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Another engineered flooring installation question or two... Melanie 10-27-2006
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Posted by Melanie on October 27, 2006, 7:49 pm


Everyone was so helpful when I had to remove the nasty carpet tacks and
discovered they weren't that difficult to remove after all.

Here's my next question. I'm installing a bamboo engineered flooring in
my living room. The bedroom is done and I want it to transition
perfectly from bedroom to livingroom. The difficulty is that my bedroom
doorway has all these nooks and crannies. The flooring will not slip
under the door jamb or the baseboards as eng. flooring is thicker than
laminate or carpet (which just slipped underneath BTW). I can hide
inside and outside with quarter round but the part in between is the
diffculty. Any tips? My BF suggested I just piece it together rather
than trying to make some difficult cuts on one board.

The next question is I have a tiled fireplace floor and a tiled hallway
floor. I can use a transition board in the hallway but can't really do
this for the fireplace area as it would look stupid and I need to do it
on 3 sides. The tiles would be level with the flooring when done. Any
tips?

TIA,
Melanie


Special 468x60
Posted by jimbob on October 27, 2006, 9:08 pm


It sounds like you are installing a floating floor. All of these types
of floor require a gap between the wall and the edge of the floor to
allow for expansion. Some people remove their baseboards before they
install the flooring, some leave the baseboards and install quarter
round to cover the gap. Either way is acceptable. It's a matter of
preference. Quarter round should not be used inside the door
threshold. The door may hit it and it looks stupid. You need to
undercut the doorjambs and door casings. The flooring will not just
slip under it because you have to fold it at an angle to click it into
the rest of the floor. I put down Kahrs engineered wood flooring.
Their procedure for going through doorways is to chisel off part of the
locking mechanism to to floor edges can slide together flat. You have
to glue these together here because you have cut out some of the
locking mechanism. This allows you to slide the floor under the door
casing/jamb and then connect it to the rest of the flooring. Anyway,
your floor manufacturer should have a specific procedure for dealing
with this situation. It's time consuming to do this part right, but I
think it looks much better. But it's your house and it's up to you.
If people come over and bitch about the quarter round in your doorways
just throw them out. When I did my floors I cut the floor around the
door casings and fooled with all kinds of pieces of molding and quarter
round before I gave up and just did it right.


Posted by Melanie on October 30, 2006, 8:16 pm


When I did my floors I cut the floor around the
> door casings and fooled with all kinds of pieces of molding and quarter
> round before I gave up and just did it right.

I ripped out the carpet and the tack boards from this area on the
weekend and I think you are right about undercutting the door jambs and
door casing. It seems easier.

So, my next question is do I need special tools for this? Do I have to
buy a door jamb electric saw or can I get by with a hack saw? I reread
the flooring manual and they claim I can use a hack saw. But what is
the reality of that?

I decided to rip out ALL the carpet, underlay and tack boards
throughout the living room first, get the 2 layers of plastic
insulation down first and then start on the doorway. No wait, undercut
the doorway first, then lay down the sheeting. I expect that part will
be messy and don't want to have to deal with cleaning off the plastic.

Just have to figure out where to put all my furniture. And if I like
the sofa in the bathroom I might keep it in there. <JK>

~Melanie


Posted by Malcolm Hoar on October 30, 2006, 8:49 pm


> When I did my floors I cut the floor around the
>> door casings and fooled with all kinds of pieces of molding and quarter
>> round before I gave up and just did it right.
>
>I ripped out the carpet and the tack boards from this area on the
>weekend and I think you are right about undercutting the door jambs and
>door casing. It seems easier.
>
>So, my next question is do I need special tools for this? Do I have to
>buy a door jamb electric saw or can I get by with a hack saw? I reread
>the flooring manual and they claim I can use a hack saw. But what is
>the reality of that?

It's easier with something (inexpensive) like this:

http://www.lowes.
com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=196672-71363-33125&lpage=none

Obviously, a power tool will make it easier still, for a price.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted by Edwin Pawlowski on October 30, 2006, 10:09 pm



>
> I ripped out the carpet and the tack boards from this area on the
> weekend and I think you are right about undercutting the door jambs and
> door casing. It seems easier.
>
> So, my next question is do I need special tools for this?


Yes, the saw is called a Dovetail saw and I got mine for about $10 at Home
Depot. It has an offset handle so you can grip it and cut without scraping
your knuckles. Cut off just a tad more than the thicknes sof the flooring.
YOu can use a piece of scrap flooring as a guide to rest the saw blade on.


>
> No wait, undercut
> the doorway first, then lay down the sheeting. I expect that part will
> be messy and don't want to have to deal with cleaning off the plastic.

NOt much mess. Two seconds with a shop vac and the sawdust is cone.
>




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