Saturday, September 6, 2008

Installing a Laminate Floor - Prep Work

Due to the unexpected, instead of being in Germany now, I'm at home. Sylvia flew to her home town of Untebalbach on Thursday and should be calling me to help her put Noah's toy back together Sunday.

Hopefully, she'll get some photos and hopefully, he'll like the crane. Instead of fretting about not getting to go and see everyone, drink great beer and eat the best meats, cheeses and breads I've ever had, I thought "why not take advantage of the time I already took from work and get some bigger projects done for the house". While I miss Sylvia a bunch, because she really is my best friend, it's amazing how much more I get done when she's gone!

When we bought our house and moved it onto our land (it's a manufactured house), we knew we were going to be living on a huge sand dune for awhile, so we got th
e cheapest carpet they offered. Between me and the dogs, we managed to track in copious amounts of sand and killed the carpet fibers in no time flat. So, about two months ago we started shopping for new flooring material. Carpet was out due to Sylvia's severe allergies (she can't wait for this carpet to be gone). Also, we have dogs, so hardwood was out. Bamboo almost looked like a decent choice but when you take a nail to it, it scratches too. In addition to standing up to our dogs (two of which will still spin-out like the cartoons), we wanted something that wouldn't show hair. After searching and searching, we finally found a laminate we both liked and would fulfill our requirements. About two weeks ago, my buddy Ken and I went and picked up the shipment and staged it in the garage.


Today, I started moving furniture, removing trim, and pulling the carpet. You can see in this photo all the sand/dirt that made it's way through the carpet and carpet pad to the subfloor. It happens to be at the entrance to the kitchen and the dogs favorite place when we (o.k., mostly Sylvia) are cooking. It's a good idea to photograph bookcases so you can remember how they were meticulously arranged.

A scraper is handy to remove all the caulking left after you pull the trim.

Hopefully tomorrow, I'll start laying down some flooring. I've done several floating floors, but never a whole house at once. Plus, the sales guys said that because this flooring is so thick (12 mm), it's a bear. Wish me luck!


2 comments:

Kari Hultman said...

Sorry you didn't get to go to Germany but glad to hear you are making the best of it. : )

I installed pergo in our bedroom several years ago. It took 16 hours, mainly because I had to keep running up and down the stairs to my then basement shop to make cuts. All the while I thought "I will never do this again." But once it was in, I changed my mind. It's gorgeous.

Good luck!

Vic Hubbard said...

Thanks Kari, It's been a while since I lived in a construction zone.
Ah, the memories!