more if the room has intricate shapes. Make sure you don't end up with a narrow strip of vinyl on the last row (measure the room thoroughly and if necessary cut away material from the first row to ensure the last row has a decent width).Alternate where the joints are placed. The simplest way is, if you have 3 ft vinyl tiles then cut off 1.5 ft from the first tile on the second row. Repeat this on every second row. This gives you a staggered layout with stronger joints and also looks better. Other patterns work too, say you use a full length 3 ft tile as you first tile on your first row, then you chop the first tile on the second row down to 2 ft, on the 3rd row you chip the first tile down to 1 ft, then go back to a full length tile on the 4th row. Repeat and continue.I typically draw the floor dimensions of all the rooms in free cad software and then draw the vinyl tiles on top. Makes it easy to see which cut-off ends can be reused on the next row or elsewhere in the room/rooms.Good luck! You got this!
>>2961206Fuck yeah! Thanks bro. I'll get the white mallet. I also saw they sell tapping blocks (I think that's the best thing to use to distribute the force).Any opinion on the cutting saw vs. manual cutter? I saw that they sell those near the flooring section.The floor that I'll be installing it on the top of is that old parquet flooring. It's pretty level. Just ugly and full of scratches from previous tenants.The vinyl flooring that I was looking at has the black foam underneath the board. I think that's what you mean by dampening. From what I've seen, this is the simplest type of flooring to install. Thanks again.
I typically just use a plain old hand saw. I have miter saws and table saws and whatnot, but vinyl is so soft that you can cut it with a hand saw with very little effort, especially in small to medium rooms.If you have a miter saw (or a circular saw and a speed square) then great, but I wouldn't invest in those if this is a one-time deal and you're not likely to use them again in the foreseeable future.Measuring (twice) is what takes time, not the actual cutting. If there's existing parquet, you may want to consider removing that as long as it isn't glued down.And do make sure to remove the baseboard mouldings before installing the vinyl, and put them back when you're done. If you remove them carefully to avoid damage you can usually reuse them.Door mouldings that extend all the way down to the existing parquet can be trimmed by cutting of a few milimeters to make room height-wise for the vinyl tiles.
>old woman>doing work for rent reductionDon't. You're going to get jewed hard. Old women are demons
I did my whole upstairs with locking laminate last year. It's easy if you have a brain.
>>2961270So many awesome tips, thank you! I do have a mitre saw set so I can cut straight lines. I was just worried about long cuts. Like the other anon mentioned, if I end up needing s slim section on one side, maybe it's better to split the difference so they're roughly the same on both ends of the room.>If there's existing parquet, you may want to consider removing that as long as it isn't glued down.No way I'll be doing that. That seems like a massive nightmare.>>2961304>Don't. You're going to get jewed hard. Old women are demonsShe's willing to put everything into a contract and she will pay for materials. I don't see how I can lose.>>2961306>I did my whole upstairs with locking laminate last year. It's easy if you have a brain.Sweet! Did you run into any big problems?And a question for you all.. should I just run the same flooring across the whole of the apartment including the kitchen and the bathroom?
>>2961210For cutting--get a 3-foot straight edge, a rafter or carpenter's square, a piece of plywood (3 1/2 feet long, by 12 inches wide, a pair of sheers or tinsnips, and a good utility knife with some extra blades. That flooring is a score and snap product. The shears/tinsnips at for cutting notches if needed. the plywood is used when you start to run out space the protect what you've already laid so you don't end up cutting on top of the finished section. Get a jamb saw or multi-osculating tool to undercut any door jamb bottoms. Use a piece of scrap flooring, place it on the floor tight to the jamb bottom, place your saw on top of the scrap piece and cut the jamb and door casings. This will allow you to slide the new flooring under the jamb and door casings for a nice, finished look. You got this.
>>2961335Lots of good stuff in this post, but do check the instructions to verify that it is indeed a score and snap product. This board has users from all over the world, and product specs/properties can differ wildly across countries and continents. Also try it first and get comfortable with it (I couldn't). If in doubt, a saw will still work.
>>2961339Thanks. I'm in the US and our vinyl plank resilient flooring is score and snap. But you're right --always follow the manufacturer's instructions. I've done over 50 installs of this stuff over the last 10 years. The rigid laminate flooring is where you need saws. Cheers
>>2961203>Vinyl flooring tips?Yeah, don't buy vinyl flooring.You can get water proof laminates these days which blow any LVP, SPC or other bullshit out of the water in thickness, locking system engineering, warmth durability, realistic textures etc.Any room in a home with a vinyl floor gives off hair salon vibes and looks like absolute shit.They also wear terribly and if your subfloor isn't perfectly level to 1/8", they come apart.The glue down stuff is slightly better.t. ex flooring sale faggot.
>>2961206This faggot is a redditor. He speaks like one, he types like one, and the basic bitch common wisdom he offers is something that reminds me of rebbit.
>>2961307>should I just run the same flooring across the whole of the apartment including the kitchen and the bathroom?Absolutely. Continuity is preferred. I did a job a few years ago, and every room in the house had a different flooring. Totally chaotic.
>>2961346>You can get water proof laminates these days which blow any LVP, SPC or other bullshit out of the waterdo you have any specific recommendations?
>>2961348Shut the fuck up newfag nigger, you don't know even know what reddit OR this site is about, because if you did you'd keep your whore mouth shut.>>2961346Are modern laminates safe for basement installations? IDK bro I've put in some really $$$ SPC that has held up to incredible amounts of traffic.>>2961203First post gave some good tips, I will add, stagger your joints randomly (keeping at least the width of the board between end joints). I cut a few pieces randomly and use them as my starters, intermixing cut offs from the previous row. Every now and then Ill cut another random piece to use as a starter to keep the pattern as "random but uniform" as possible.
>>2961348Nope, never used reddit and don't intend to. OP asked basic questions, so he gets basic answers. I took the time of day to provide some guidance after seeing his post had no replies and I've installed a lot of flooring and thought maybe he'd benefit from a few pointers I could give. You on the other hand contributed absolutely nothing but hate.
>>2961346>You can get water proof laminates these days which blow any LVP, SPC or other bullshit out of the water in thickness, locking system engineering, warmth durability, realistic textures etc.OP here... OK, intriguing. I will go to a hardware store tomorrow and see what they have. I just hope the price difference isn't huge.
>>2961210rent a miter saw thank me later
>>2961346>You can get water proof laminatesLike these?
>>2961307>Sweet! Did you run into any big problemsNope, pretty easy. I wish I spent more time on making the subfloor perfectly level. Doors need to be done in 2 pieces to enter a room. When approaching a wall put the last row in loose under the wall with no second row. Then lock in the second row and use a pull bar to pull the last piece in, it saves a bit of fucking around. Pic rel is all the tools I used to do it
>>2961553>dumping an entire bucket of water on the floor to clean itWhat the fuck manWho does this shit???
>>2961584>Who does this shit???Women.
>>2961203>I install flooring for her and she will reduce my rent which I would could really appreciate!and when you move out she will have brand new floor and will jack up the rent for the next person because you made the apartment more appealing. its just renovation upsell like when people buy shit fucked houses do the cheapest renovation possible and then sell it for an exuberant amount of money
>>2961631should people not improve their property?
>>2961553What do you think happens to your subfloor when you wash your "waterproof" vinyl floor this way?All of that shit has to come up. And because the locks on vinyl and composite floors are so thin and fragile, the moment you separate the panels, most of the locks snap off, meaning your miraculous vinyl wayerproof floor is going to landfill.Not to mention the fact that most vinyl and composite floors are Chink made, whereas laminates are made by White people in Europe and America.
>>2961392>Are modern laminates safe for basement installations? IDK bro I've put in some really $$$ SPC that has held up to incredible amounts of traffic.Like I said. SPC is Chink bullshit. There's nothing an SPC floor does better in a basement than an 8, 10 or 12 mm water-resistant laminate. And the SPC is more expensive. Only vinyl worth putting down are fibreglass reinforced LVP planks, but those are glue down and need super flat floors.
>>2961411If it's for your landlord and you have a financial incentive to do it cheap, just get the lifeproof stuff at Home Depot.Make sure you don't break the grooves if you have to take a piece out, they break super easy. The thing that sucks is vinyl transition piece are made by another brand and the styles can suck to match (a Home Depot rep might know which goes with which).
>>2961348Everyone here is a redittor.
>>2961553Her reward will be learning how to tile.
>>2961206This anon hit the nail on the head. Only thing I'd add, just pull all the baseboards. That way you're not trying to work around them. You can have a fucked up piece right on the edge, but you're just going to cover it up with baseboard+shoe molding. I did my daughter's room, and wish I'd have planned to do that from the begining. I wasted time trying to keep it looking good at the edges.>>2961307>And a question for you all.. should I just run the same flooring across the whole of the apartmentYes. Firstly, it's more work your doing for the landlady, and it's not any harder. Once you get going, you'll get into a good rhythm. Secondly, and I realize this isn't your apartment, but you/her could run into issues finding matching flooring if she decides to come back a year later. I I bought enough to hopefully have enough to do my office, but they stopped making my flooring, so now I have waste that I'll probably just use for a closet or something.Also, get a miter saw. Idgaf if it says it's score and snap. You'll fuck up more than you realize, and the saw is so much quicker. Find a buddy that has a miter saw, and buy him a case of beer to help you.>>2961348You're the faggot here, btw.
>>2961348Go fuck yourself you contrarian fuck
>>2962163>just pull all the baseboardsHow do you pull them without destroying drywall?
>>2961639YOU footing the bill for HER Property is not your responsibility. as a tenant and not the landlord you are not responsible for repairs or upgrades to someone elses property.
Having the mallet is fine, but don't rely on it. I did my whole upper floor in LVP and the only time I needed to reach for the mallet to persuade it was when something wasn't lined up right. Anywhere you need to use the mallet is significantly weakening or even breaking the tongue and groove or whatever the click lock edges are called and that's where cracks are going to form in time with traffic. Otherwise all I needed was a box cutter and a scrap piece to use as a straight edge when scoring. And knee pads. Oh I guess I also used a cutting wheel on a Dremel to make some of the awkward cuts in closets and around door frames and such. Also make sure you open multiple boxes at once or you'll end up with repeat patterns that'll look weird.
>>2962579just be gentle. you shouldn't destroy the drywall prying it off.>>2962581he's not footing the bill and is actually getting paid to do it.
>>2962618>just be gentle. you shouldn't destroy the drywall prying it off.Crowbar good enough?
>>2962619it's worked fine for me
>>2962579>>2962619Goldblatt Trim Puller, well worth the 20 bucks.
>>2963583China makes knockoffs of it. Looks interesting tho.
