First home and first laminate install

[Nate]

I purchased my first home, and it was in serious need of new flooring. I started with the master bedroom. The previous owners had cats that were left out of control (did I mention this was a bank foreclosure?). The pet odors were very strong in this room.



I pulled out the carpet, tack strips, and staples. Then I sealed the walls and floor with Kilz oil based primer to address any stale smells.



Truth be told, I made my girlfriend do most of the work

[dominick]

Very nice. Yea I did a fire job some time ago and some of the framing needed and floors needed to painted over with Kilz oil based. And to my surprise did did a great job. I made good friends with the home owner and over ten years later you wouldn't know the house ever went on fire.

Cool to see it works on cat smell as well. Sorry for the delay, I been working long days

[dominick]

Oh, thanks for posting.

[Nate]

I actually used varnish over the pet stains, and then coated with kilz. I do NOT want that smell to come back. So far it's working, Had a few damp days and you can't smell a thing.

There were a few spots that needed to be leveled. I used a belt sander and 80 grit paper to fix the high spots (Looking back I should have sanded before I painted the floor. Gummed up a lot of belts.) I used roofing shingles and DAP flexibile floor patch to fill in the low spots. I wanted to try some of the self leveling compound, but I wasn't confident that I could get it done quick enough.



Then I started laying down the laminate. I purchased Pergo with preattached backing. I was very happy with the boards, the locking joints were very nice. The hardest part was getting the first 5 rows built and remembering the rules that Dominick talked about in his videos. Once that was done, it went together pretty well. I took my time since this was my first install. I think I spent about 7 hours total.





Finished floor:


I still have to reinstall the baseboards, and transition strips in the door ways. Thanks for all the tips! I'm working on another bedroom this week.

[dominick]

Very Very cool. Yea that leveling compound is awesome to use. Very easy, you mix and pour. It will find it's own level in minutes. It's nuts really. Oh yea and it's like $25. for a small bag. However I think you did a awesome job, looks real nice. That reminds I have to do a video by this weekend on how to remove 1/4 round from the baseboard.