Need a flooring guy to work with me. Back issues have thrown

glhs837

Power with Control
my plans in the shredder. Short form, I need someone to install the approximately 500 square feet of 12mm free floating laminate I have here and I'm looking for recommendations. I'll have my son and a few of his buddies remove the 80s subfloor (7/16ths nailed particleboard over 7/16ths nailed CDX) and install Advantech with glue and screws (picked up a nice Senco screwgun used off ebay, auto depth setting, square drive screws, wish I could be the one to use it.). Was going to do it myself but my L5/S1 decided to blow out and now I"m reduced to supervisory mode.


While I'm sure I can run an inexperienced crew for the rough work on the subfloor, I am not so sure about doing the same with the finish floor, especially in a room that is 35 1/2 by 15 1/2. I'll be checking CR and the ads here, but personal recommendations are always nice to have. Cannot wait to get rid of this 1986 green carpet.
 

Grumpy

Well-Known Member
The hard part is what your son and buddies are doing, have them do the whole job under your supervision. Once the subflooring is in, laying the laminate is relatively simple.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
I'm afraid to lose too many pieces to the snap and click leaning process. Boys that age have not come into mastery of motor control, so while the "HULK SMASH" is sort of fine for the sub-floor, getting the laminate pieces to click and lock without tearing up the T&G portions is what concerns me.
 
C

czygvtwkr

Guest
I'm afraid to lose too many pieces to the snap and click leaning process. Boys that age have not come into mastery of motor control, so while the "HULK SMASH" is sort of fine for the sub-floor, getting the laminate pieces to click and lock without tearing up the T&G portions is what concerns me.

If it is quality laminate, and 12mm is usually the good stuff, it should not be a problem. I had to use an enhanced torque applicator (hammer) for my pieces on one side of the rooms that I did and did not have a single failure in the laminate.

The big big big thing is to make sure your subfloor is flat (not necessarily level) to the manufacture required specs. The flatter your subfloor the better the install will be and the happier you will be with your floor. Every single person that hates laminate brings up issues cause by a non-flat subfloor.

Did I mention the flatness of the subfloor is important?

Good Luck, sorry to hear about your back.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Thats why I decided to just rip it out down to the joists and do it with Advantech. The amount of time putting lipstick on that pig of a subfloor would have cost me more time and effort, and since particleboard isnt a suitable underlayment, it would void the warranty. And the initial installers butted both the plywood and the particleboard nice and snug, no glue, and it was nailed. The places it squeaks are legion. Otherwise, the construction is top notch, 2x6 exterior walls, cedar siding, Anderson windows, but in the 80s, flooring was in a transitional stage, so thats my cross to bear.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Well, getting along, discovered plywood subfloor (7/16ths) runs under sole plates for walls, and so must be trimmed flush with drywall so I can get the new subfloor (22/32nds) right up to the edge. Turns out there are limited ways to do that. Could use a circular saw and only cut it 1 1/2 inches close, then just kludge something together to level it around the perimeter of the room. Seems sloppy to me, and asking for a future failure in that area. Could use a sawzall, but thats a might scary, given I know theres wiring in there, like the wiring for the range, and heating ducts, and getting a clean line seems unlikely.

So, it's off to ebay for one of these......

http://www.rotozip.com/en-us/VideosandHowTo/Pages/ZipSaw.aspx

Factory refurbed, $46 shipped, free shipping, bought it yesterday morning, got here today, came with all the accessories and two blades.

At an all stop right now, decided to paint the ceiling before going any farther. Also decided to swap out ugly baseboard heating registers for floor units in cast iron. And since the project requires the baseboards to come off anyway, we are going to put in 5 1/4 inch baseboard, that builder grade 3 inch stuff gets lost in a room thats 35 x 15. Stuff just snowballs...... :) Cant wait to try this saw......
 

glhs837

Power with Control
C

czygvtwkr

Guest
I meant to mention that. I looked at that long and hard. Nobody local rents them anymore. And for twice the money, it's a one trick pony, while the Zipsaw has other uses, including tiling which I plan to do some in the future. Since the zipsaw can use any 4 inch grinder wheel also, that opens up auto restoration stuff also.

I had a rotozip in the past, while its a nicely made tool I didn't find it all that useful on anything but drywall. I am a big fan of oscilating tools like the Fein Multimaster but wouldn't want to cut an entire perimeter of a room with it.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Keep in mind, this isnt the same rotozip you use on drywall, although you could use this one for that. That's more of a beefed up dremel, while this is more of a highly moddded angle grinder. Yeah, I gave the oscillating stuff a seconds thought, but given its tiny cut, doing that perimeter would be crazy. I plan on testing the zipsaw this evening, just a trial to make sure it does what I need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQI5JshH15U
 

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glhs837

Power with Control
Well, managed to nurse my back along (and have my darling wife lay %70 of the boards, while I focused on on the cut pieces and getting around the new floor vents. %99 done.
 

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mamatutu

mama to two
Well, managed to nurse my back along (and have my darling wife lay %70 of the boards, while I focused on on the cut pieces and getting around the new floor vents. %99 done.

Oh my! Beautiful. It looks old, and that is what makes it look good. Great job! I hope you treated your wife to something special. :lol: I hope your back is better.
 
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