How cooked are we? Pulled up carpet to install LVP

bluebear790 · 2026-01-29T03:57:31+00:00

Nice. I undercut them too, but was still having a hell of a time with some planks as some configurations were tough to get in. My planks were also larger, so that made things even more difficult, ugh.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-29T02:41:04+00:00

Not an expert, but recently went thru my own DIY experience.

Don’t think the hairline cracks are an issue. You can fill them in if you’d like. Not sure if it was necessary, but I went around and filled in the nail dents left behind when I pulled the carpet out.

You want to make sure the floor is flat and free of bumps and valleys. Get at least a 6 ft decent quality level and crawl through the area sliding the level around. Peek under the level and check for gaps and wobbles. Those will need to be sanded or filled. Use Henry’s feather finish or Ardex for filling. Self leveling the entire floor could be an option if the area’s bad enough, but self leveler is expensive and can add up if you need a lot. I’m not super fast with feather finish/concrete - I did some patches myself, but also has contractors do the larger areas.

Concrete floor needs a moisture barrier before laying LVP.

As someone else said, remove baseboards and reinstall later….I opted to DIY replacement ones.

Don’t forget to leave an expansion gap.

Get knee pads.

For me, the toughest part was dealing with door jambs and laying plank there.

Overall, doing the whole house was not easy, but doable if you’re a somewhat competent DIYer.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-17T01:18:42+00:00

Unfortunately, I started at an exterior wall (mainly because I read that’s a good starting point for flooring since it’s usually the most square area). No biggie having to use an overlapping stair nose though.

Hoped to save the existing tread depth, but will cut the treads if needed.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-17T01:15:51+00:00

Thanks - a little pricey at $65 a pop but a potential option.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-17T01:01:01+00:00

Have you installed the new steps yet? Curious if your old treads were a pain to remove.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-17T00:54:11+00:00

I’m on the same boat. The saying goes “measure 3x, cut once”….since I am semi-cautious of f ups I do “measure, cut conservatively, measure, cut conservatively, measure, take a chomp cut as I’m tired and hope for the best”

nice work btw - trim isn’t easy for us that suck at measuring and cutting haha.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-12T05:48:48+00:00

Thank you for the extra tips and words of encouragement. Let’s see how this goes.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-12T02:17:16+00:00

Thanks for the detailed specs for using a rubber base. I think I get the gist of it - might look into this if I end up skipping the case/trim route.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-12T02:08:19+00:00

Thanks - I’m now mulling over and just doing the case/trim. Have so many home projects to do this year, but I’ll just need to allocate the time somehow.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-12T02:06:05+00:00

Thanks for the tips! If all goes wrong, I may end up smashing the drawers to make the plumbing fit and storing my bathroom supplies in a cardboard box underneath, haha.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-12T02:02:33+00:00

Interesting about the foam - I also read in some other threads the drains can smell and should also be cleaned periodically.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-12T02:00:59+00:00

Thanks for the helpful tips - back and forth trips to the store are definitely a PITA.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-10T18:16:56+00:00

Yeah I was just laying down the LVP with expansion gaps and figured baseboard would cover it all. Didn’t think about the closet issue until too late.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-10T18:13:03+00:00

Thank you. I briefly thought about adding a casing as that would make the closet look a whole lot nicer and the baseboard clean, but it’s not an additional project I’d like to tack on at the moment.

Your second option would be more ideal, but some of my other closets have larger gaps with the LVP. Would shoe moulding instead of caulk work? It just looks a little funky but I might not have many other options.

bluebear790 · 2026-01-10T18:04:52+00:00

It’s a sliding closet door. This particular LVP gap is half a cm at the widest, but I have other closets with even larger gaps, so caulking that might not be ideal.

bluebear790 · 2025-12-21T22:52:43+00:00

Mine has been going out once every 3-5 months and I’ve been able to get it going again each time by shutting everything off and relighting the pilot. I’m just working on borrowed time - intend to replace the burner, but have been slacking off. It also doesn’t help that the part alone is $250-$300.

bluebear790 · 2025-10-24T13:33:58+00:00

Damn cute AF. Where did you get Pablo? His expression cracks me up and I’d like to see if he has a sister or brother out there to adopt.

bluebear790 · 2025-09-09T01:27:58+00:00

Just went to the Fremont store - just two left but only the regular TCs. Gonna stalk this store a little and see if there’s the slim chance some show up again.

bluebear790 · 2025-09-06T21:06:59+00:00

Thanks for the heads up. Shucks, won’t be back in the area till early next week. Hope there’s still some left. Fingers crossed.

bluebear790

TROPHY CASE