20 Tips to help you install luxury vinyl plank flooring faster, better and easier! If you follow these vinyl flooring installation tips you’ll have a great end result and amazing renovation.
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If you want to install final plank Flooring you're in the right spot we've Gotten four videos with over 40 million Views showing you how to do it but this Video is going to give you some extra Juicy tips on how to make it faster Better and easier now most flooring Projects are going to start by removing The old flooring and in this room that Is definitely no different we have some Really nasty carpet in here that has got To go so our first tip is about taking Out the baseboards because you Definitely want to do that so get a Utility knife and score the line on top Of your baseboards and make sure you Really separate that caulk and paint Between the baseboard and the wall and You really want to get it down in there Because if you're not pushing hard Enough it's just going to cut through That top and as you start to pull away The trim that caulk is going to pull the Paint off of the wall so you should be Able to see a nice Gap form after you Run the utility knife through there and Then you know it's definitely separated [Music] And here's a little bonus tip for we Already throwing some of these in along The way if you've got some little brad Nails that are still stuck in here after You pull off the trim then a nail puller Or a hammer is great to get them out but
You want to make sure that you don't Bust up the drywall especially going up Because if you go to leverage on the Open drywall Sometimes it can just punch through so Instead you can just take a little Trowel and stick it next to the nail and Then that protects your drywall instead Of putting a hole in it Now our next tip is about getting the Carpet out efficiently and we're going To pull this off of the tack strips but The goal here is to reduce trips so I'm Going to cut strips about three feet Wide and I'm going to roll up the carpet And the carpet pad underneath at the Same time and then bundle it up and That'll reduce how much I have to haul Around but still keep it manageable I got one section rolled up here and I'm Just going to throw some tape or some String around it so I can take it out But another thing to think about is the Size of your room and you don't want to Get it too big so you might want to go Across the short side of the room versus The long ways especially if you have a Big room Now that I have all the carpet out we've Got a nice Echo but also I need to get Up the tack strips and all the little Staples that are left behind from the Carpet pad and that's where the next tip Comes in which is getting a crowbar or a
Demo bar to help you remove all those Foreign Really does a good job is with the Little Staples that were left in the Carpet I can just Ram through most of Them and most of them will pop up now You more than likely will have to pull Some Staples because these little guys That they typically use on carpet pad Come up really easy with the bar but These guys that are more like a me nail These are pretty thick 18 gauge and they Go in and they are hard to pull out so When you use the bar a lot of times it Just flattens them and so we have to Pull out old trusty Rusty and just yank Them out If you have a great way to take out Staples let me know down in the comments So everybody can see it I will heart Those ones that look like they're good Ideas because this is just a pain in the Butt all right now with the floor clean We want to make sure that everything is Gone and that nothing is sticking up and Make sure we didn't miss any Staples or There's any nail heads that might be Coming up so I like using a stiff Drywall knife for this because I can run It across the floor and I can also Scrape up any little glue spots or Anything else that might be there so It's kind of two in one Now that we strip the room down we've
Gotten everything out and all the debris Clean now it's time to start building Back up and that starts with a nice flat And stable surface to lay your flooring And so that's what we're going to bring In the six foot level so that is our Next tip is make sure that you are using A nice long level don't get this little Two foot level and please don't use a Torpedo level because you want to see What's happening across a longer span Because our floor planks are usually Around four feet long if you have a Subfloor like I have here an OSB then What you're really going to want to look At is in the seams and where different Pieces meet up if you have a concrete Subfloor then it can be out anywhere Across there so you kind of have to just Check the whole thing but I'm going to Use this six foot level and just go Across always and this looks really good Actually so you can check your specific Flooring but you usually don't want more Than a sixteenth of an inch Gap Underneath the level because the floor Will then start to float and it'll click As you step on it now the one thing I do Have in this floor is a nice big gap Here this is about a 4 inch Gap in Between the OSB subfloor so I'm going to Use some floor patch to level everything Out and there's also some other little Spots where we took some Nails out and
There's a little divots and we'll just Fill all those in so there's nothing for That floor to settle into I checked the Whole room and it actually looks really Good so kudos to the builders except for This last little quarter piece of OSB Over here so when I run the level over Here you can see we've got a little bit Of a Groove and that's just a little bit More that I'd like it to be so I'm going To use this floor patch and I'm going to Level that out and then I'm actually Going to use some of the trim that we Pulled out to screed it and just kind of Make it nice and level now it doesn't Have to be perfect as long as it's Within that 16th of an inch variance Then you'll be fine these next tips are All about install and so we've already Prepped the floor and that's the first Step in a great installation is floor Prepped and I've also had the vinyl Plank flooring sitting in the room so it Has acclimated to the temperature in the House here is the final plate flooring That I'm going to be using and the big Thing that you want to know with your Flooring is what kind of Locking System Does it have for because there's a Couple different ones out there so There's the angle angle and then there's The drop lock but my flooring has the Drop lock system and the drop lock System is from i4f who's the sponsor of
Today's video the cool thing about the Dropbox system is it is 30 faster than The standard angle angle now what makes The drop lock system so fast is two Patented locking Technologies from i4f The patented i4f drop lock system is Powered by 3L triple lock and click for You and it makes installation faster and Provides a strong joint so you don't Need any inserts or special tools you Just drop and lock it into place and go Now this next tip is really important Because there is a lot of confusion out Of there we had so many comments across The videos about why was I not using Underlayment so this tip is know when to Use an underlayment and basically you Can look at your flooring tile and it Will tell you if you need to use it or Not in the instructions it obviously Will but also just by looking at it if You have one of the these kind of Rubberized back on it and you'll know You can push your finger in there and it Will just dent in this is a built-in Underlayment and you do not want to have A floating subfloor under something that Has a built-in underlayment this has got Grip on it this is noise controlling so If you have that on your floor do not Put down the underlayment and if you Don't have it then you need to put down An underlayment and make sure it's nice And secure to the floor now the last tip
Before we get installing is make sure You have the right tools and because the Drop lock system doesn't need any Special tools you only need a few the Most important is going to be a mallet And the Mallet type is important you Want to have a hard PVC Mallet not a Metal Hammer if you have something That's metal you're going to damage the Floors and potentially the Locking System as well the other thing you're Going to want is spacers so you can get A nice quarter inch spacing off of your Walls and I've typically used these but I have found a new spacer that is way Better and I'm going to be using these From now on the issue with these little Black ones is as you put them against The wall and as you try to push up the Planks up to the wall the little Gap in The drywall makes it tip over and that's A big pain in the butt these These are Nice it's got a little quarter inch Space here and a half inch here so you Can put these right on the flooring in Between the wall and because of this Front lip here they won't fall over Forward as you're pushing the planks up Against the wall so definitely would Recommend these over these little cheap Ones that you get in some of those kits And the last few things you need Definitely get a good pair of knee pads Because you're gonna be on your knees
All day something to Mark with when You're making your end cuts and any Little Cuts around corners and you can Use a tapping block which will help make Sure that our panels are fully connected Once we get to installing and of course You're cutting items and we'll get into That a little bit later I'm ready to Install the first row and I'm going Against the longest wall in the room Which is typically where you want to Start and for me I'm lucky because this Is an exterior wall exterior walls are Typically going to be your straightest And so I put the level up against this Wall and it was almost dead flat which Is great because I don't have to worry About aligning it or drawing chalk lines Or anything that I'm just going to Reference straight off of the wall so The next tip is about alignment I've got Three boards up here on the top and Those are just gonna be Temporaries so That I can put them in lock them in Place do my first two rows then we'll Remove that and put it up in a place and It will be perfect that way so that's a Great tip to make sure your first two Rows are aligned and they are going to Be great the rest of the way down the Room We get to the end of the first row and I've got a little a 16 inch piece here That I need to cut off and before I
Started laying this row I did measure The entire length and then I divided That by the length of my boards which is 48 inches and then I found out what the Remainder would be because you don't Want to have an inboard that's less than Eight inches so I did the math and then You just knock off that front number and Then multiply that by your total Board Number and then that'll give you how Long it will be and that told me it Would be 15 or 16 inches so that's what I have here now all I have to do is make A cut on this and I can just line this Up to the wall I don't even have to use A tape measure I can just make my mark And cut right there now you can cut Vinyl plank a lot of different ways and I've got a video actually that shows all The different ways you can cut it but my Favorite by far is a laminate cutter This thing isn't super expensive but it Makes things so fast so I can just have My little line And Slide the piece in here line it up On my mark Then I can just snap it There we go if you're doing any more Than one room you should definitely pick Up one of these And now this is another little speed tip I can Just off cut that we use from that last Row and use it to start my next row and
So all you have to do is make one cut Per row Now here's some tips for installing the Drop lock system Now first you want to align the long Side by angling it into the previous row At approximately 30 degrees and close That gap between the boards then you can Align it on the short side and drop it Into place now you can tap it firmly With your Mallet from front to back and Feel for any gaps So I'm going to take up these temporary Boards and what's really nice is the Drop lock system is really easy to take Apart I'm going to put the spacers back In place on the actual rows here then I'm going to push the whole thing up Against the wall so that it's in place This is really going to set us up for Success this is a rectangular room with No obstructions until we get to the Other side so I'm going to start ripping Through this but it is going to go a lot Faster with the i4f drop lock technology It's almost like having another pair of Hands in i4f once you remember those Last five tips that I just covered to Get a perfect flooring install so make Sure you prep your floor properly Know when to use an underlayment use the Right tools align that long side then Align your short side And tap it in the right direction you
Can go to the link down in the Description and check out all the Different flooring manufacturers that Use the i4f drop lock technology and a Big thank you to i4f for sponsoring Today's video [Music] Now another tip here is to watch your Repeating patterns and I know I've said This before but this one is really Important so look down at the floor and You want to make sure that you're not Putting several of the same style next To each other because most of these Floors only have so many different Patterns just make sure you don't have Two or not three that are like right Next to each other or above each other Keep an eye out for that Here's a little bonus tip you might have Seen me using with a little dustpan and A little duster sweeper broom thing and That's to make sure that the floor is Clean as I go because as you start Walking around and doing the install Walking in and out of the room you can Get dust and debris and that can get Under the flooring so have one of these Little guys to wipe it out right before You lay down it's a good tip Now I'm getting into the last row here And we need to undercut the door jambs And a lot of times I've used this little Back cutting saw and this will work and
It's fine but if you want to save time And be faster one of these multi-tools Is a way better option you just put one Of these wood blades on there and then You can sit down one of your tiles and Then just go right on top of that and Cut your door jamb and it'll be the Perfect match and you can slide your Floor plank right underneath it now you Come to a door sometimes it's hard to Get underneath there so you're not going To be able to place it down because if You try to Teeter it down you're going To hit the door stop right here so what You can do is you can start it right Before the door stop then you can knock It all the way down with a mallet making Sure that you don't damage the end Now this next tip is one you can't Always do and it definitely takes Forward planning so when I measured the Planks I saw that we would end up right At these door frames just a bit shy of The door frame if you have a door frame You want that seam to fall somewhere in The door frame because if you had a Piece that was just the full width of That door frame then it's impossible to Go around and make that cut and you Notch it and get it in so the way that We've cut it here I can just Notch out On my sides and then Kick It In from the End and then that's going to give me a Good fit up front and wrap everything
Around and the great thing about a Multi-tool is you can also make your Notch cut so if you do only have one Cutting tool to use the oscillating tool Can do basically every single cut you Need when you're installing vinyl plate Flooring foreign Off your install is just as important as Laying down the floor so you want to Have the trim right so one tip here to Make nailing in your trim a little bit Easier is going around and marking your Studs with some blue tape and you can Always find your studs around your Outlets and they should be 16 inches on Center from there this just helps you to Make sure you get a nice secure Connection and the next tip is scaling Up and trimming especially if you have This smaller trim this was three and a Quarter inch that we pulled out and We're going to be going back in with Four and a quarter and using the larger Trim is going to save you a lot of time Around your baseboards when you're Painting because if we went back in with This trim because the carpet was higher You can see I have a gap here and I'd Have to deal with this little clock line Or just kind of look kind of nasty but Instead if we go with the four and a Quarter trim now we're right on top we Have a nice smooth edge and we can just Caulk it and be ready for paint all the
Trim is installed and this is a huge Transformation from what it was before It looks fantastic if you want even more Information on Final play flooring I've Got a playlist cue to up for you right There a big thank you to the fdbt Builders club I'm Brad get out there and Build something awesome