Rolling out the red carpet... or underlayment.
And so it begins...
And so it begins...
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My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)
- Thread starter silky smoove
- Start date
This tool is genius. It allows you to hammer the end of the last piece of a run to ensure that the joints between planks you’ve already laid are nice and tight.
First north-south course is done.
First north-south course is done.
Progress was going smoothly until I realized I was working under a flawed premise. The building is not perfectly square or straight, as most buildings are not. I’ve been chasing the wall with the flooring and now I have gaps in planks that I can’t rectify with my hammer and flooring block. Tomorrow I’m going to pull all of the planks I’ve already installed, and instead only focus on keeping the planks square to each other and then shimmying everything within the room, allowing the expansion gap around the edges to be the non-parallel component. I think it will go more smoothly that way and result in a better product.
After struggling through a couple attempts this morning I realized something was wrong. Upon closer inspection, a number of the planks had their edges curled under making it impossible for them to lock in parallel to the next plank. This occurs when you don’t follow the manufacturer’s instructions and attempt to install the planks backwards (ie with the tongue rather than the groove towards the wall on your first course). I removed all curled planks which will be returned to Home Depot and replaced to account for any shortfall in material quantities, and proceeded per the manufacturer. Now it’s going smoothly. This is the scene as I break for lunch.
This is as far as I can go with the door slab in the way. Fortunately it only needs to move about 5’ to the west with zero rotation and it’ll be out of the way. Should be a very doable lift as soon as I can find someone to help me lift it.
So how does it all stay put once it's all layed down? Is it just kinda floating around on top of the sub floor?
Yep, hence the term "floating floor." You can glue it down, but you'd better hope you get everything right on the install and never want to or need to change it.
Hmmm wouldn't that be an extra source of noise though? I'd be worried about all that wood rattling around when your drummer is going ham on a kick drum.
I'm considering taking on a laminate job myself soon. I can see me doing exactly as you have in the beginning
It's looking really nice!
Lookin' good @silky smoove
Anyone who has worked with laminate or other engineered flooring has likely done the same -at least once anyways!
I've done it more than once on the same job. Back in 2010, I bought a pallet load of laminate for a cottage and bunkhouse remodelling job. After a deployment overseas, I started the remodelling in earnest in the summer of 2012. Finally finished the "job" this summer. Had to reverse the rookie mistake each time I started a new year's worth of work.
In the end, and after about 1200 sq ft of flooring laid down, I had three, yes three, planks left over. Thank goodness as I'm pretty sure the product I used is now discontinued!
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There's no added noise, and the wood physically can't rattle around. Even the portion that I have down now can't move around despite not meeting the walls on all sides yet (minus the expansion gaps of course). There's more than sufficient surface friction between the bottom of the flooring and the top of the underlayment to hold it in place. Once the planks are locked into place they act as one unified mass. This is how laminate, engineered hardwood and luxury vinyl planks are most commonly installed in residential and commercial installations. Very few people go to the trouble of gluing them down anymore as it's simply not necessary.
Haha, too true. I use this great Roadrunner drum rug with a built-in bass drum chalk that removes the need to use the spurs. I might even do an additional larger area rug underneath it if the bounce from the floor is too much in the overheads.
Door slab moving help has been procured. We’re moving it tonight before I run off to a rehearsal immediately after. Busy busy busy, but it’ll allow me to keep moving on the flooring over the weekend.
Builders paper is down to prevent scuffing the newly installed flooring. Styrofoam blocks leftover from the mini split are being used to keep the door off the ground and easier to lift for the door contractor. Additional styrofoam blocking will be placed in the mid-span of the door once it’s down to prevent any sagging from being suspended on the ends.
I might do a little more of the flooring this week, and I’ll definitely try to finish it over the weekend.
