A Floating Floor
When we last left off in the basement bedroom, we had finished painting the walls. Next, it was time to lay the new floors! We chose a floating laminate floor that we found for $.68 per square ft on clearance at Home Depot. It is pretty close in color to the ceramic tile we laid in the living room downstairs. So we got 100 sq ft of flooring and 100 sq ft of foam underlayment and we were ready to go! (I think we spent more on the underlayment than we did on the flooring...go figure!)
First we laid the foam underlayment. We started in the side of the room with the doorway, because that is where we planned to start laying the flooring. One of our favorite television personalities on the DIY Channel, contractor Mike Holmes, says you should always start your floor in the doorway of the room so that you can lay full pieces in the doorway, since that is what people see first when they walk into the room.
Once we got a couple rows of underlayment down, we had to cut some pieces of flooring to get us started. This was honestly the longest part of the whole process.
Once we got the first row cut and laid, it was easy/breezy laying the rest of the floor! They just slide into the groove of the adjoining piece and snap into place - no nailing or glue required! You do have to be careful to keep your underlayment free of debris, as laminate flooring tends to be thin and you'll feel any large pieces of dirt or small rocks that might be under it. We just kept vacumming before we laid each row of flooring.
Next, we had to install all new base molding. With both of us working on measuring and installing, it took us one afternoon to get that all done. (I don't have any pictures of this process since we were both working hard!)
So far, we love the floor in this room. It definitely "sounds" like laminate when you walk on it...if you've ever had a laminate floor, you know what sound I'm talking about. But other than that, we're 100% happy with it. It doesn't scratch easily, it was easy to install, and CHEAP!
I hope to get pictures of the base molding, as well as the closet that we re-organized. That will be my next post. Stay tuned!!
First we laid the foam underlayment. We started in the side of the room with the doorway, because that is where we planned to start laying the flooring. One of our favorite television personalities on the DIY Channel, contractor Mike Holmes, says you should always start your floor in the doorway of the room so that you can lay full pieces in the doorway, since that is what people see first when they walk into the room.
Once we got a couple rows of underlayment down, we had to cut some pieces of flooring to get us started. This was honestly the longest part of the whole process.
Once we got the first row cut and laid, it was easy/breezy laying the rest of the floor! They just slide into the groove of the adjoining piece and snap into place - no nailing or glue required! You do have to be careful to keep your underlayment free of debris, as laminate flooring tends to be thin and you'll feel any large pieces of dirt or small rocks that might be under it. We just kept vacumming before we laid each row of flooring.
It took us the evening of one day and the morning of the following day
to get the floor all finished up. Not too shabby, to finish a floor in
an entire room!
So far, we love the floor in this room. It definitely "sounds" like laminate when you walk on it...if you've ever had a laminate floor, you know what sound I'm talking about. But other than that, we're 100% happy with it. It doesn't scratch easily, it was easy to install, and CHEAP!
I hope to get pictures of the base molding, as well as the closet that we re-organized. That will be my next post. Stay tuned!!
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