We’ve been really happy with HD’s “Traffic Master(?)” brand. Purchased on clearance for less than $1/square foot. Freaking indestructible ~10 years in, with 2 kids, cats, spills from my clumsy ass, and a wife who refuses to ask for help when moving (dragging) furniture.
In reply to RevRico :
I have to be the weird exception guy here. I went to a medium sized sawmill and asked what he could sell me cheap.
Cheapest was black walnut at 17 cents a bd foot. Mill run. ( that means ungraded, just as it comes off the log) pick and sort yourself. I averaged about 10% waste. That price is rough, green and at the mill. Also that was back in 1997
Right now it’s likely to be Ash since the emerald bore beetle is taking a lot of trees and we don’t make much furniture anymore.
Yes you need to do a little work but work you do yourself doesn’t cost anything and provides you with pride upon completion.
All sorts of ways to put it down. My first floor I did with a groove that I used a spline I made to join adjacent boards. Talk about labor intensive.!
Then I did a traditional tongue and groove which wasn’t too bad, finally I settled on half lapped which really made it easier.
Fastening the boards down I started out doing the traditional angle nail in the groove. Then I went to nailing on the tongue of tongue and groove. My favorite turned out to be screw down. Depending on how wide the boards are I may use 2-3-4-5 screws across. ( boards as wide as 14 inches) I start with a brad point drill bit and drill about 1/2 inch deep. ( boards finish a hair under 1 inch thick) Then I run a screw in. followed by a plug I cut from scrap wood with a little glue, tap tap and on to the next hole. 24 hours later I use a sharp chisel to cut the top of the plug almost flush with the floor. A few moments with a random orbit sander brings it flush with the floor.
The advantage is the finish sanding can be done with the same Sander and 220 grit.
Most people use a plastic ( polyurethane ) finish of one brand or another. Trouble is plastic is soft. Softer than Shellac With poly any scratch means sand it all off and start over. Shellac melts together one coat over the next. So a scratch is easily fixed. Not to mention shellac is much harder than plastic.
In our last house, being on a budget we took 3/4 inch plywood and ripped it at 45 degrees, but not quite as deep as the first layer of veneer. So when we layed it down it looked like wide plank hardwood. After it was down we randomly made 90 degree cuts to simulate the ends of the planks. Then we painted the floor with a heavy garage paint and polyurathaned it. The idea was to use it as a subfloor and add a proper hardwood floor a few years later after we had saved some more money up, but it looked so good we never bothered.
Interesting to read this thread right now. I was recently out at Costco, then Staples to buy chair mat--you know ,the plastic mat that you put down on carpet so that you can spin around in your office chair instead of doing your taxes.
Well, Costco didn't have any, and at Staples the $30 demo version was cracked; the $70 seemed ridiculous for a good one, so I gave up and decided to put a regular chair in the office. Then I was in Home Depot for something else, and noticed that the 1/8 hardboard was only $10 for 4x8. Since I had the AngieVan with me, I picked one up and had them cut it in half. Put it down on the carpet, and damned if it doesn't work great. It doesn't look half bad either, but I'm looking for some super cheap peel-and-stick "wood" floor to stick on it. I think it would really tie the room together at that point.
If it works, it works. If it doesn't, oh well. Based on reviews of the real chair mats online, if it lasts 6 months, I'm way ahead as the plastic mats last about a year--$10-$12 a year isn't bad.
In reply to mtn :
To have it last put a couple of layers of duck tape over the edges. Brown will likely look best.
frenchyd said:In reply to mtn :
To have it last put a couple of layers of duck tape over the edges. Brown will likely look best.
Good call. Maybe I can think of something better, a real border of some sort that would keep the chair from rolling off. But Duct tape is cheap, and easy.
SVreX said:I’ve been installing LVP in commercial settings now for nearly 10 years, and owned 3 houses with it.
The stuff is awesome. It’s easy to install, easy to clean, inexpensive, and indestructible.
Definitely the winner.
However, there is no way I would use a peel-and-stick. EVER. It’s a great way to have to redo the floor in just a couple years.
Use the glue down LVP. It’s really easy.
What’s a recommended wear coat thickness for residential use?
Since we're still on the topic of LVP, we're putting it in our master bathroom. Key points we like from it are the wear ratings, and the waterproof properties of vinyl.
We are installing a freestanding soak tub, and I am torn on if we need to put the tub in first and floor around it (with cuts as close to the base of the tub as possible" or floor the whole area and install the tub over the flooring.
The tub weighs about 150lbs or so empty, and does not get used every day. Would it make sense to just put the flooring in and install the tub over it, or is there problems for the floor when we fill the tub and soak in it?
Side bar: how are you supposed to install washer and dryers over LVP, it seems like many do not recommend too much weight on the flooring, and the washer/dryer's movement may shift the floating floor?
PR
Tub over floor.
the only issue I’ve had with tens of thousands of square feet of lvt/lvp is one customer has a massively heavy fridge, and an island right in front of it, and when the floor moves the one plank that the refrigerator wheels sit on stays put and the rest of the floor moves, pulling the end seam apart. Next time it happens I’m planning to glue that seam before i pop it back together.
In reply to procker :
Thank You for pointing that out. I’m hoping to put one down in the spring and my fridge, washer and dryer are along one wall. Is there anything I should do differently there?
Finally going to be starting this project this week. Looking like I'm spending 4 times as much for a dumpster to clear out the old stuff and a truck rental to hold everything than I spent on the flooring. 39 cents a square foot for the flooring though was awfully nice to pay at lumber liquidators.
$160 for flooring
$345 for 15 yards dumpster for a week (the other local companies want $335 for a 10)
$160-200 truck ($40/day for a uhaul rental Thursday to Monday)
Excited to get this done finally. Probably going to regret it later, but I decided not to paint before hand just to save half a days labour.
Curtis' thread had me dig this one up again.
At the new house is this
Yes, a carpeted berkeleying bathroom. I kind of understand from a safety aspect as the home owners are old and sick, and wet carpet is less dangerous than wet anything smooth.
But the idea of carpet in a bathroom is disgusting and unsanitary at best. I have NO idea when the carpet was put down, but I was told this is my first project at the house and I agree.
I'm 90% sure we're doing a stone look LVP. Being that this bathroom, the main bathroom, is on the top floor of the house, I feel much safer in my belief that there is a flatish, smoothish surface under the rug. Can't possibly be as berkeleyed as my living room here at the current house wound up being at least.
But my question is more in regards to whats on the ground already.
Am I right in assuming the toilet will have to come up but the tub and sink/counter/cabinet can stay in place? Or is the sink bit too hard to tell from this picture?
Sorry, I'm working with what I have, which means pictures borrowed from listing sites. But there is also a transition here in the doorway to different carpet. What kind of "joint" should I be looking for?
ANd I guess I'll finish this long post with a question. What's worst case scenario here? In the basement, having shoved the ceiling tiles out of the way, there are no stains or molds growing on the underside of the floor of the bathroom, or anywhere in its vicinity. So that *should* mean it has been leak free. I didn't notice any soft spots walking around the bathroom either. The floor joists all look good and solid in this area too.
Best case I can imagine is I pull the carpet and find beatup old linoleum, in which case, I slap down the click lock lvp over it and have maybe a day in here. With the joists and bottom sides of the floorboards looking good, is it safe to think the worst case scenario will be replacing one or two sheets of plywood flooring?
EDIT: I'm 11 days out from having keys to the house and being able to go through it again with a finer tooth comb. I understand until I'm actually in it that this is mostly an exercise in speculation.
I'm a professional procrastinator and over thinker. I guy I worked with gave me the best advice when it comes to projects like this.....Just do it. If you screw it up (doubtful if your somewhat handy) you either fix your screw up or call a professional.
If it's an old toilet, just replace it. Hopefully they didn't glue the carpet down but even if it is you'll get through it.
RevRico said:Am I right in assuming the toilet will have to come up but the tub and sink/counter/cabinet can stay in place? Or is the sink bit too hard to tell from this picture?
I would definitely pull the toilet, and you'll want a spacing "ring" to go between the current toilet ring and the toilet. They make plastic ones ~3/8" think that raise the ring more level with the new floor.
Sink is up to you. You can floor up to it if you like it & want to keep it. Or pull it, floor all the way to the wall, and leave yourself the option to replace that cabinet if you don't like it later on. I would do the latter, even though it will mean borking with the sink-to-wall seal and all the sink plumbing, because that way, you can see it's right. And you have the option to change sinks if you want.
Also - if you're making any changes to the ceiling, walls (wallpaper? painting? Painting the tile or replacing it?) do those before the floor. Always easier to work your way down from the top.
Congrats on the house!
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