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Flooring Basements

Vinyl Plank installation

last month

Hi,

We are novice home owners trying to install vinyl planks in the basement.

Attached is the rough layout of the basement. We started installing the planks in the direction of the arrows. Now we are at the landing place from the staircase. There is a storage space under the staircase which also needs to be floored. Here is the challenge that we are facing. How do we ensure that the planks running from the main wall (starting point long wall on the top) and the planks from under the staircase align and interlock at the blue line?

What can be done under the staircase in order for the installation flow to continue into the rest of the layout?

Thank you in advance for the help and ideas that this group offers.

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Comments (9)

PRO
G & S Floor Service
last month
Need photos of the space. The sketch does not help much.
0
Home Owner
Original Author
last month
Attached the picture of the space
0
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Whatever you choose to do, remember that removing damages the planks. I would assume that any plank you need to remove at a later date is a "wasted plank". It cannot be used again. That's the EASIEST way to do this. That means you will need to have DOUBLE the square footage for your kitchen. And beware: floating floors MUST HAVE transition strips through doorways. The "walkway" you have set up is not considered appropriate. It runs through a doorway without a t-molding. Personally I would install the "rest of the house" up to the doorway to the kitchen. Lay down a temporary "uneven t-molding" through the doorway. It will be removed later and the proper t-molding will be installed as per flooring requirements (it should be written in black and white). Have the kitchen installed. Cabinets, boxes, counter tops, etc all finished up. Then lay the kitchen floor just before you install the appliances. Change the uneven t-mold for the proper t-molding through the doorway and you are done like dinner. This is the simplest way to do this. You will need to learn the installation technique from the family member and then finish the kitchen install yourself. Of course the tricky bit is the cuts, but this is how your project ended up "working".
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I would ask why such a steep price for installation. Ask which order the kitchen will be put back together. A small room installation cost could work out because they use a "day" wage for small projects. I've heard of minimum charges of 1/2 day of work or 1 full day of work regardless of how long it takes. But I'm suspicious of this because the installer has MANY other things going on (or so I believe by your post). A person who is redoing someone's kitchen will often give a little so they can gain the entire project. The small space install only works if the ONLY THING s/he's doing is installing. And I never buy the 'nothing else needs doing' jazz. A sheet vinyl floor can have some WONKY substrates underneath (can look like a roller coaster ride). Sheet materials are VERY forgiving. A plank vinyl is NOT forgiving...at all. In fact, a poorly prepared substrate is GUARANTEED to void your warranty. And I mean 99.3% of the time the lack of prep is going to void your warranty IMMEDIATELY (before he leaves for home). I think you have some conversations coming up in the next few days. And to be clear for us, is this the SAME person who is doing the ENTIRE renovation?
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@Mary...we are looking for a bit more input into your situation. Where you live (state/city if you don't mind) and your home's situation (apartment/townhouse/house). With that information, we would be happy to nail down basic cost for you. As it stands, it can be as little as $1.50/sf (very poor areas with very low-cost labour) or it could be as high as $4/sf in major East Coast cities (or any city in Canada) with EXTREMELY high labour costs. That's for a floating/click together floor. If you want a glue down vinyl, the cost goes up by $1-$2/sf for those two extremes. These costs would be for labour ONLY. Does not include preparation. They do not include transport. They do not include extras of any sort.
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All the grout lines need to be filled and the floor flat to within 1/8" over 10'. Vinyl loves to telegraph every imperfection and those grout joints will do that in short order.
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PRO
G & S Floor Service
last month
last modified: last month
Just continue the installation through the landing in front of the stairs, into the room with the storage. The storage space doesn't open to the big room. I wouldn't worry about it lining up. A wall is there, you will not see any misalignment.
0
Home Owner
Original Author
last month
Yes but after completing the landing space, we will enter into the common area. Do we need to install the planks in the reverse direction into the staircase ?
I assumed that the planks always interlock in a specific direction.
0
PRO
G & S Floor Service
last month
No, you do not install in a reverse direction. Instead go backwards, if, that makes any sense.
0
PRO
Minardi
last month
Thresholds are in your future. And that subfloor is NOT flat enough to install over. Or clean enough either.
0
Home Owner
Original Author
last month
Hi Minardi, we scraped and cleaned the debris on the floor. Can you pls help me understand why you think the subfloor is not ready ?
0
millworkman
last month
" Can you pls help me understand why you think the subfloor is not ready ? "

No subfloor ever is flat, 99% of the time self leveling compound or similar is required. Scraping is not enough. Typically must be flat to within 1/8" over 10' or you will break the locking mechanism on the floor.
0
Home Owner
Original Author
last month
There were tiles earlier and now we are trying to install vinyl. So now we are half way thru the mail area and into the side room. Should we try leveling the left over area now and put a transition in between ?
0

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