what the hell did i get myself into lol

anyone got any tips, suggestions, etc?

dude this is a super easy project.  i did a few of these for my buddy.  1: take your time.  2: dont forget to use a spacer around the walls so your flooring doesnt slide on you.  3:  If you didnt get the block from them to smack the boards together for a tight fit us a cutoff from another flooring board just lock it in hold it up off the floor a bit and give it a nice smack with a hammer not to hard and your smack block will last almost the hole floor.  4:  NOTING is scrape or junk until the floor is completely done.  good luck man

It's not hard at all.  I did the entire living room and hallway at my parents' house with my dad and bro-in-law in less than a day...and that was with the occasional beer break. 

oh yeah i did forget the manditory beer breaks  

Oh...if you don't have one, rent/beg/borrow/steal a table saw.  Do not try to do that with a Skil saw.   

A chop saw is the perfect tool for cutting length.  A table saw would help for ripping the last board in a room if you need to.

I installed two large rooms and it was a PITA.  One room went over concrete and one over a subfloor.  Both rooms were glued down.  I used engineered wood floor, not laminate.  I bought the less expensive flooring that needed glue or nails.  It looks fantastic, but it is tough to install that way.

The room with a subfloor had a concrete basement wall around the perimeter.  The top of the wall was not level with the subfloor.  When carpeted, they had simply smeared about a foot of leveling compound, which worked fine under carpet pad and carpet.  Under a smooth surface like a wood floor, you need it pretty damned level.  I spent a full day mixing and spreading leveling compound to get the edges right.  I had to blend the levels over about a 3 foot span in places.

My only advice is take your time and get it right.  Don't be in a hurry.

Quote from: trumpetguy on March 14, 2009, 09:32:57 AM
A chop saw is the perfect tool for cutting length.  A table saw would help for ripping the last board in a room if you need to.

I installed two large rooms and it was a PITA.  One room went over concrete and one over a subfloor.  Both rooms were glued down.  I used engineered wood floor, not laminate.  I bought the less expensive flooring that needed glue or nails.  It looks fantastic, but it is tough to install that way.

The room with a subfloor had a concrete basement wall around the perimeter.  The top of the wall was not level with the subfloor.  When carpeted, they had simply smeared about a foot of leveling compound, which worked fine under carpet pad and carpet.  Under a smooth surface like a wood floor, you need it pretty damned level.  I spent a full day mixing and spreading leveling compound to get the edges right.  I had to blend the levels over about a 3 foot span in places.

My only advice is take your time and get it right.  Don't be in a hurry.

and never ever ever spill any water on it. ever !

we have 2" x 1 7/8" x 20' flooring in the rental house (in ms). it will take water just fine. the lock n snap stuff you're putting down likely has plywood backing (like the house we're renting here in al) and will warp all to hell.

be careful with the fluids !

While the bike sits on a jack with the engine halfway outta the frame...


My wife somehow got me to agree to installing a new floor before I go back in the garage.   

How the f%$k did I get myself roped into this?

Oh yea running GS500 waiting to be turned into a full blown proper bike with lights and dash ... and dead virago with a bad ignition connector and 100's of GSTwinners waiting for their stuff and the wife roped me in, to go furniture shopping ... had a great time though, it was 35 degrees and pouring rain today, all freaking day, forever.
Cool.
Buddha.

The snap-lock stuff is pretty easy.  Just take your time, use up your shorts, and get your spacings correct.  There's no such thing as a "random" human-generated pattern.  It looks better if you stick to 3rd's.

A section of flooring and a cheap Dozuki works well for getting under door casing.

Here's what I do:

Wow, Geep, that's unreal work!  Looks fantastic.

Quote from: trumpetguy on March 14, 2009, 09:32:57 AM
A chop saw is the perfect tool for cutting length.  A table saw would help for ripping the last board in a room if you need to.

I installed two large rooms and it was a PITA.  One room went over concrete and one over a subfloor.  Both rooms were glued down.  I used engineered wood floor, not laminate.  I bought the less expensive flooring that needed glue or nails.  It looks fantastic, but it is tough to install that way.

The room with a subfloor had a concrete basement wall around the perimeter.  The top of the wall was not level with the subfloor.  When carpeted, they had simply smeared about a foot of leveling compound, which worked fine under carpet pad and carpet.  Under a smooth surface like a wood floor, you need it pretty damned level.  I spent a full day mixing and spreading leveling compound to get the edges right.  I had to blend the levels over about a 3 foot span in places.

My only advice is take your time and get it right.  Don't be in a hurry.

yup what TG said. hell ive got almost 1200 linear feet of mahogany, gotta figure out what to do with it. GL wiht project, and update with pics as it goes along . time for first beer break Eh?

Geep, that is really nice

I agree wholeheartedly

i'd walk on it....   

I prefer real wood to plastic (laminate) wood, but the plastic can be a lot faster. I've done a bunch of stuff which would not be confused for GeeP's work with the thin all-wood parquet squares, which glue down - with the advent of the water-based glue, that's pretty easy, if you don't have the evil glued-down carpet pad I've had to deal with (and scrape off before I can put the wood down). With the solvent glue the parquet was a bit fussy to do, as you had to plan 45 minutes ahead, cut to fit, take up, lay glue, wait and then lay parquet.

Neatest thing I did was to checkerboard (two colors) the hallway - since it was not a big space, rather than working with the 1-foot squares it comes in, I broke it down into the 6 inch squares it's made up of to make a smaller checker.

Getting it on sale, I've been able to do wood for a buck to a buck and a half a square foot - not too bad, and cheaper than the last time I looked at the laminate.

so i got it started and now that i'm getting the hang of it it's getting pretty easy. sucks cuz i have to work on this in between work, i'm thinkin it should only take a few days to get it all done *knock on wood*

here's what i've got so far:






and i just noticed my dog snuck into the first picture

nice i like the narrow board look what is that wall about 20 feet long?

thanks, yeah i think 24' when i measured

Dude...  you've got an infestation of black rats...  HUGE black rats.