Blame it on a crappy TV. And a crappy carpet. They made the whole family room crappy. I put up with it for years, and then one day, for whatever reason, I said: “I’m not taking any more crap.” So I put down a cork floor. Here’s how I did it in 10 steps.
Step 1: Open boxes early.
Allow the panels to adjust to inside humidity for at least 48 hours before installation. Also, pull panels from all boxes to make sure they are similar in color. There are slight variations in grain and shades in these 1- x 3-ft. Miro Cork panels from Lumber Liquidators, and seeing all the panels will help you select the perfect ones to match the baseboards and adjacent flooring.
Step 2: Remove carpet.
This is a joy. I dislike carpet for the most part, mainly because no matter how well I vacuum, all sorts of microbes remain imbedded, reproducing, lurking and plotting a takeover (photo 2). Since I don’t vacuum much nor very well, I was thrilled to don my dual-cartridge respirator and start ripping and removing staples and carpet nails. I cut 4-ft. wide strips of cruddy carpet, and then rolled, taped and disposed of the rolls.
Step 3: Remove baseboard trim and cut door jambs.
The new floor paneling plus underlayment will raise the height of your floor, which means removing baseboards and cutting door jambs (photo 3). Once the new floor is down, replace the trim at a slightly higher position on the wall. Or if wainscoting or some other room feature is above the baseboard, remove enough of the lower portion of the trim so the cork paneling and underlayment — a total of 5/16-in. with the Lumber Liquidator materials — fits beneath the baseboard.
• Tip: When cutting jambs, invest $10 to $15 in a reversible jamb saw. My Irwin ProTouch Dovetail/Jamb Saw, which has a spring-loaded pin that reverses the blade, saves you from becoming a contortionist when the jam is tucked in a corner. It also reminds you that, in the DIY world, it behooves you to be ambidextrous.
Step 4: Level the sub-floor.
A floating floor needs a level surface. If necessary, mix and apply a floor-leveling compound in low spots and areas that transition to adjoining rooms (photo 4). In this case, the leveler raises the low spots so that the sub-floor is 5/16-in. below the adjoining floors. This means the two floors will be at equal heights once the cork panels and underlayment are added.
Step 5: Install underlayment.
Lumber Liquidators produces Quiet Walk (photo 5) specifically for floating floors. Made from recycled materials, it dampens sound, provides a vapor barrier, insulates and adds cushioning. An anti-microbial additive retards mold growth and prevents dust mites from developing. I hammer stapled Quiet Walk to the sub-floor and duct taped together the 3-ft.-wide sections. Perimeter edges need to be at least 5/16-in. away from a wall or an immovable object.
Step 6: Prepare T-Molding.
T-molding helps in blending floor surfaces in adjoining rooms. T-molding normally goes on after the floor panels are down, but I wanted to cut lengths, pre-drill screw holes and put the lengths in place temporarily to make sure I didn’t have any surprises at the end of the job. That is, I wanted to see — as opposed to calculate — that 1) the adjoining floors did indeed match in height and the T-molding was level, and 2) the 5/16-in. “breather” gap between panel edges and the trunk of the T-molding would for sure be covered by the ½-in-wide “arms” of the T-molding (photo 6).
• Tip: Use a spacer block or the width of your pinkie finger to make sure you maintain this gap at the end of each row.
Step 7: Put down panels
Finally, the fun part! Well, there was a little bit of futzing first. In theory, you join the panels by sliding the curved tongue of one panel into a groove of another panel at an angle, and then lower the panel slowly while pulling until you hear a click. Didn’t work. So I called the Lumber Liquidators help line and was very impressed with the help I received both by phone and email. I was advised to tap the side of the panel while lowering it, protecting the panel edge with scrap wood (photo 7). Never heard the click, but the tapping worked.
• Tip: In the early going, it’s frustrating when tight joints between panels loosen as you tap in panels nearby. To minimize this, secure the position of the rows by driving nails along — but not into — the edges (photo 8).
• Tip: For a great-looking floor, “stagger” the ends of the boards in adjacent rows. That is, start one row with a full-length panel, the next with a half-length (or a length 6-in. or longer), the next full-length, etc.
• Tip: Sometimes when starting a new row, a panel or two of the last completed row moves. When it’s difficult to pull with sufficient power to snug the joint tight again, loop webbing (used for rock climbing and available at outdoor sports stores) around the end and pull hard (photo 9). This removes small-but-annoying gaps that are two or three panels into the row. Home stores carry a flooring band clamp that also tightens gaps in the row.
• Tip: When the sides of the panels are locked in, tap on the open end until the end joint is snug. When it’s impossible to tap or pull the open end because of a wall, wedge a crowbar between the end and the wall (protected by a putty knife) and then pry the panel into place (photo 10).
• Tip: Your last row will probably not be full width and will be hard to connect tongue with groove because you’re too tight against a wall or baseboard heating. For that row, saw off the tongue and glue.
Step 8: Apply polyurethane protection.
The panels come with a coat of water-based polyurethane, in this case, but add two more coats for extra protection, especially for the joints.
• Tip: You can paint each panel, or pour a line of poly the width of the floor. Using a floor-finish applicator attached to a pole that extends 12 ft. (available at home stores), hold the applicator at about a 45-degree angle and “pull the puddle” back and forth across the room (photo 11). At the end of each row, squeeze out excess poly; this prevents puddles or streaks when starting rows.
• Tip: From time to time, look back over your work and use the extending pole to touch up streaks or misses.
Step 9: Install baseboard and T-Molding.
After the polyurethane has dried, remove the nails that secured the early rows, replace baseboard, re-install T-molding and then take in your beautiful floor.
Step 10: Buy an HDTV.
OK, this step is optional — in theory. But you better plan for this purchase, just in case. I mean, you can easily become a bit heady having rid yourself of a crappy carpet and replaced it with a warm, shiny, soft-on-the-toes, fascinating cork floor. How could you not replace that crappy TV with a bigger-and-brighter-and-clearer-than-life HDTV?
PHOTO DESCRIPTIONS:
Photo 2 : The 20-in. MGA TV screen had a tint that got greener in each of its 19 years, and the carpet had a burn mark from a dropped clothes iron as well as a billion imbedded microbes.
Photo 3: This Irwin ProTouch Dovetail/Jamb Saw makes it easy to saw from left and right sides of the jamb. Scrap wood that equals the thickness of the cork panel and the underlayment (5/16-in.) serves as a guide as to where to cut.
Photo 4: Mix and apply a floor-leveling compound in the low spots and, when necessary, in areas that transition to adjoining rooms. This compound sets up in short order, so work quickly.
Photo 5: Lumber Liquidator’s QuietWalk underlayment, made from recycled materials, dampens sound and provides a vapor barrier, insulation and additional cushioning.
Photo 6: T-molding helps blend floor surfaces in adjoining rooms. The trunk of the T fits in the gap between the edge of the cork floor and the edge of the oak floor here and ceramic tile floor in the adjoining kitchen. Use a cork panel with underlayment attached to make sure the levels of both floors match. Pre-drill the red oak T-molding, soap the screws for easier installation and counter-sink the screws. Also, be prepared to trim doors (a power planer works nicely) that swing over the T-molding.
Photo 7: Join the 1- x 3- ft. panels by sliding the curved tongue into a groove at an angle, and then lower the panel slowly while tapping the side of the panel (protecting the panel edge with scrap wood).
Photo 8: Drive nails in the perimeter gaps to help hold the floor panels in place, especially early in the installation when the floor is small and panels more apt to move and separate when installing each subsequent panel.
Photo 9: Sometimes when starting a new row, a panel or two of the last completed row moves. To remove these small-but-annoying gaps when you can’t do it by hand, loop webbing (used for rock climbing and available at outdoor sports stores) around the end and pull hard.
Photo 10: When the sides of the panels are secure, tap on the open end to snug up the joint. When it’s impossible to tap or pull the open end because of a wall, wedge a crowbar between the end and the wall (protected by a putty knife) and then pry the panel into place.
Photo 11: The panels come with a coat of water-based polyurethane, but add two more coats for extra protection, especially on the joints. You can paint each panel, or pour a line of poly the width of the floor. Using a floor-finish applicator attached to a pole that extends 12 ft., hold the applicator at about a 45-degree angle and “pull the puddle” back and forth across the room.
SOURCES:
Lumber Liquidators, 800-356-6746,
www.lumberliquidators.com
Irwin Industrial Tool Co., 800-464-7946,
www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/jhtml/detail.jhtml?prodId=IrwinProd100274