How Do You Clean Lifeproof Vinyl Flooring

Interested in learning why we chose LifeProof Vinyl Flooring for our dwelling and want to know how to install information technology? This post is for you! This mail is sponsored by the Home Depot and contains affiliate links. Meet policies for details.

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If you've followed along for any length of fourth dimension, yous've heard me mention that we are currently living in a one room studio style garage flat.  It's been an interesting year living hither and we've learned a lot well-nigh life, love…and how much we hate these bare concrete floors–accept y'all ever noticed them in my pictures?

They've got cracks, stains, chips and rough spots and they constantly look muddy no matter how much we make clean them.

So we decided to finally cover it upward and make our house feel more like a home than a garage with LifeProof vinyl plank floor in Sterling Oak from The Habitation Depot.

Before deciding what to cover these concrete floors with, we did a little research. We choose this vinyl plank flooring by LifeProof for a few reasons.

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First, it was a unproblematic floating snap and lock pattern and then nosotros could install information technology over our concrete floors without any messy glues or fancy tools or hardware.  All we needed was a rubber mallet and a piece of bit plywood for a tapping block. The planks just snap together and float on top of the physical. So easy install? Check.

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Second, we didn't have to buy and install a water proof barrier between the flooring and the concrete since it has a built in water proof underlayment. This allows you to install it directly onto wood, physical and fifty-fifty some existing flooring types. So no additional underlayment required? Check.

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Third, it's perfect for our lifestyle—which is basically that we aren't super careful with anything, and so we need flooring that is tough (Danny says I'm a bull in a China store…just like my dad haha). This LifeProof vinyl plank floor should concur upward well to Lucy's dog nails, and the mud, gravel, sawdust, etc that we both rails into the business firm all the time. Information technology's waterproof, scratch resistant, and looks similar real forest. Check.

And, lastly, nosotros chose this sterling oak color considering we accept so much forest furniture and wood colored kitchen cabinets that we thought the neutral gray color would keep it all from clashing.  (Still, if you aren't a fan of the grey, LifeProof has several color options in this verbal aforementioned floor production to choose from.)

Installing the floor was pretty simple and straightforward and information technology didn't crave a lot of tools (Woot woot!). The worst office was having to motion literally our entire business firm in sections since nosotros alive in one big room.

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Luckily, once information technology was started, information technology went down actually quick.  I'll share with you some tips and our process beneath.

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Only first, here's a video if yous'd like to watch rather than read.

What you lot'll need:

LifeProof Vinyl Plank Flooring (order about x% more floor than you should need to cover your area)

Bosch Blaze Laser Measurer

Ridgid Battery Powered Vacuum

Rubber Mallet or Soft Faced Hammer

Utility knife and blades

Square

Knee Pads (optional, but trust me, you'll wish you had them)

Oscillating saw (optional…may or may not need)

Prybar

Trim to cover expansion gaps (quarter round–may remove and reuse if you lot already have)

Boom gun to attach/reattach trim

Jig saw & table saw (helpful in some cases, simply not required)

Detailed instructions are included in every box of flooring. Refer to these earlier installing.

Step 1: Make up one's mind Layout and Make clean the Flooring

When installing plank floor (whether wood or vinyl, etc), the outset thing yous demand to do is decide your floor layout and which direction you want to install. Typically, y'all'd run your rows parallel to the longest wall in the room. But there are some exceptions.

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In our case, towards the dorsum of the house, there was a bathroom and a laundry nook. If nosotros ran parallel to the longest wall, we would end up having to go into our bath and laundry nook laying flooring in both the natural language and the groove…which would have been hard. And then in our case, nosotros ran it parallel to the shorter wall to avoid having to piece of work on both sides of the flooring once we got to the dorsum of the room.

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Once layout was decided, I moved the furniture in the section I planned to start. And so, I used my Ridgid battery powered vacuum to get all the dust bunnies, and debris off the flooring before laying the planks. You lot can run into more about this vacuum in my gift guide mail service hither.

If you lot accept existing quarter circular or shoe molding, remove it besides. If you are careful, you tin reuse it afterward in step 7. I didn't take any, then I skipped this step and added it subsequently when I was finished.

Footstep 2: Measure and Lay Out Showtime Row

And then I grabbed this Bosch Blaze Laser Altitude Measurer to figure out how long my offset row was going to be.  It was important non to have pieces likewise short on the ends of each run (pieces should be 8″ or longer), so I measured each run to make sure I wouldn't end upward with a piece on the end just a couple inches long afterwards laying all my planks. (FYI each flooring piece is approx 48″ long.)

I used this fiddling laser measurer throughout the projection and was super blown abroad with how handy it was. I've got a mail service all about it here if yous're interested in its features.

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Then I started working on the first row of floor.  The first row went easy. I used a rubber mallet to hit the edges to simply snap them together. You can feel across the seam…when information technology's snapped in expert, it's affluent across the acme.

Once I had a few snapped together, I used spacer blocks (pocket-sized ¼″ plywood scraps) to proceed the boards ¼″ from the walls. The instructions said to exit a ¼" gap forth all the edges for expansion, so I kept that in heed throughout the projection.

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I continued along the first row until I got to the stop.  I measured the length for this last slice and subtracted ¼" for expansion gap, then cut a piece to fit.  To cutting, simply marker where to cutting (brand sure y'all measure the right cease of the board!) and use a square and a utility pocketknife to score the height. Then the slice should snap along this line and y'all can cut the bankroll to divide it.

If you have a miter saw, you can cut this on a miter saw instead, but I didn't desire to get up and run to the shop every time I needed to cutting, so I found the score and interruption method to be helpful.

Step 3: Install Second Row of Vinyl Plank Flooring

Afterwards the entire first row was together, the hardest function of the whole projection began…laying down the second row.  The second row was a little frustrating because it was hard to snap the pieces tight when the offset row pieces kept moving.  But somewhen, I figured out that you have to bending the slice slightly and tap it into the groove of the first row, then snap the border to the piece beside information technology (like from step 2), and tap it tight with a tapping block.

At that place are a lot of helpful tools you can purchase for this procedure, simply I plant that a scrap piece of plywood worked well equally a tapping cake…just exist mindful of your block placement and be careful non to place information technology where it volition impairment the snapping lip. Or you lot can purchase this installation kit if yous don't desire to make your ain tapping cake.

Step 4: Proceed Snapping and Locking Floor Down

In one case the second row was downwardly, I slid the ii rows tight up against the spacer blocks on the wall and began laying the adjacent rows.  It'south pretty repetitive.  Lay a row, lay another row, keep going until you get to something you accept to movement, or an obstacle you need to cut around.

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Go on in mind when laying flooring that yous should stagger the pieces so that the ends do non line upwards in the aforementioned location on side by side rows. When you cut end of the row pieces, be sure to cut the correct side of the piece and, unless the piece is too minor, you lot can usually use the other end equally a starter piece for the next row.

I found the key to snapping the rows together tight, was borer outset at a slight angle…

…and then snapping the short end to the adjacent piece…

…then using the tapping block and a mallet to tap it in tight laying flat. You will be able to see the gap disappear between boards when you become it snapped in tight. That'due south when you know it's snapped in well and you can move to the next piece. If you have trouble getting a tight fit, check for debris in or impairment to the snapping lip.

Footstep 5: Cutting Around Obstacles equally Needed

We didn't accept a ton of obstacles to cutting around in our one big room, but when I got to a door or a protruding wall, I kept in mind that the flooring volition go UNDER the door frame, but stay ¼" from the walls/baseboards.  I would cover the gap with baseboard or quarter circular later as needed.

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When a slice needed to go nether the door jamb, I used an aquiver saw and a scrap piece of flooring to cutting the door jamb and trim pieces then that a piece can slide under it.

I marked where the piece would need to be cut and trimmed this with a jig saw.  (You lot tin can utilise a standard wood cutting blade.) Ever pay attention to cutting the correct side when trimming pieces and always buy a trivial extra floor for accidents like this…oops 🙂

Too a few mis cuts here and in that location, and having to move all the stuff in the unabridged house, the install was pretty smoothen sailing. Information technology took about a day and a one-half to install 800 sq. ft. and that included time to move all the stuff and put it all dorsum, cutting effectually obstacles, uninstall and reinstall the washer, dryer, fridge, etc. Swell if you lot ask me.

Footstep 6: Cutting Final Row

When nosotros got to the concluding row, all the pieces needed to be trimmed to fit.  Then, I measured how wide each individual piece would demand to be cut and trimmed this on the table saw.  (You can apply a utility knife or a jig saw if you don't have a table saw. If you do have a tabular array saw, they make special blades for this, but a general purpose blade like this works fine every bit well.)

Never take for granted, though that all these pieces volition be the same width.  Most walls aren't perfectly square and each piece may need to be trimmed slightly differently, so measure for each piece.

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Because I couldn't tap these pieces in, I used a prybar to carefully snap them into identify.

Pace 7: Cover Flooring Gaps with Trim

Once the concluding piece was put in identify, I needed to cover the expansion gaps along the edges with trim.

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So I used my laser measurer once more to figure upwards how much trim I needed, and to effigy out what lengths to cut it.  I cut to fit quarter round along all the walls where I left a gap, simply since the gap was underneath the cabinet toe kicks in the kitchen, I didn't bother covering those since yous won't encounter them.

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Considering the floor is a floating floor, it'southward important that it's not secured to anything stationary.  So I was careful not to accidentally shoot a nail into the floor when installing the quarter round.  Smash into the baseboard or wall…non down toward the floor.

Afterward a little putty in the nail holes and some caulk along the trim, that's all there was to installing this LifeProof vinyl plank flooring from The Habitation Depot.

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This was such a slap-up improvement to our infinite and such a worthwhile investment.

I'm really glad we went with the sterling oak colour, too. The grey looks really nice against all the warm wood in the house. And not it feels a little bit more than like we live in a business firm now rather than a garage haha.

If you're in the marketplace for floor that you don't accept to worry about with water or scratches, and is TOTALLY DIY-able, I'd definitely recommend checking out this LifeProof vinyl plank flooring. They've got plenty of color options, and of all the floor I've ever laid (and I've laid a lot of flooring–engineered hardwood, hardwood, tile, laminate), this was by far the easiest to put downwards.

I promise this post has been helpful and I hope you've enjoyed watching us slowly transform our garage into a real dwelling. If you liked this project, I'd dearest if you'd pin this for subsequently or share it on your favorite social aqueduct.

Until next time, happy domicile improvement 🙂

Source: https://www.woodshopdiaries.com/why-we-chose-lifeproof-vinyl-flooring-and-how-to-install-it/

Posted by: chambersalfic1981.blogspot.com

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