Here is my first attempt at replacing carpet with Luxury Vinyl planks though. I've done some tile in this house previously. I did 3/4" solid hardwood in our previous house along with a bit of vinyl sheet flooring in the bathrooms and laundry room.
Initially, I was going to just do a floating floor but after a few conversations I was convinced to go ahead and do glue down. The main reason was that some have experienced gaps over time when there are heavy items on the flooring. Since we have some heavy book cases, desk, etc - I'd rather put the extra effort in now and hope it prevents the problem rather than not try and then wish I had.
I will say that one challenge is that we tend to do things out of order. In this case, I had purposely not painted most of the rooms when we bought the house because I knew I wanted to redo a number of things and figured I plan them together. That would work nicer if I had painted before putting the new flooring in. This was a bit due to getting my wife a "surprise" desk that she has been waiting on for some time to replace the cobbled together solution previously in place.
We ended up just partially assembling the desk (which is U shape when complete) so that we can move it around while working on the flooring and painting.
Here you can see the 99.99% completed flooring along with many of the items I had to juggle during the process. I know the general recommendation is to run the flooring with the planks length in the same direction as the rooms largest length - I didn't do that here. It was really a matter of practicality than anything else. I don't think it really is noticeable with this particular flooring.
I do recommend doing just 1 or 2 rows on the initial start because getting those done just right will make a big difference in how well the rest of the floor goes. Once the first 2 rows dry well, you can be sure that they won't move on your even if you have to pry or tap on things. Also, the unopened boxes made great weights to sit on the finished floor to make sure it was in glue well.
In general, we really like the flooring. Gluing down was extra work and much more time consuming though. I'm hoping that improved looks/longevity and better wear characteristics will make it worth it.
We used the recommended Bostic glue which works fine. It is a bit messy as expected. We usually did a chalk line for 2 rows at a time. So generally we were able to do about 6 rows in a full day. It took up to about 30 minutes time for the glue to set before the planks could be installed. With the right tools, strong helpers and patience you could do more and quicker.
I generally used a miter saw to cut the planks which are 12"x24" x 8mm thick. A box of these planks is pretty heavy compared to other stuff I've worked with. These particular planks are a solid vinyl which adds weight.
I'd highly recommend safety googles when cutting with power saws in this case. It is very message. I've seen some videos where people simply score and snap planks - I haven't tried it with these yet but I am using these in the master bedroom too so I'll have a chance.
I did use my table saw for a few full length cuts but even with a 10" sliding compound miter saw you can probably cut to max length and flip to finish as I did on a few. For irregular cuts as near our columns - I used a jigsaw which works ok. I had a pretty coarse tooth blade on it.
One thing that I still experienced with these planks was a bit of gaping while installing. These are click-lock as well but also have glue down instructions. I have a rubber mallet mostly used for camping that also turns out useful at times like these. If the tongue/groove didn't come together perfect, often I could take a block of wood carefully placed on the edge but on top of the bottom tongue and tap it as lightly as possible to get it aligned. I also tapped on all the seams and face of plank to get it set in the glue well.
I've got a couple pieces to go around the columns yet and have to get some new floor moldings. We are going with white moldings.
The wall color is still being determined. That has been probably the hardest part of the project - agreeing on paint colors. At some point we'll replace the drape/shades as well.
Here is the post where I replaced the master bedroom flooring.
Thanks for reading.
Jeremiah 30:17
17 But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the LORD, ‘because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.’
