Over the next year or so, we’re looking to replace our wood floors, all the base boards, all interior & exterior doors, and door trim. Since the wife and I both work full time, we’re thinking we’d focus on one at a time, and do it slowly over a few weekends and evenings. Is there an order that would make things easier? Like do floors before baseboards or vice versa? Is it even worth doing things one at a time?
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I did a nearly full renovation on my house recently. What kind of flooring do you want to put in? I think that no matter what kind of floor you go with, you’re going to want to do the floor first, trim second.
Yeah, that makes sense. Then the trim can be as flush as possible. We’re looking to do LVP floors since they’re waterproof and scratch resistant, which is pretty important when we have a dog who gets soaked every time he goes outside
Ok, cool. I put LVP down in every room I renovated. I recommend using a jigsaw to cut the planks, as it’s easier to cut contours and you generally get cleaner cuts. That, or use the tool that’s actually made for cutting LVP. Also, unless you’re trying to redo the baseboards as well, you don’t have to take them off to put down LVP. you use shoe molding to hide the rough edge of the flooring, and it attaches directly on top of the existing baseboard.
Other general tips:
Watch some YouTube tutorials and take notes.
Make sure the foundation is level. You can replace subfloor or pour self leveler if it’s not.
Make sure you clean really well before and during the floor installation, otherwise you might hear crunching noises when you walk on the new floor.
Consider installing insulation under the LVP, depending on how cold it gets. I have some under my office floor, and it works well.
Buy a speed square.
Buy a spacer kit and a rubber mallet. Use a tapping block every time you install a new row, to keep your planks tight.
Do not force plank connectors together. They are usually made of very brittle material and there is only one way to snap them together. If it’s not working, forcing it will only make it worse.
Take your time with your plank cuts.
I recommend a pneumatic (or electric if you can find it) brad nailer for attaching shoe molding. It’s faster and you’re less likely to mess up your new floor than you would be swinging a hammer.
EDIT: Also, an oscillating tool is great for cutting vertical trims around doors. You typically want the flooring to go under these trims, and you have to cut a chunk out of them so that the plank can slide underneath.
Wow! That was great! Have any tips for a major foundation and plumbing repair? Will replace flooring afterwards. My current house has concrete, which i love, but I’m worried about doing that in the fountain repair house. Thoughts?
You might be my favorite person on Lemmy, that is a ton of great information! Thanks!
You’re welcome! Let me know if I can help explain anything else.
I’m personally a fan of renovating like you clean, top down. All the movement you’re gonna do is gonna affect your floors for the rest of the work… Especially if you’re finishing any hardwood. Waiting for it to dry is a bitch. Especially if you need to move appliances or something.
At least that way if you spill paint or drop a door or a nail gun, you’re not freaking out about damaging the nice new floors you just installed.
That said, I did install my baseboards after the floor last time I did it because I wanted to get as close as possible to my new floor and not use quarter round as a cheat.
Ooh that’s a good point on damaging the floors. We’re wanting to do LVP flooring, but we’ll probably wait until everything else is done first. Probably will do floors then base boards, I like the idea of getting it as close as possible
