Month: September 2019

STEP 1 – PLAN

Research and pick the right floors for you and your house.   Some new flooring has the underlayment already built in, which saves time and money. 

 STEP 2 – PREPARE THE SUB-FLOOR

The sub-floor (usually plywood underneath your existing carpet or other flooring) must be a clean, flat surface.  Which implies, of course, you must remove the old carpet or flooring. This was the worst part of installing the new floors. 

STEP 3 – FIX SQUEAKY FLOORS

Use screws to tighten up the loose panels in the sub-floor.  A good drywall screw will do the trick. This is really quick and easy.

STEP 4 – INSTALLING VINYL FLOORS

Follow the easy directions on the back of the box, which recommends beginning in a corner and proceeding out from there.  A good YouTube video is also priceless. We watched several, including the one below, to make sure we were comfortable.  

You will notice that each piece of flooring has a tongue and groove on two sides.  It is important to place the tongue facing the wall on the first row. Use the spacers between these first planks and the wall.  The space will be covered by the molding later. 

Now comes the easy part.  The floors snap together with the tongue and grooves.  Be sure to stagger the seams so they don’t line up. When you get to the last piece in a row you’ll have to cut a plank to fit.  Use the leftover piece to begin the next row, in doing that the seams will naturally be staggered.

TOOLS:

Pencil

Tape Measure

Floor Cutter 

Utility Knife

Hammer

Rubber Mallet

Tapping Block

T Square/Straight Edge

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The feeling of owning your own house comes only after you’ve customized everything in it to your own unique taste and lifestyle. You can add value to your home without having to spending a fortune. You can choose some do-it-yourself projects that will help renovate your home.

However, it can be a stressful experience if you don’t have proper knowledge of what you need to do. Note that, if done incorrectly, it can cost you more than it could cost you to hire a pro to do it for you. Here are tips to help you make an informed decision about the projects you can handle.

Have a plan for your remodel

Draw a plan of what you want things to look like at the end of the project. This will help you identify the estimate of the materials needed. You may use a graph paper and a scale to clearly lay out exactly what you want to do.

Have a remodel estimate

After drawing a plan of what you want, you can now start getting the estimate. You should estimate the jobs in the sequence in which they will be done. Ensure you have an estimate cost of materials and labor and the total for the task. This will help you know if you can be able to handle the job on your own.

Get the right tools

The job can be quite overwhelming if you don’t have the right tools. If you lack the right tools to use, you can use rental tools. You should only rent the tools when you are ready to use them to avoid spending more than you could have. Remodeling tools are mostly rented on half day, full day or weekly rates and therefore renting them for a time you are not using can increase your expenses unnecessarily.

Use the divide and win renovation approach

You can ask your remodeling contractor to do the difficult parts of the job before you finishing the other parts. The project could be too difficult for you to do alone and therefore you may need to call in your contract to help you in the hard tasks. For instance, if it is a painting job, you can ask your contractor to help in preparing the paint then you do the painting yourself.

Which home improvement jobs can a homeowner do?

At times, you get the impression of how easy home improvement tasks are from TV shows than they really are. Consult your local building department to help you out on the kind of job you can do if you’re in doubt.

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