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I'm looking to rip out my disgusting carpet and have laminate flooring installed in a condo.
Trying to think of the most efficient way to do this and how long it will take. I can't put stuff in a yard because I'm on the second floor of a condo. The areas that will get the new flooring is living/dining room, a connecting hallway, and the bedroom. 450 square feet.
Would it work to have say Zone A, living room/dining room. Zone B, hallway/bedroom. Move everything from Zone A to Zone B, rip out the carpet and pad, clean, pour leveler, let cure/dry, lay down laminate floor.
Move furniture back into Zone A. Then move Zone B things out into the newly floored Zone A, rip out carpet and pad, clean floor, pour leveler, lay down laminate floor.
Move Zone B furniture back and it's done.
Is that roughly how its done? Anything else I should know? I have to get baseboard trim, I know that. I need to get the flooring about a week before so it can get used to my environment. I'm just trying to avoid last minute expenses piling up.
I don't consider putting in laminate flooring a DIY project, but, that is just me. Let me tell you how the professional installer did my condo (a floating floor). They put laminate down in 2 bedrooms, hallways, closets, living room and dining room. About 1000 sq feet total. I had a sunroom where some of the smaller furniture was stored since that was staying carpeted.
First, determine which way the laminate will run throughout the house - from left to right (width of the room) or the length of the room. It will depend, but, usually one way will appeal to you visually more than the other - just depends upon the way your condo is laid out.
My job was a two day job with a six man installation team. The first six hours of the first day was spent removing all of the wall to wall carpeting, taking out the tack strips and cleaning up the cement floor (first floor condo) and removing all of the interior doors. They also undercut all of the door jams. All of the dust, bits of carpet etc. had to be vacuumed up and completely cleaned before laying the plastic moisture barrier down. Dust from undercutting the door jams gets everywhere, so be sure you have plastic sheets to cover all of the furniture.
Be sure you have the appropriate tools to do the job - especially undercutting the door jams. They also had a large piece of equipment to do all the cutting of the laminate boards set up outside.
During the last 4 hours of day one they put down the laminate in one bedroom and the hallway outside of the bedroom. I think they started there because it involved doing several cuts around closet doors, bathroom door, patio door . All the trim work in the condo was done after all the laminate was installed.
They actually worked a 10 hour day the first day and did not stop for lunch.
On the second day, since all the prep work was done, they determined where they wanted to start from the hallway into the living room, then the dining room, more hallway and then the other bedroom moving furniture out of the way as they moved from room to room. They did all of the edges first. One person measured and gave the measurement to the guy on the lathe who did the cut and gave it to the go for person who gave it to the guy installing the piece. This was while others went ahead of them to lay the moisture barrier for the next area. Still another followed up after the laminate was installed to do the trim work and transition pieces. As each area was completed the doors were re hung and furniture was moved back into place. The last part of the process was putting all their tools into the truck and making sure even the outside area was vacuumed and clean of any sawdust from all that cutting.
A thing of beauty to watch them work.
Expect 50% + of the job to be prep work, be sure you have the tools to do the cutting of the laminate and undercutting the door jams. The laying of the whole pieces is easy, it is the cutting and placing of the edge pieces that takes most of the time once the prep work is completed.
I am having someone else do it, lol.
My biggest concern is who moves the furniture around. I will be the helper, so two hands to move things around will be alot better than one. Moving furniture out of one area at a time sounds like it will work.
I am having someone else do it, lol.
My biggest concern is who moves the furniture around. I will be the helper, so two hands to move things around will be alot better than one. Moving furniture out of one area at a time sounds like it will work.
Thank you!
Get all of the small stuff out of the way before they arrive - such as things that are hanging on the wall and all the small lamps, tables etc.. It usually specifies in your contract that the price includes them moving the furniture as part of the price.
The entire house will be a bit of a mess for a few days - but, so nice when it is finished.
I was a bit surprised when the OP mentioned the second floor of a condo. In my condo community, the second floor must be at least 80% covered with a rug of some sort to minimize sound transfer.
What happens here is that once the laminate is put down, they add area rugs to meet the requirement of 80% of the unit covered by carpeting.
Just talked to my contractor, and we're going to lay down the laminate over Thanksgiving weekend!
Good-bye disgusting carpet!
I did ask if it was ok to install laminate, they said yes. I know I'm quiet, and yes, I'll get some large area rugs to cover the main foot traffic areas. Not like I walk around in stiletto heels, haha. The next person to buy my place, well, it's a condo and you can be a good owner and get along with your neighbors or be a butt-face and have problems. Their choice.
Wow, I can't believe I'm going to have a new floor soon. It's going to be Pergo rustic chestnut, beautiful color.
It's going to be a huge improvement in appearance. I just ripped out about 700 sq ft of 2 year old carpet (it was not good quality) and replaced it with cork floating floor. Huge improvement, and this stuff we can actually keep clean.
I agree with everybody here. You need to hire someone to do it for you. Unless you have the experience & skills in doing this job, then I guess that would be fine.
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