Time for a new floor

With the carpet gone and the first coat of paint done it was time to think about putting in a floor.  We knew we didn't want carpet again.  Original plan was to use a Pergo Laminate Floor.  They don't look bad, they are very tough and easier to install.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that they are easy because I know that all of them are a lot of work and will be a bit fiddly in places.  Ray was still home for his Christmas break and up for the challenge so we began searching for a floor.  As we thought more about it it became clear that with the refinished pine floors in the upstairs that a fake wood floor would never look quite right.  We ended up deciding on a Oak engineered floor.  These are similar to the laminate but utilize actual wood for the top, bottom and middle layers with some sort of other material between them.

Step one was to buy the materials.  We found that a Home Depot in Southport had a good supply of some that we liked so off we went to buy them.  I calculated that we would probably need 15 cases each of which weighs about 40 pounds.  The actual boards are about 4 inches wide and random lengths.  This is what makes this harder than laminate which goes in in sections 9 inches wide and every piece is the same length.

After getting them home and carried up to the room we carefully measured the width of the room.  It is important to plan the boards so that you don't end up with having to cut the final row too thin.  We decided that we would need to rip the first row to about 2 3/4" to get everything to work right.

Thursday morning Ray and I began by sitting around drinking coffee and thinking about getting started.  We knew that we needed to rip the first row of boards and were pretty sure we knew the rest of the steps but it never hurts to watch a few more youtube videos while you work up finally getting started.  One of the videos covered the exact Millstead floor we were installing.  In it a man showed all of the tricks for fitting it around doorways and such.  Inexplicably at the end of the video we noticed that his finger was all bandaged up.  No mention of what had happened.  Not bringing back five of the boards the night before to rip on the table saw was an obvious tactical error.  Gloria was already frustrated with our pace and headed over to do some cleaning.  Somewhere along the way we told her to bring five back so we could trim them.  After a bit more procrastination on our part she arrives back.  She mentions that it was hard fitting five of them in the back of her car and a lot of work to lug down the stairs.  OOPS, she had brought back five BOXES rather than 5 boards.  Shame on us for not being more clear.  Time to get off our butts and get started.  Ray and Gloria went over to get started while I ripped the boards on the table saw.  The original plan had been to use a circular saw to cut the end boards but the more I thought about it the more clear it was that the table saw would be a lot easier.  So I managed to load it in the Lincoln and headed over.

There are hundreds of how-to's on installing these floors so I won't bother to provide a detailed description but in general it is a floating floor that has a layer of foam put down first.  The boards are installed with a 3/8" gap to the walls so that when if expands and contracts it can move around just enough to keep it from buckling.  Each row need to be planned out to be sure that no two rows have boards that line up.  Enough explanations let's see some pictures.

 The floor must be completely clean with no rocks, nails or staples to cause problems latter on.

 Gloria holding down the first row of foam

First row of foam stapled down. 

First several rows installed.

The boards snap together but it isn't quite as simple as that.  Basically it involved lining them up at a 45 degree angle and them pounding it down with a rubber mallet.  Occasionally we would find a slight imperfection along the edge that prohibited it from locking in place.  Lots of trial and error and occasionally we would determine that the problem wasn't so much with the board we were installing but the one one the previous row.  The only solution when that occurs is to remove the current row and the previous row until you get to the bad board which then needs to be replaced.  All in all it made for a slow process.

 Ray and Gloria contemplating something, probably that they are going to have to tear out a few rows to fix another bad one :( 

End of day one!

By the time we quit it was after 9:00 PM on New Years Eve.  We were exhausted and starving.  We felt like going out for a good Mexican dinner.  Unfortunately most of the authentic restaurants were closed for New Years Eve.  We did find an El Rodeo (small chain of Mexican restaurants famous for money laundering) in Carmel that was open.  We had dinner, got home and all three of us were in Bed before 11.  What a way to spend New Years Eve.  Gloria and I slept well but Ray didn't end up with such a restful night.  At midnight people started shooting off fireworks which caused Mindy our typically fearless Doberman to freak out and start crying at his door.  He ended up having to let her sleep with him but she couldn't settle down until about 2:00.