I recently installed laminate for the first time and it is easier than what you hear. Like most projects, it's all about the layout getting started. You dont want to just start at a corner, shift gears,and fly,only to find out that you have ended up with a sliver of a strip at the other side or end.If you are installing in multiple rooms, you have to keep them in mind as well when figuring out your layout.You want to keep the waste factor down with your layout, but most importantly that it will work out astetically for the room and into the next room(s) ,even if it means using more materials. I have done layouts in many applications,not just flooring,so this was familiar territory.It isn't difficult, you just have to think it out beforehand. Preliminaries on most projects include checking the square of the room,inventoring cuts and notches,baseboard and door jamb/casing concerns,and floor prep beforehand. Alongside the mfgrs manuals,there are books out there im sure that deal with layout/prep.

Texasgal I agree with both you and annkh. I think the issue I am having is that I have not seen anything that I think would make my heart sing each time I walk into my kitchen and it is because of working with the oak cabinets and wainscoat. Yes they are in good shape but to me they are old and tough to marry old with new. I did go to the granite warehouse on Saturday, it was "interesting" and a little overwhelming. After walking through the entire place with my cabinet door in hand, there was only one I kept going back to and also the sales person assisting me and it was not too busy of a pattern and soft pretty colors of cream, gray and scant of brown/gold. The granite is Absolute Cream and he thought a "C". Do I love the granite, yes it is very pretty, do I love it for my old house, with all of the oak? I am not sure. Some of the granite did knock my socks off and I would joke that what I really wanted was the house or the cabinets that went with that gorgeous slab but it was not right for my wood or eat in kitchen. So in order to spend the $$$ I have to be sure I love it and that is not happening yet with granite, quartz or formica. I am a bit burned out from the experience so far. It seems a neutral formica would be best but I already have that and not too bad a shape either. Sunday I did another visit to the big box stores to look at laminate again. Kept an open mind, looked closer at all of them as to not rule any of them out. Did any of it sing to me, not really. Can't see the shiney surface of some of the new stuff on my counters as my lighting causes too much glare and back to the issue of choosing a pattern that is not too busy with the oak and then have to coordinate a floor. Looked at the sinks that would be top mounted with laminate as no one recommends undermounting a sink with it and the ehhh, my blue sink is beautiful compared to them. Do you see where I am going with this? lol All I really need is a floor, paint, new light and hardware and until something seem "right" I will remain in this redecorating limbo. Throwing out that sink for a stainless or another enamel sink in another color seems frivolous. Also it does appear navy is coming back as is gold and I already have it! I reread my original topic of Updating a country kitchen and the first advice posting was to work with what I had. I should have stopped right there. Today I will get the estimate for the Absolute Cream granite I looked at. I would love nothing more than to coordinate a counter, sink and floor that makes me feel this is all worth it; time, money and effort. I have attached a picture of my "wood" for those who have not following my dilemma in my other posts to indicate why it is difficult to choose a color an material. Here is a link that might be useful: December 29th-original post

we are also at a stalemate regarding stone choices, first choice was 3rivers, heard too many stories about it leeching so we got away from it, wife doesn't love it anyways. Right now the front runners are "Sunrise" and "OK multi-brown" - not sure if they are quartzite or not, we relied on the stone shop to tell us which ones leeched and didn't. We liked one called "wolf creek" but were told it's no good for coping either - basically are looking for earth tones, tans-browns-golds etc. It seems consesus is the arizona stuff flakes away, we don't like any of those anyways...any other brown/tan stones that would be a better choice from a density/durability standpoint?? We are doing three small patio areas around the pool, so using two different stones is a possibility, a less hardy stone for the patio and a denser/quartzite like stone for the coping...so two choices may work, although we want one to be irregular to match the coping, and the other two in a diagonal set pattern for a more formal contrast - so may just do travertine tiles, stone guy said better to cut them himself but we want the formal look.

Johnson Flooring is correct when tesing the Janka on wet green (not kiln dried) lumber, which is the method used for Janka hardness. When kiln dried to 6% to 8%, longleaf heart pine gets much harder, up to 1225 to 1400, depending upon the sample used. Without getting anymore technical and not wanting to bore the reader, it all has to do with the woods cell structure and whether it is an open or closed cell wood. In closed cell woods, like longleaf pine, the cells collapse as moisture is removed and will not expand. This process stregthens and hardens the wood as the moisture content drops, making the longleaf pine much more dence. In open cell woods, such as oak, the cells remain open and do not collapse as the mositure content drops. Unlike longleaf pine, oak does not get harder because the cells remain open and the cells tend to crush together under pressure. So as far as hardness is concerned, the drying to 6% to 8% has much more of a positive effect on longleaf pine than oak and other open cell woods.