Out with the old and in with the new! Thanks to
my hubby and his AMAZING family, who worked their tails off, we now have
beautiful wooden flooring downstairs. Removing the carpet had been number one
on our to-do list since we moved into our house a year ago, but of course
things came up (like they always do) and it got put on the back burner. The
carpet was original to the house and was pretty mated, it also had spots and
marks seeping up through it- gross!! I for one am not okay with mystery spots,
not only is it ugly and dirty looking, but who knows what was spilled by the
previous owners. Thank goodness for my father-in-law and JD’s extremely hard
working Nana and Papa. They came to our rescue and drove 12 hours to help us
install the new wood flooring.
We had already gone to
Lowes a few weeks in advance to look at samples and order the material. We
decided on a laminate hardwood by Allen + Roth called Driftwood Oak, I really
love the color variation in it. Tip: When ordering flooring you want to leave
yourself plenty of time before starting your project. The wood needs to sit in
your home for at least a few days before it is installed, you want the material
to acclimate to your home’s temperatures and climate. We were told it would
take a week for the flooring and transition strips to be delivered to our Lowes
location, so we ordered two weeks ahead of time to be safe, one week for
delivery and one week to let it settle in our house. The other thing to keep in
mind is the underlayment; you’ll want and need something between your floor and
foundation. We have a concrete slab foundation, and put a sound and moisture
barrier underlayment down first (Which Lowes has in stock, no need to pre order
it). It didn’t take long to realize that our concrete foundation wasn’t poured
completely level, so the underlayment actually pulled double duty and helped to
even out the surface before installing the wood planks.
We chose the laminate
flooring for multiple reasons, one being installation; no glue required! The
planks have a basic tongue and groove to them, so they slide, snap and lock
together piece by piece! Getting the first few pieces started is the toughest
part, once you have a few down the rest start snapping into place like giant
puzzle pieces. Remember to stagger your planks so the ends don’t line up side
by side. Make random cuts in length to starter pieces so the floor’s pattern
is "uneven". Speaking of the beginning pieces, the planks bordering the wall
shouldn’t bud right up against it, you want a small gap between the floor and
wall to account for shifting and expanding… don’t worry, the gap will be
completely covered by the baseboards. Baseboards, those are the only things I
can honestly say I “helped” with! The men did all of the work, they ripped up
the old carpet, cleaned, laid the underlayment and installed all of the
flooring, and put the baseboards back up. All I helped with was repainting the
baseboards to give them a fresh clean look in a brighter crisper shade of
white.
Of course nice newly
painted baseboards downstairs led me to wanting the same freshly painted
baseboards upstairs, which led to newly painted door frames to match, which led
to painting and updating the interior doors, which is a whole story and blog
post in itself! I am really excited to share a post about the interior doors,
but that will have to wait a bit until I can get them completed! Anyways, the
family worked so hard to help us; we really appreciate it and are so grateful!
We saved a bunch of money by avoiding installation costs, we learned a lot and
loved being taught, and we got to spend time with some of our favorite people.
All in all it was a wonderful experience, I wish we had the time and resources
to complete our upstairs rooms as well, but their time will come!
I really recommend the
laminate wood flooring for anyone who wants or needs a change, it is extremely
durable, scratch proof and easy to clean, plus it looks great and is pretty
easy to install yourself. Our poor little puppy took a few days to get used to
it, he kept slipping and sliding around, it was sad and hysterical at the same
time. He has adjusted to them now and has no problems, and I am comforted
knowing his paws and nails wont scratch the floors, no matter how crazy he
pounces and runs- which is an hourly occurrence. Thank you again to my husbands
Dad, Nana and Papa, we love you guys! Here are pictures of your hard work, the
before, during and afters!
xoxo,
Rachele
