Floor Remodel — Pink Glitter Pumpkins

Jul 12

Jul 12 Floor Remodel

Every year, Brad and I do some sort of remodel to our house. This year we decided to redo our floors in our living room, hallway, and dining room. We wanted to replace the carpet and put in laminate floors. To save money, we decided to install it ourselves with the help of some of our friends. We purchased all of our products from Lowe's. We decides to get a Lowe's Credit Card since we would get 5% off all of our purchases. I think it saved us somewhere between $100-$200. They also have some special weekends where you can get 10% off. Below are the products we used:

allen+roth Laminate Flooring - Russet Oak
Blue Hawk Moisture Barrier
Laminate Install Kit (we actually already had this from a friend)
Transition Strips
Quarter Round
Flooring Saw
Miter Saw (we already had)
Jig Saw (we already had)
Nail Gun (we already had)
Drill (we already had)

Day 1 - Friday

We moved all of the furniture out of the dining room.

Day 2 - Saturday

We pulled up the carpet in the dining room.

And the carpet padding...

We were unaware that there was going to be flooring underneath the carpet. This was true in all the rooms. We live on a concrete slab, so that is what I expected to see. It was quite interesting.

We had to remove all of the tack strips and since the previous owners glued the carpet padding down, we had to scrap it all up. This probably delayed us 3-4 hours.

Once the floors were all cleaned up, we had to lay down the moisture barrier.

Then we started installing the floors. Since the laminate we bought has a padding attached to it, we did not have to lay any other underlayment down. They also just snap together, no glue together.

In order to move the china cabinet back into the dining room, we installed the quarter round on the one wall where it goes.

Day 3 - Monday

We moved all of the furniture out of our living room, except the TV stand. Brad needed help for that one.

And here is where all the furniture went!

Day 4 - Wednesday

We pulled up all of the carpet, carpet padding, and tack strips in the living room and hallway. No glue this time!

Day 5- Thursday

We went and purchased our saw and bought a few more odds and ends we would need.

Day 6 - Saturday

We vacuumed the floors one more time, then we applied all of the moisture barrier.

If you actively read my blog, you know this already, but this is not Brad, just a helpful friend!

Now we start installing the floors!

We worked until after midnight before calling it quits.

Day 7 - Sunday

We continued installing the floors in the living room and then started on the transition strips where possible.

We also installed the quarter round where possible.

Day 8 - Monday

We finally moved the furniture back into the living room!

Days 9 ~ 11 - Tuesday ~ Thursday

We worked on the hallway for multiple days. It was super tricky. The hard part were the doorways. This pictures was on Wednesday night. We literally spent all of Wednesday cutting like three boards, and we didn't even get them installed. They were installed Thursday. A trick I did learn was if you use the box the laminate came in and cut it to match the board, you won't risk wasting any board on cuts. You can just test the cardboard cutout until you like it, then draw it on the laminate!