Installing Flooring

[ripnbst]

Has anyone here installed their own flooring? If so, how was your experience? Was it worth the money saved to do it yourself?

I am looking at redoing the flooring in my entire house. I am doing carpet in 3 bedrooms and either tile that looks like wood or hardwood in the main hallway and family room, still undecided on that. If anyone can chime in on installation of tile or hard wood and your experiences I would appreciate it. I know pretty well what all is involved with the carpet, at least I think I do. Never done it myself but helped once or twice.

 

[NikatKimber]

Done carpet, paid someone to do it in my house!

Laid something like 800sf of tile in my house. The tile wasn't so bad, but I never did really get the grouting figured out. Laying the glue-down wood flooring is not something I'd care to ever do again. I've heard, but not done, that the nail-down is not near as bad. The glue was nasty, messy, and a royal pain. Laying the floating type flooring, that you can get in simulated tile, wood, stone, etc doesn't seem too bad.

One tip, no matter what kinda flooring you do: pop the baseboards, install flooring, reinstall baseboards. I tried to install tile in our bathroom without removing the baseboards, and it just doesn't look as nice if the flooring goes up to the baseboards.

 

[twoguns?]

Its all about the tools, if you dont have /want to buy...hire it out.
If your a perfectionist, no floors are flat /and square....hire it out.
If you just like doing....go for it.
Get quality material, dont skimp, it wont last.
No carpet for me, done plenty, just dont want it in my house.
Oh, you could probably rent some of the tools, just sayin.

 

[AirMech74]

I assisted a coworker here recently...he put down laminated flooring, it took a few trial and errors, but we got the hang of it...took two nights to finish it...he went solo the second night and said it wasn't too bad. You definitely want to get the proper tools and as stated in another post, pull your baseboards and trim, will look so much better and if you need to cover any gaps or "mistakes" you can add 1/4 round and it looks great. He spend $600 for everything, saved quite a bit of money.

 

[expertzx]

I want some wood engineered flooring done, anyone here do this professionally?

 

[cpolesen]

The laminate is not bad at all. i had som installed and i did some. Either way looks good

 

[badrinker]

I've done laminate several times, very easy.
I've done hardwood on a couple of houses that had foundations and could be nailed down, also pretty easy with standard saws (cut-off saw and jig-saw or bandsaw) and the approriate tool to nail it down (I have no idea what it's called, my brother-in-law owns it).
I've also done hardwood on a house (mine this time) with concrete floors. This was a PITA. Finally finished 2 bedrooms, hallway (30'), large living room and dining room. Glueing it down is a skill I'm closer to mastering, much harder than the other 2.

Saved a ton of cash though. I'm just one of those guys that prefers to do it myself if possible (ok, I'm just really cheap)

 

[inactive]

I am getting 400+ sq ft of hardwood put into my house the first of April. Glued. I am paying to have it done. Floating wood and laminate I have done and would do again, but not this. As mentioned, it's a mess I am wise enough to pass on. I am not going to screw up flooring that is upwards of 10 dollars a square foot. I had less reservations with the laminate in my first home, was was under $2 per sq ft.


Tile? Maybe a bathroom or kitchen. A larger room or living space I would pass on, as any miscues start to multiply as the row are added on.

Carpet? Pass. Install is so cheap, it's not worth it. I paid $99 for a whole house install when I lived in Moore. It was only the 3 bedrooms for me, but the cost was the same for 2+ rooms to an entire house. We just moved the furniture.

 

[NikatKimber]

I am getting 400+ sq ft of hardwood put into my house the first of April. Glued. I am paying to have it done. Floating wood and laminate I have done and would do again, but not this. As mentioned, it's a mess I am wise enough to pass on. I am not going to screw up flooring that is upwards of 10 dollars a square foot. I had less reservations with the laminate in my first home, was was under $2 per sq ft.


Tile? Maybe a bathroom or kitchen. A larger room or living space I would pass on, as any miscues start to multiply as the row are added on.

Carpet? Pass. Install is so cheap, it's not worth it. I paid $99 for a whole house install when I lived in Moore. It was only the 3 bedrooms for me, but the cost was the same for 2+ rooms to an entire house. We just moved the furniture.

Yeah, I wouldn't tile a large open area. I did a kitchen, dining room, entry way, two bathrooms and the master closet.

Like you said, the guy who did our carpet included installation in the price of the carpet. Still came out cheaper than Lowe's.

 

[RidgeHunter]

I did wide-plank, top-nailed, T&G southern pine in my house when I built it. 90% of it alone. Also, 3 of us did my parent's house with the same stuff, but their house is much larger than mine. It was kinda fun, actually, though I got sick of pounding cut nails. Fairly time-consuming, you make triangle wedge jigs and use them to close the gap on each board. Nail it; pull up the jig; move it on down the line and repeat. I hired my tile out.

Good thing about wide-plank pine is that it's supposed to look distressed/imperfect.