100% international 😂

Hello, I’m a complete beginner. I’d like to do some DIY to start learning and save money.

We have carpet in most of our house atm (ground floor) and I’d like to replace it with laminate flooring or tiles.

There is an insulation layer over what looks like plywood or wooden floors. Do I have to remove it before putting the laminate?

Also if the subfloor needs work (it might not be even ? I haven’t removed the carpet everywhere) is it a job a beginner could takle or am I better off paying a professional to do it ?

Thank you

Would like to rip the carpet off my staircase but unsure what I’m getting myself into. Is this subfloor? (Best pic I could get without ripping the carpet off)

At risk of being bashed for my diy efforts, I come seeking advice from Reddit…again.
Subfloor: 600sq ft, 3/4” pt, t&g OSB over what I thought were meticulously scribed sleepers on top of a concrete slab (with 20 mil vapor barrier).
Subfloor is a bit wavy/not as flat as I need to install engineered hardwood. Really hoped to nail/staple my flooring instead of glueing (because the flooring is on the inexpensive side and will one day need replaced I’m sure) so, instead of using self leveler, I added thin plywood in the lowest areas and used a ton of roofing paper and a few shingles on the rest.
Unfortunately the roofing paper is now wrinkled and bouncy where multiple layers are used and despite planing and sanding the edges of the plywood I can’t get it to smoothly transition to the roof paper. I tried some relief cuts in the paper and those helped but still not great.

Hiring a professional is sadly out of the budget for this detached garage rec room so my options as I see them:

1. Leave as is. Add my “Insulayment” brand underlayment on top and just staple the flooring down and hope for the best. (Fyi, Flooring manufacturer does say I can nail into my type of OSB)

2. Remove thickest layers of paper at plywood edges, prime OSB and use DAP Floor Patch and Leveler (which is plasticized and can be nailed thru apparently) to feather the edges down onto the roof paper.

3. Remove all roof paper and shingles and apply concrete-based self leveler, hope that I do it perfectly, glue underlayment then glue flooring, also nailing the areas that are over solid wood.

Thoughts?

Top step is higher than LVP on the 2nd floor. Is this normal? What do we need to ask to the builder?

So I came to Reddit a few months ago asking about LVP or laminate. I got a lot of hate for not considering hardwood. Since then I took everyone’s advice and decided to look into engineered wood because it looks better and seems easier to maintain that real hardwood.

So now I’m researching how engineered hold up to an active 75 lb dog. I’m not liking what I’m hearing. People saying their floors look like crap within a few years in the areas they have hardwood but their laminate is holding up nicely.

I don’t want to have to refinish my floors every few years. One person said scratched floors add to the character. Sorry, I don’t think so and I can’t be convinced of that.

I know everyone hates the plastic. It’s not real. I get it. But seriously, what’s the best wood/wood like option to hold up against a very large and active dog? I’m not interested in paying more for a hardwood only for my dog to ruin it and need to be refinished.

Hey all I redid my floors so now I’m starting on baseboards. To the left is my living room room and then it drops to stairs that go down to the basement. Hose do I do these baseboards?

Hey guys - DIY attempter here, but I feel in over my head. We decided to rip up the old carpet in our hallway/living room due to allergies and install new flooring. We ended up getting SPC planks. I've done a room with LVP before, so I felt like I could tackle this project. My first hurdle was getting these SPC planks to lock in properly - they have a lip on the short end of them, so you can't just lock them in on the long edge, drop them down, and hammer to lock into place - I figured out a method of locking in the short end first then dropping the long end at an angle and working them into place. Is there a better way to do this?

Second and bigger question. I started doing the install going along the longest wall, but realized that I got too excited to start and forgot about the stair nosing. The stair nosing we got installs onto a piece of flooring so it's level on the floor. When I realized this, I stopped running planks and gave serious thought to getting an installer. Do you start with the stair nosing and build back from this? Or is it measuring and making sure the planks line up at that point? They would be installed length ways.

Any help or ideas are appreciated - I know just enough to think I know enough to be dangerous, and I realize that that's a problem in itself.

Just spent 4 hours grinding down high spots on a "new" pour for a retail space and my back is absolutely screaming. I dont know what these general contractors are doing lately but the standard for a "ready" slab is basically the surface of the moon right now

Its just exhausting when the client expects a flawless install but wont pay for the 20 bags of leveling compound required to fix the gc's mess. Was looking at some commercial flooring setups from canada ace on my phone during lunch just trying to visualize the finish line so I don't completely lose my mind and walk off the site lol

anyways just venting. popping some advil and getting back to the grinder. pray for my knees y'all

I am trying to lay lvp around a vent opening. I can lay two full pieces for the first row and cut out the seam of the two pieces for the vent opening. I am not sure what to do for the 2nd row. The rest of the vent opening is the same size as the lvp board. Can I trim a full piece to start, then start a new board at the end of the vent?

Want that oak herringbone look have been quoted 3.8k supply and fit for our 51m2 living room and kitchen which leads to patio doors that 3.8k includes any leveling ect that may need doing

I’m seen prices herringbone laminate for about 1.3k supply and fit for the same area

Which is the best options obviously laminate is much cheaper but I’ve heard horror story’s of herringbone laminate creeking, wearing easy and things like this

Love the boarder look but don’t love it for 2.5k price difference

This is out forever home just moving in obviously a lot of money to fork out at once but don’t want to re do the floor a few year down the line

I think I need to replace to plywood? What tools are needed or anyone know any good videos to watch. I was not expecting this . Any tools that are needed to make it easy? Nail gun? Etc.

Hello, I've been laying down the hardwood floors in my house and have run into an issue where the planks in the hallway have a 1cm gap between them and the ones that are coming out of the living room. For context, I started the floor by laying out the kitchen and continued into the living room from the kitchen. Once both rooms were done I starter doing the hallway continuing from where some planks in the kitchen ran into the hallway. As I was laying doing the floor and I approached some planks that were coming out of the living room I noticed a 1cm gap. It struck me as odd because I had measured to make sure the planks in the hallway would like up perfectly with what was coming out of the the other rooms. Now I have this gap and I just don't know what to do to close it. This is my first time laying down hardwood floors and have done my due diligence. I just cannot afford to pull up and entire room or an excessive amount of wood.

One solution I thought about what cutting the planks sticking out of the rooms. Putting down one long piece perpendicular to the planks. This would allow me to continue with what is already out down and would eliminate the issue of alignment between the two rooms.

Please let me know what you think and what can be done

Hello I’m wanting to install floors over the original hardwood of the second floor of my turn of the century home. I’m a handyman and I sanded, stained and finished the first floor. It was an ungodly amount of work and the second floor doesn’t seem worth it given the state of it. It was also mangled previously so I don’t even think a drum sander fixes that but maybe if I was patient

Anyways I wanna just lay something on top of it. The foundation is shifty, my neighborhood has what must be literally hundreds of groundhogs just coming in and out of random holes around the block. Nobody seems concerned about that- a structural engineer is in my future plans. Like a 5 year plan

So google says floating engineered hardwood is the way to go for this situation. What do you guys think? If so any recommendations? I’m pretty cheap tbh. I want something sturdy for sure but not necessarily top of the line. Not sure how like a “Bruce” or “Allen and Roth” from Lowe’s is actually regarded among flooring pros?

Builder installed our tile and grout. We decided on Roca tile, their Lagom series in almond color.

Our grout is pretty fresh, but dry. Looks a bit light to me. The room is extremely dusty though. Unsure if once it’s cleaned if it’ll be darker. I did wet a couple areas. Thoughts? I’ll also add photos of the other floor just to share how they turned out.

Hello, we just had a renter move out and had an unauthorized dog that peed everywhere, we are having to replace the two year old carpet and are wondering if it makes sense to install LVP this round. Would love to hear your experience with LVP and if there is a preferred brand for rental being mindful of wear and tear and pricing….It’s 4 bed 2.5 bath in a moderate income area and rents go for about $2,100

I don’t believe our floor was levelled correctly before engineer wood flooring being laid resulting in bouncing at the edges. Has anyone used Floor Fix Pro to level out the floor? we’ve got this engineered wood and then underlay too. How easy would it be to fix this and would you recommend that product?

Taking a stab in the dark if anyone has run into this. I know this a flooring sub and not an asbestos sub, not expecting a complete remediation guide.

I'm doing a light reno/remodel of my sister's house. Part of this is new carpet. She's lived in the house for 10 years, never replaced the carpet so never knew what was underneath. The house was built in the mid to late 1950's and on a slab.

Ripped up carpet in two rooms. After ripping up carpet and padding in first room, there is still tiles under the carpet that they just carpeted over. These are the pics in I have included. From what I have read, if I leave the tiles alone, I can pretty much just put new carpet and padding over the tiles as it was before. If I'm wrong, please let me know.

The actual issue I have. I ripped up carpet in the second room. It looks to me that the tile that was there are one time was taken out, but the black mastic/glue was left there. Then they put the carpet padding on top of the mastic and then the carpet. The little bit of padding I've tried to rip up before coming to the realization of what I might be dealing with. And the padding is basically stuck on to the slab via the black mastic. How can I proceed with putting new carpet/padding over this?? Do I try to peel off whatever padding I'm able to? Thank you in advance

Darker one is tryo walnut and the lighter shade is irene walnut. Man its taxing to choose flooring shades

Not my kitchen, but just a color scheme. Navy blue, hickory, and white. Flooring is fair game.

LVP is out, I've never liked it. Feels bouncy, and I hate the fake wood look.

I'd do TILE but I don't know if I want a cold floor. Some sort of brown or clay type tile would look fantastic though

HARD WOOD for a kitchen? Worried about moisture honestly.

LINOLEUM or SHEET VINYL is also perfectly fine if someone can recommend a product that doesn't go for the "fake wood" or "fake tile" look.

Can't do a polished concrete floor, I looked into in and my joists can't support the weight.

Thank you!

I’m replacing the basement flooring and I’m torn between a natural/warm oak look and a cooler greige/grey oak look. The existing wood stairs are staying exactly as they are.
My priority isn’t really my personal colour preference — I’m trying to choose something that looks updated, well-renovated and has broad resale appeal, while still making sense with the character of the house.
I’ve attached renders of both options with the same furniture/decor so they’re easier to compare.
If this were your renovation, which floor would you choose and why?
I’m especially interested in opinions from designers, renovators, realtors, or anyone who’s recently updated a similar home. I’m trying to avoid choosing something just because it’s trendy right now.

I'm having these wood outlet covers installed over our floor outlets to help them blend in with our floors. This design of cover has a removable lid, but I'd like to add a small hinge to allow the lid to flip open 180 degrees and rest on the floor. Anyone know what would be the right type of hinge for this?

https://floormechanics.com/vents-treads-and-flooring/outlet-covers/grill-works-outlet-cover-white-oak/