Laying Floor

When Mom and Dad arrived, Dad and I got to work clearing out the living and dining rooms.  We would lay floor today.  I got a floating floor of hickory looking laminate.  Dad took some measurements and figured out how we would start.

Laying the first two rows was a giant pain!  We snapped together the entire length of the first row.  Then we attempted to slide it against the wall where we needed it.  It was tricky sliding it under the door sill and kept coming apart at some seams when we tried.  Very frustrating.  Dad decided that we needed to add the second row to give it some stability.  Hopefully that would stop the seam from coming apart.  We connected three boards and then added them to the first row.  That went fairly well.  We added two more and then two more and finished the row.

Alas, that did NOT solve the problem.  Mom got down with us and the three of us tried to figure it out.  Eventually, we decided the wall is not perfectly straight - it bows a bit.  This was what was causing our problems.  Dad removed some of the shims he put in and we let the floor slide under the wallboard in places.  No more seams coming apart.

After that, the process went quite quickly.  We added one board at a time and it was a smooth operation.  Click in board.

I pound end while Dad taps connection to bring the two totally flush.

Move on to next board.

It was great.  We got about 1/3 of the floor down.  More fun for the rest of the weekend!

Mom, when she wasn't wrestling the first two rows with us, put down peel-and-stick in the sink base cabinet. That will be nice in case my sink develops a drip and I don't  notice right away.  She then got to return to her favorite task ever - washing the ceiling!!!  She's working on the hallway now.  She wants to get it done before we're laying floor there.  She's great!