Fine, I'll do it myself

[mousme]

Having been told that it would cost me a minimum of $700 to replace the little section of floor in my dining room (that the cats ruined: thank you, Feline Forces of Entropy), I am seriously considering doing it myself, given that the cost of materials would be about 1/3 that price.

Has anyone on my flist replaced hardwood flooring before? It's the stuff made out of little squares... *rummages online to find a picture*

Okay, this:




I figure it can't possibly be that hard to do, given time, application, and the right tools. So I appeal to you, dear flist: what the hell kind of tools would I need for this? I'd need to pull up the existing floor, and then put down the new one. I know I need the wood itself (it comes in convenient packages) as well as the glue-stuff to stick it in place, but what else? Is there a specific tool to pull up the floor, or can I use the back end of a hammer?

Eventually I will know how to do all this myself, but right now I'm still at the bottom of the learning curve.

Comments

[swestrup]

What tools you need greatly depend on the method of putting down the flooring, and how the old stuff was put down.

You'll probably need a good pry bar to efficiently lift up the old stuff. Yes, the claw end of a hammer will work, but will be much more effort. If it was glued down, then you may need to sand, scrape, or otherwise treat the sub-floor when you're done, to make it smooth.

There's also a big question of putting down a new sub-floor if, for example, you want to increase the sound-proofing or deal with a sloped or warped floor. I'll ignore that for now.

I'll assume that the flooring you put back down will be modern tongue and groove stuff, in which case you'll probably want a rubber mallet to help bang boards into place (although you never hit the boards you're placing. Use a junk piece of board placed against the stuff you're putting down, and hit it.)

The flooring may be nailless in which case it locks when banged together, or you may have to nail down the strips at regular intervals by carefully putting a headless nail into the exposed tongue of a board, before sliding the next over it. This can be finicky and tedious work and is MUCH faster and tidier with a nail gun. It won't be worth buying one for a single job though, so you'd want to rent one for the job.

My best advice though is:

1) Go and find the flooring you want, and see what system is used to put it down. They often have lists of needed tools on the packaging, and they almost invariably have a list of full instructions inside. You can also ask the sales staff which brands are easiest to lay for do-it-yourself jobs and which tools they recommend (although the reliability of their answers will vary depending on staff and location).

2) Check to see if you local big-box reno store (reno depot, home hardware, hogg, rona, etc) has free classes on laying floors. Often they do.

3) The BNAQ has lots of good do-it-yourself books that you may want to peruse to familiarize yourself with the entire process ahead of time.

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

Do you really want the parquet floor instead of laminate. It's a rented space isn't it?

If you don't get good answers at a big box store, I would recommend asking at Million Carpets and Tiles.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

The current floor is parquet. Since this place belongs to a good friend, I would rather leave the floor in the same state I found it.

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

Okay, I understand.

[curtana.livejournal.com]

That's called parquet flooring, if you're Googling for info. I don't know anyone who's replaced their own parquet (though a quick look on the internet reveals various instructions, but I do know a few people who've installed their own laminate flooring, and it's apparently pretty idiot-proof to do it yourself. Laminate looks quite nice and is pretty durable if your space isn't damp, and is much less expensive than wood. Frankly, in a place where I was renting, I wouldn't want to pour a lot of time and money into renovations, but maybe that's just me.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

If I wasn't good friends with the people who own the building, I probably would look into the cheaper version. As it is, though, I'm trying to leave this place the way it was when I first got here. After all, my cats are the ones responsible for the damage.

[toughlovemuse.livejournal.com]

As curtana said, it's parquet flooring, and I can't believe that it would cost $700 to replace your entire apartment, let alone the section you want to replace. Maybe try Home Depot for a comparison price? The problem I would foresee is colour matching the new parquet to the old.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

I second toughlovemuse's WTF about the quote. Maybe the guy thought you meant replace the entire thing from subfloor up to the parquet? (Or, you know, maybe he was just on crack.) I also second swestrup's idea of checking the boxes in the shop to see if they have instructions.

Getting the old stuff up is indeed going to depend on how it was put down.

Also: Yay you for deciding to do this on your own.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

I have a week off at the beginning of May. I figured that replacing the flooring and doing some gardening would be a good way to spend the week.

I was very much WTF about the quote, myself. Granted, the $700 included materials, but still! Supposedly they charge $3 per s.f., which means a minimum of $300, plus whatever other fees/expenses are tacked on. Ick.

The boxes I checked did not appear to contain any kind of instructions, but I am going to visit Home Depot (I was at Réno Dépot today) and see if their customer service is any better. I would like to be treated as though I'm not an idiot and as though my time is as valuable as theirs, for one. If they offer flooring classes, that might be an option, or at the very least if they can give me detailed instructions, that could work as well.

If nothing else, this will be a learning experience.

[owldaughter.livejournal.com]

Did you go to the Réno Dépot on Newman? They're awful; I hate that branch. I have never been treated politely there, and have in fact been sent in circles as the staff tries to pawn me off on staff in other departments. I try to use the one up on St Jacques.

How big is the area you need to fix?

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Yes I did, and I am glad to see that I was not hallucinating the poor customer service. I shall investigate the one on St-Jacques. There was one woman who was great, but she worked the cash register and thus couldn't really help me.

I need to fix most of the dining room, so about 100 s.f.

[mellybean71.livejournal.com]

Do you have to do the whole floor or can you take out the ruined section? I remember playing with the stuff as a kid (my parents were putting a dance floor in their hotel) but dunno how to install it myself.

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

It's really hard to match the colour and sometimes the size of the pieces. We could get some second hand for free for our floor, but the squares are off by about 1-2 mm ;(

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Mine does appear to be pretty standard stuff, and I found a colour that looks very similar to the one I have. It might be a little bit off, but no so much that you'd notice.

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

If it were me, I would remove some of what you have now and bring it to the store for matching and measuring.

Hey, you said the place belongs to a friend. Have you asked if they had any leftover? Have you looked in the closets? Would it be possible to steal from the closet floor and replace that with something else, subject to your friend's approval of course?

[quietlyurban.livejournal.com]

From my limited experience with this (seeing my parents-in-law replace/renew theirs) you can replace small sections but colour matching might be difficult.

As I recall, the parquet tiles are stuck to the floor with a thick sort of black glue substance. My parents-in-law laid the parquet tiles themselves and then got a specialist in to sand and seal the floor afterwards. I imagine that both of the latter could have been done with the right tools and time.

I think the problem with getting someone in to do the work from scratch will add up in terms of labour costs, i.e. ripping up the old floor will take time. If this is the case, then see if you can hire someone cheaper to do or assist with the grunt work, i.e. a handyman might cost less per hour to rip up the floor than a flooring specialist.

[ladyiolanthe.livejournal.com]

How exactly are they destroyed? If they're just a little scratched up on the surface or have surface stains, I'd sand down and reseal the floor. Then no need to worry about colour and size matching, etc.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

They are seriously stained. I'm pretty sure it's not just surface stains, either. :(

The miracle of modern age

[mcphoenixa.livejournal.com]

Hi there! Well, before going through too much trouble, I'd try using a restorer kit, for about 20$ and 1 hour of your time. I bought 2 years ago a beautifull bedroom set but with scratches and was amazed by the results: it just fills the straches out with this sort of "lacker". Ask about it to your local home depot!

Re: The miracle of modern age

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Hi!

I thought for sure you were already on my flist, but it wasn't the case. I have remedied this. :)

Does the restorer kit help with stains? Scratches are not the problem, here. :/

[karine.livejournal.com]

My personal experience is that the people at Home Depot are generally more helpful than at Réno-Dépôt. Home depot also has the classes.

Check You Tube for instructional videos and how tos, too.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+install+wood+floor&search_type=

There's little on parquet flooring, but the information there is still useful to know. Also, did you ask said landlady if she's open to a different kind of flooring?

You might want to look into refinishing the parquet, too. Perhaps a good sanding can go deep enough to get all the cat pee out of the wood, and not cost you an entire new floor.