Advise me about half-assing a flooring project

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

I want to rip up gross carpet and slap down some peel and stick tiles. (Yes, I know the adhesive could be a problem someday but that is a problem for Future Me. Or maybe I will just have new carpet laid over it someday.)

This is for my 12yo son's room. This is not, like, our forever floor. I just need it to be serviceable and not so nasty. Can I just tuck the tiles a smidge under the baseboards instead of removing them?

Our house is very small and we do not have anywhere else to put his furniture that will not endanger our toddler, so my only idea is to smoosh all the furniture into half the room, do half the floor, smoosh it onto other side, and repeat.

What pitfalls might I encounter with this plan? What should I know that I might not know?

[Fru-Gal]

All of my half-assed home improvement solutions have lasted decades so I say go for it!

I think more harm is done to the environment with all these so-called permanent, “high-quality” home improvement solutions that are junked 10-20 years later when styles change. Granite countertops, quartz countertops, hot tubs, new appliances, tiling trends…

[middo]

I would just do it.  While it would be better in the long term to remove the base boards, if you get the stick down tiles butted up tight against them, there won't be significant gaps for collection of gunge.

[uniwelder]

A potential problem I'm thinking of is the leftover carpet pad residue that will keep your tiles from sticking.  Most of it tends to disintegrate and leave a powdery layer engrained into the subfloor.  I think you'd have to really try scraping as much off as possible, then sand it with a vacuum attached.

To help with adhesion, there is a latex subfloor primer you can buy.  It's a thin white liquid you pour and brush on the subfloor, then let dry.  It's a fast process.  I have no idea how much it helps, but in the places we've done cheap sticky tiles, they have not yet come up, so I keep using it.

[nereo]

First, is the floor level with no major dips or bumps? If yes, great! If no… those bumps and dips Will telegraph thru the pork and stick and crack through. Ask me how I know…

Also, agree 100% with uniwelder about using a latex subfloor primer, and take some time to feel for every stray staple or nail and remove them. Takes about 10 minutes on a medium sized room but will save you heartache and frustration down the road.


As for the edges, there’s a very simple and good looking solution: quarter round trim. Lay the peel and stick to within 1/2” of the existing trim and then, once finished, add quarter round, pin-nailing or stapling directly into the existing trim (the fasteners will be parallel to the floor). This will give you a good finish that doesn’t trap dirt and is removable years down the road.

 Best of all quarter round is dirt cheap and comes pre-primed, white and natural wood.

As for “a problem for future me” / it’s not a problem!  You can lay carpet (or LVP or even hardwood) directly over peel and stick!  All you would do then is remove the existing trim & quarter round, lay the flooring, adjust doors (if necessary) and then finish with brand new trim. Most brands say you can lay new flooring over at least two layers of vinyl peel and stick, though TBH I’ve seen as many as five (home built in 1910 and renovated every 15 years or so as owners changed).

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

First, is the floor level with no major dips or bumps? If yes, great! If no… those bumps and dips Will telegraph thru the pork and stick and crack through. Ask me how I know…

Also, agree 100% with uniwelder about using a latex subfloor primer, and take some time to feel for every stray staple or nail and remove them. Takes about 10 minutes on a medium sized room but will save you heartache and frustration down the road.


As for the edges, there’s a very simple and good looking solution: quarter round trim. Lay the peel and stick to within 1/2” of the existing trim and then, once finished, add quarter round, pin-nailing or stapling directly into the existing trim (the fasteners will be parallel to the floor). This will give you a good finish that doesn’t trap dirt and is removable years down the road.

 Best of all quarter round is dirt cheap and comes pre-primed, white and natural wood.

As for “a problem for future me” / it’s not a problem!  You can lay carpet (or LVP or even hardwood) directly over peel and stick!  All you would do then is remove the existing trim & quarter round, lay the flooring, adjust doors (if necessary) and then finish with brand new trim. Most brands say you can lay new flooring over at least two layers of vinyl peel and stick, though TBH I’ve seen as many as five (home built in 1910 and renovated every 15 years or so as owners changed).

How do I know if the subfloor is level until I've already pulled up the carpet? It's not plywood, it's that composite stuff.

[nereo]

It’s very hard with carpet, so you just have to remove it and evaluate. If you have redone other rooms that can be a good indication what the quality of the subfloors is like.

Even if the subfloor isn’t in great shape it’s not the end of the world. Simplest fix is to lay down another layer of plywood, and/or belt sanding very problematic high spots (like once we had a subfloor where the builders had clearly spilled some adhesive of some sort and hadn’t bothered to clean it up, instead they just laid carpet over it. When we pulled it back there were ridges of very stuck on, 15 year old adhesive. So we just spend 15 minutes with a power sander and voila! Great subfloor. On another Reno we just cut some 1/4” ply because they did a s@&t job with seams, and there was a big crease down the middle of the floor about the width of a pencil. Technically that’s called an underlayment which goes on top of the subfloor.

Can’t stress enough how important a good, clean subfloor is for peel and stick. If you have a good subfloor (or a good underlayment over an ok subfloor) your job will go much faster and look much better. It is time you will save in the end.

[sonofsven]

You might be able to install the floor tiles under the baseboards, but it would be so much easier to remove them, so it will likely take longer to finish if you leave the baseboards on.
The tiles are so thin they will telegraph any imperfections in the underlay.
The underlayment is very likely not installed for cover by floor tiles, but by carpet, so it might need prepping (filling seams, etc.
You'll need to pull all the tack strips up around the edges, sand all the staples will need to be pulled.
If you really want to half ass it you could just paint it, or put a coat of sealer and varnish on.
I've seen that turn out ok, if a little weird.
Cost wise it's probably cheaper just to have new carpet installed. They'll be done in a few hours.
You could probably find a remnant of quality carpet since it's just a bedroom (low wear area) and no seams are needed, for cheap.
Find a high volume carpet shop near a nuce neighborhood, they should have good remnants.

[Fru-Gal]

You might also look into LVP (luxury vinyl plank). It’s quite inexpensive, nearly indestructible and requires no floor prep. It’s tongue and groove. We put it in the kid’s playhouse and on vertical half walls in the basement and it’s lasted years despite some weather/moisture exposure.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

You might also look into LVP (luxury vinyl plank). It’s quite inexpensive, nearly indestructible and requires no floor prep. It’s tongue and groove. We put it in the kid’s playhouse and on vertical half walls in the basement and it’s lasted years despite some weather/moisture exposure.

We did vinyl planks in the basement and it took my husband almost a year. Granted, there were some tricky areas down there and he didn't have much time to work. Now, if I was doing an easier rectangular room, maybe it would work. How did you cut it? He used power tools which is not practical for this project for a variety of reasons. If I could cut it with hand tools it might be doable as a backup plan (if the subfloor is a mess).

@sonofsven - Can you explain why it would be faster and easier to remove the baseboards? It seems impractical because of the room never being empty, and I am not planning to paint them. I am also a truly terrible caulk-er.

The occupant of the room is a HARD NO on fresh carpet. This is a compromise. "Someday" I will either redo all the floors upstairs with hardwood or LVP and include that room, or when the boys are both grown I will put new, matching carpet in both those rooms. That's why I say, this is not the forever floor.

[nereo]

There is no such thing as a forever floor IMO, unless it’s the travertine tile in Italian villas. Even wood needs to be resurfaced every few decades (or sooner)

Fwiw I’m with the room occupant on the no carpet bit.

I still think installing quarter round will be your best bet,  but if you don’t do that, removing your baseboards will be the next easiest thing. While you can cut it almost exactly to the edge it will never be perfect enough for it not to be noticable, and it will take way more time to be precise.  It’s unlikely that  you will be able to tuck it under the trim unless there’s already a sizeable existing gap.  If the trim was installed after the carpet, we’ll it’s going to look really weird once the carpet is gone, as it will be noticeably too high. Again, quarter round can covert that up too (and so can replacing the trim. 

[sonofsven]

You might also look into LVP (luxury vinyl plank). It’s quite inexpensive, nearly indestructible and requires no floor prep. It’s tongue and groove. We put it in the kid’s playhouse and on vertical half walls in the basement and it’s lasted years despite some weather/moisture exposure.

We did vinyl planks in the basement and it took my husband almost a year. Granted, there were some tricky areas down there and he didn't have much time to work. Now, if I was doing an easier rectangular room, maybe it would work. How did you cut it? He used power tools which is not practical for this project for a variety of reasons. If I could cut it with hand tools it might be doable as a backup plan (if the subfloor is a mess).

@sonofsven - Can you explain why it would be faster and easier to remove the baseboards? It seems impractical because of the room never being empty, and I am not planning to paint them. I am also a truly terrible caulk-er.

The occupant of the room is a HARD NO on fresh carpet. This is a compromise. "Someday" I will either redo all the floors upstairs with hardwood or LVP and include that room, or when the boys are both grown I will put new, matching carpet in both those rooms. That's why I say, this is not the forever floor.

Because removing them will make the floor install easier, and if you remove them carefully then you can reinstall them.
I'm not picturing that you have elaborate baseboards, but start with a sharp utility knife and cut the top edge where it meets the wall, carefully. You're just cutting the paint and caulk to ease removal.
To remove them, use a thin pry bar and try to pull them away from the wall. You have to be very careful to not damage the wall with the bar, but once you get the first one it will be easier because you can start prying at the end, not the top.

[johnnyqnola]

To play devil's advocate, if you have an old house with plaster walls and tall 2-piece baseboards, don't touch them. You will create a big mess and have a lot of wall repair to add to the project list. I agree with those above who say that qtr round/shoe molding is gonna be your move, if the new floor does not butt up perfectly against the baseboards, which it probably won't.

[lthenderson]

The occupant of the room is a HARD NO on fresh carpet. This is a compromise. "Someday" I will either redo all the floors upstairs with hardwood or LVP and include that room, or when the boys are both grown I will put new, matching carpet in both those rooms. That's why I say, this is not the forever floor.

A couple thoughts on this. Peel and stick tile flooring is about the least durable flooring out there and probably one of the most difficult to install. The floor has to be really smooth and flat or every joint in the subfloor will telegraph through. If there is carpet on it now, my bet is that it is guaranteed not to be smooth enough to put a peel and stick tile on it without a lot of time and mess preparing the subfloor. I find peel and stick tiles to be really soft so they show scuffing, denting, scratching a lot more than say laminate hardwood flooring.

Probably the cheapest route since this is temporary would be to just install a low nap, stain resistant outdoor type carpet in there. Buy the carpet at a local place during a sale where installation is included in the price. The day of the install, pull the furniture out and monitor the young one while the installers do their thing and then put the furniture right back in.

A more expensive but more DIY approach would be to look at carpet tiles. I did those in my office as a temporary change and ten years later, they still look in excellent shape and I've been in no hurry to upgrade them. Mine are rubber backed and the top side is ribbed, almost like corduroy. It is easy to vacuum and if one tile gets stained, it is a five minute process to replace it with an extra tile.

Another reason to pull your baseboard beyond what is mentioned above is that baseboard over carpet will sit a lot higher than it would over peel and stick tile or carpeted tiles. So once you redo your flooring, even if you did it with baseboards in place, you would end up with a large gap between the bottom of the baseboard and your flooring surface. Not only does it look bad but it collects dirt and debris that is hard to get at. Also, the carpet tack strips are often brittle and hard to remove. It makes it even harder to remove them and prepare your subfloor for new flooring with the baseboards in place and keeping them in pristine condition.

[Sibley]

Ripping up carpet is more tedious than difficult. As long as you have a certain level of physical ability, you can do it.

You NEED to clean the floor underneath it. Remove staples, sweep, vacuum, scrub half to death. Cleaning the floor is harder work than pulling the carpet and padding in my experience. This isn't just for adhesion, its also for general cleanliness.

I would also consider LVP over stick on tile. My understanding is you can use a utility knife for the cutting, but I've never done it so don't know how hard it is. Get some scrap material if you can and test it out.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

The occupant of the room is a HARD NO on fresh carpet. This is a compromise. "Someday" I will either redo all the floors upstairs with hardwood or LVP and include that room, or when the boys are both grown I will put new, matching carpet in both those rooms. That's why I say, this is not the forever floor.

A couple thoughts on this. Peel and stick tile flooring is about the least durable flooring out there and probably one of the most difficult to install. The floor has to be really smooth and flat or every joint in the subfloor will telegraph through. If there is carpet on it now, my bet is that it is guaranteed not to be smooth enough to put a peel and stick tile on it without a lot of time and mess preparing the subfloor. I find peel and stick tiles to be really soft so they show scuffing, denting, scratching a lot more than say laminate hardwood flooring.

Probably the cheapest route since this is temporary would be to just install a low nap, stain resistant outdoor type carpet in there. Buy the carpet at a local place during a sale where installation is included in the price. The day of the install, pull the furniture out and monitor the young one while the installers do their thing and then put the furniture right back in.

A more expensive but more DIY approach would be to look at carpet tiles. I did those in my office as a temporary change and ten years later, they still look in excellent shape and I've been in no hurry to upgrade them. Mine are rubber backed and the top side is ribbed, almost like corduroy. It is easy to vacuum and if one tile gets stained, it is a five minute process to replace it with an extra tile.

Another reason to pull your baseboard beyond what is mentioned above is that baseboard over carpet will sit a lot higher than it would over peel and stick tile or carpeted tiles. So once you redo your flooring, even if you did it with baseboards in place, you would end up with a large gap between the bottom of the baseboard and your flooring surface. Not only does it look bad but it collects dirt and debris that is hard to get at. Also, the carpet tack strips are often brittle and hard to remove. It makes it even harder to remove them and prepare your subfloor for new flooring with the baseboards in place and keeping them in pristine condition.

The kid does not want carpet. I will not install new carpet that he does not want, and it would be cruel at this point as he has been working really hard to clean up and box up his room because I promised him a hard floor. I'm open to other DIY hard floor solutions but I already said we are not doing carpet!

There is no such thing as a forever floor IMO, unless it’s the travertine tile in Italian villas. Even wood needs to be resurfaced every few decades (or sooner)

Fwiw I’m with the room occupant on the no carpet bit.

I still think installing quarter round will be your best bet,  but if you don’t do that, removing your baseboards will be the next easiest thing. While you can cut it almost exactly to the edge it will never be perfect enough for it not to be noticable, and it will take way more time to be precise.  It’s unlikely that  you will be able to tuck it under the trim unless there’s already a sizeable existing gap.  If the trim was installed after the carpet, we’ll it’s going to look really weird once the carpet is gone, as it will be noticeably too high. Again, quarter round can covert that up too (and so can replacing the trim. 

Weren't those old floor actually painted :-)?

I will consult with the room's occupant and my husband as to removing the baseboards vs quarter round. I have a brad nailer. The last time I installed quarter round I made kiiiind of a hash of it and I am also worried about cutting it (I own the power tools but don't know how to use them- my husband might do it if I ask nicely although this is my project), but I'm sure I can do well enough for the standards of a 12 year old.

The room is pretty stuffed with furniture so the baseboards aren't really that visible anyway, so the stakes here feel low.

Ripping up carpet is more tedious than difficult. As long as you have a certain level of physical ability, you can do it.

You NEED to clean the floor underneath it. Remove staples, sweep, vacuum, scrub half to death. Cleaning the floor is harder work than pulling the carpet and padding in my experience. This isn't just for adhesion, its also for general cleanliness.

I would also consider LVP over stick on tile. My understanding is you can use a utility knife for the cutting, but I've never done it so don't know how hard it is. Get some scrap material if you can and test it out.

Oooh, I literally have leftover vinyl planks on my garage that I can play with!

[Fru-Gal]

I use my Ryobi cordless rotary saw, or a jigsaw. But yes theoretically you can score LVP planks and snap them. I add my vote to those saying don’t mess with the baseboards.

[nereo]

They makes laminate cutters that look and work just like oversized paper cutters. Quick, zero mess and very quiet. Completely human powered.

You can use a utility knife and a straight edge in a pinch so long as your blade is sharp, but I wouldn’t recommend it for an entire floor. 

[sonofsven]

Adding base shoe in lieu of removing the baseboards is a viable option, but it wouldn't be my first choice. Don't nail it down into LVP (it should "float"), nail it into the baseboards.
As I said, I don't imagine you have elaborate baseboards (since you have mdf or particle board under the carpet I'm guessing you don't have an older home? Because usually the carpet is just installed right over the old wood floors without adding underlayment) but plaster walls and big old (dry) boards ups the damage potential.
I know painting sounds dumb, especially from a carpenter (me), but I've worked for a few very creative artists who opened my mind a bit (but just a little bit, I'm kind of a traditionalist!) about non standard construction methods. I've seen laminate kitchen countertops painted that looked good for years, one client in his restaurant made color copies on thick stock of a picture of a beautiful, colorful floor tile, and lightly glued them to the floor and put multiple layers of clear finish over them, and it looked great! And they were all 8.5x11 ;-).
So if someone wants to get creative, go for it.


Recap: your sticky tile idea is fine, but beware how imperfections in the underlayment can show through in the tile.
LVP is easier to install, as you can adjust as needed, and it bridges imperfections with ease. I install it directly over the subfloor. It does make a little annoying dust when you cut it (many are on an MDF core, which is essentially sawdust glued into a sheet). I cut it with power saws and replace the blades after, because it will dull them prematurely
Install base shoe or reinstall baseboards, whatever you're more comfortable with.

[iris lily]

Anything to get rid of the carpet. Yes.

I lived with plywood floors for decades. Some people even paint them.

When we bought our country house, it had four or five kinds of flooring, all of them, but one super cheap and ugly, but you know what? They were all hard, no carpet. Perfectly fine with them until we could renovate years down the road

If we had had any carpet in that house, it would’ve been an argument with DH about pulling it up.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Anything to get rid of the carpet. Yes.

I lived with plywood floors for decades. Some people even paint them.

When we bought our country house, it had four or five kinds of flooring, all of them, but one super cheap and ugly, but you know what? They were all hard, no carpet. Perfectly fine with them until we could renovate years down the road

If we had had any carpet in that house, it would’ve been an argument with DH about pulling it up.

LOL the very first thing we did when we moved in was pull up the carpet in the basement. God bless my husband, he can't smell anything (no really, I just had our gas turned off for safety) but he believed me that the house basement smelled bad and spent a ton of time putting vinyl planks down there. (I did most of the carpet removal- I hope the amount of asbestos I consumed was minimal).

After this the only places we will still have carpet will be my oldest's room (he likes it, and at least it's new and soft) and the stairs (cost prohibitive to convert and much safer this way anyway).

[PMG]

Peel and stick tile is the worst.  You could use a full sheet of vinyl and just hold it at the edges with quarter round, or just let gravity keep it in place. No need to glue it. It would be faster and maybe even cheaper than peel and stick and it would probably be more visually appealing. I may have cheap taste but I like the way vinyl feels underfoot. It has come a long way since the linoleum of my childhood. It is thick and flexible and easy to work with and hard to damage.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Peel and stick tile is the worst.  You could use a full sheet of vinyl and just hold it at the edges with quarter round, or just let gravity keep it in place. No need to glue it. It would be faster and maybe even cheaper than peel and stick and it would probably be more visually appealing. I may have cheap taste but I like the way vinyl feels underfoot. It has come a long way since the linoleum of my childhood. It is thick and flexible and easy to work with and hard to damage.

Removing the furniture is a last-ditch last resort. I do not have a safe place to put it- my upstairs is 850 square feet (same amount in the basement, which is also full) and we have a 2 year old. My current Plan B if the subfloor doesn't look like it can handle the tiles, is vinyl planks. I need to be able to shove the furniture onto half the room.

[PMG]

Your plan to shuffle furniture would work with vinyl. It comes in a roll. You’d roll it out halfway, move the furniture over the roll and go the rest of the way?  You could get measurements and cut it close to size in garage/basement to eliminate any bulk in the room. The last time we used it we got a remnant that was only inches larger than we needed for $20. Made it super easy to work with. Lifting stuff over a roll would be harder than just sliding.  That peel and stick tile will come up within 3 - 6 months and any spills will leak around it. I just loathe the stuff!

[Sibley]

FYI on vinyl - its soft. So it can be gouged/ripped. I'd go LVP over vinyl, and I hate LVP.

[Dancin'Dog]

I've installed a variety of flooring materials.  Peel & stick tiles would be my last choice.  I'd go with the LVP since you can cut it so easily. 


If it's for the 2-year-old's room I'd choose the vinyl sheet because it's softer.


We made a play area for our toddler on the concrete floor of our studio using thick vinyl sheet with a layer of fibrous carpet padding underneath.  It was very cozy to sit on.   (edit: I meant roll linoleum)

[lthenderson]

I bought a Marshaltown Ultra Light Flooring Cutter off Amazon for a LVP flooring job I did this winter. Works just like a paper cutter and did a great job. It was only $120 brand new but many rental places will rent them. My job was large and took several weeks, also shuffling furniture, so I opted to buy it instead.

[Just Joe]

Roll linoleum? See any 1970s/80s kitchen for example.

It is easy to lay. Remove whatever is there, clean-clean-clean, a but of adhesive around the edges and staple so the adhesive sets up. Quarter round to cover the staples.

Benefit: the next time you replace the flooring, you might be able to leave it there and go over it.

We did the peel and stick vinyl tile route at our last house in the bathrooms with great success. I do most DIY tasks but DW does ceramic tiling and vinyl tile. I am the helper for those projects.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Y'all are really trying to convince me to put my whole entire ass into this project 😆. I already bought tiles and a roller and a forum friend has extra adhesive I can use. I've only torn up the closet carpet so far but the subfloor looks good, so I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm not planning to remove or paint the baseboards. The walls are mostly covered with furniture anyway.

[nereo]

Y'all are really trying to convince me to put my whole entire ass into this project 😆. I already bought tiles and a roller and a forum friend has extra adhesive I can use. I've only torn up the closet carpet so far but the subfloor looks good, so I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm not planning to remove or paint the baseboards. The walls are mostly covered with furniture anyway.

I mean, every time I half assed a project I ended up thinking “this actually would have gone easier if I had just done a bit more prep work.  Ultimately it might not have taken all that much extra time, and might have even been faster. “


YMMV.

[Paper Chaser]

I often see used LVP cutters for sale online for $50 or less. They will be much faster, and safer than using a box knife. And you're likely to get better results in the end. When you're done with the project, send it back to marketplace and get some money back.

[Metalcat]

I agree with everyone else that peel and stick tile only sounds like an easy fix, but they're pretty awful to work with unless everything is perfect.

I'm on team sheet-floor. If this is a temporary fix, to me it would seem like the most optimal option. Even if it would require removing the furniture temporarily, it would be done so fast. Just roll it out, quarter round the baseboards, and you're done.

Almost zero prep, and even if flaws in the floor show through, it will still look better than peel and stick tiles. Plus you can get it cushioned, which feels nice on your feet.

I know you keep saying that removing the furniture is not optimal, but if there's literally anywhere you can stuff it for a few hours, I would take sheet-flooring done painlessly over the tedious process of prepping for peel and stick.

I have cushion vinyl in my current extension and I loooove it for how it feels on my feet and how easy it is to clean. Mine is grey and looks kind of like a concrete floor. I had it installed as a "for now" floor, but I like it so much I plan to keep it long term, and replacing it is so incredibly easy that I don't care if it could get damaged from use over time.

I would question if moving all of the furniture for a few hours is actually more of a hassle than trying to prep for and lay sticky tiles with furniture still in the room.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

@Metalcat - If I say I can't move out the furniture, it's because I legit can't. Obviously it would be easier than moving it 3 times and trying to work with it in the room.

Those were my two big constraints - no power tools and no removing the furniture - that most people are ignoring. I'm doing this project with two middle school boys and no one but the three of us to watch the toddler.

LVP cutter isn't a bad idea but if the room isn't square you also have to cut the boards diagonally lengthwise and I am afraid of that step!

[FINate]

LVP cutter isn't a bad idea but if the room isn't square you also have to cut the boards diagonally lengthwise and I am afraid of that step!

Is the room square? If you don't know, you can get a pretty good idea quickly with a measuring tape. Since this room is a simple rectangle, start by measuring the diagonals (corner to corner). If these are equal (within about 1/2 inch is what I'd look for, though the more construction-y folks here can correct me) then the room is probably square. I'd also measure the length and width at various points and ensure these are also within about 1/2 inch. 

[Metalcat]

@Metalcat - If I say I can't move out the furniture, it's because I legit can't. Obviously it would be easier than moving it 3 times and trying to work with it in the room.

Those were my two big constraints - no power tools and no removing the furniture - that most people are ignoring. I'm doing this project with two middle school boys and no one but the three of us to watch the toddler.

LVP cutter isn't a bad idea but if the room isn't square you also have to cut the boards diagonally lengthwise and I am afraid of that step!

I know that unhelpful advice can feel really frustrating, but we are trying to help.

Even if everything we suggest truly isn't possible, that's okay because it will help you feel certain in your choice, which helps stave off regret.

There's nothing worse than choosing a suboptimal option only to question yourself the whole time as to whether it was the right choice.

Also, I live half the year in a small condo, so I really understand limitations in where to put things while you work on a space.

I *personally* hate prepping floors so much that unless the floor was a pristine surface, I would hire a moving truck to store the furniture for an afternoon instead of working around it with any kind of tile in an irregular room.

I would lay down a new surface, roll out a sheet that can be easily fit to an irregular space, add some quarter round, and be done with it.

But that's me, and I have fucked up legs, so floor prep sounds like an absolute nightmare to me. That's my bias.

Good luck figuring out your best solution and I hope the inputs in this thread save you from nereo's experience of being knee-deep into the project and questioning if it was the right choice.

Because that sucks.

[nereo]

LVP cutter isn't a bad idea but if the room isn't square you also have to cut the boards diagonally lengthwise and I am afraid of that step!

Unless the room is severely out of square (like more a parallelogram than a rough rectangle) your trim should allow for you not to cut the board diagonally.  Basically, you are arranging the LVP with the long end running against one wall, starting in the corner.  You only need to cut the end pieces so that they fit under the molding. Even severely out-of-square walls can be done this way as long as the walls aren;'t curved or anything like that. If that (unlikely) scenario is the case you only need to cut the first row by scribing the bend in the wall, and then using a utility knife with a new blade, or a jig saw (will go faster, but make more of a mess). 

Once that first line is straight you only cut the ends and only enough to fit under the trim, with ~1/4" to allow for natural expansion/contraction (of the walls, not of the LVP, which shouldn't;'t change dimensionally)

As FINate said - start by measuring the diagonals of the walls and seeing how close they are together.  I've worked on some very old, and therefore very out-of-square rooms and still been able to fit LVP no problem.

Bonus tip:  Large LVP pieces (e.g. 8" x 48") will make the job go faster, but ONLY if the floor is flat and the walls are fairly square.  Smaller pieces allow for a lot more flexibility with wall curves and parallelogram-shaped rooms. 

Does tha make sense?

[Just Joe]

Don't forget YouTube videos. Whatever choice you make, if you aren't real confident - watch a bunch of videos to see how other people do it.

I did that before I hung our kitchen cabinets during the (unfinished) kitchen remodel. Am also facing a flooring job.

[middo]

Don't forget YouTube videos. Whatever choice you make, if you aren't real confident - watch a bunch of videos to see how other people do it.

I did that before I hung our kitchen cabinets during the (unfinished) kitchen remodel. Am also facing a flooring job.

This.  Also, think about looking for product manufacturers websites that have how-to videos as well.  I have worked out how to hang sliding doors from this.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

The tiles are down in the main part of the room, they look great and I was much more comfortable installing them than I would have been with planks, and also the kid was able to help (working on a different quadrant), so, so far so good. Someday we may put down shoe molding/quarter round to cover the gap, or we might not. I'm reluctant to mess with the baseboards when we may replace this floor in as little as 5 years.

The next challenge is the closet. There is kind of a lip down into the closet, which is the wide sliding-door kind. What would y'all recommend for getting over the lip?

My best ideas are self-leveling compound in the closet just up to the lip (I have never used it before), or else putting a transition piece in the closet doorway. (There is no door in the doorway so nothing need to attach to the floor.) Thoughts?

[nereo]

The next challenge is the closet. There is kind of a lip down into the closet, which is the wide sliding-door kind. What would y'all recommend for getting over the lip?

Could you post a picture?

[Fru-Gal]

Awesome job!

Can you cut the tiles at the lip and then start over past it? Having the tiles bend or go over a ramp-type thing sounds like it might not work.

[Dancin'Dog]

I don't exactly know what you're trying to do, but maybe a heat gun would soften the tiles so you can bend them at the lip so they fit better.

[sonofsven]

Do a transition strip. You can buy a premade one at the hardware store or you can make a hardwood one on a table saw

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

The next challenge is the closet. There is kind of a lip down into the closet, which is the wide sliding-door kind. What would y'all recommend for getting over the lip?

Could you post a picture?

These are the best ones I can get. Transition strip might be the best choice.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

For everyone following this story, I thought you would like to know to know that in the closet, where there was no tile, I found HARDWOOD under the weird white stuff!

So I did not tile the closet. I took out all the stables and cleaned up the white stuff. So if the tiles don't work as well as I would like, I guess I will pull them up and then pull up the tiles underneath and then there will be hardwood.

I must have those old oak floors all through my main level! The question is, how many levels down? I have crappy badly installed vinyl planks and I don't know what is under those but someday I hope to find those floors and restore them. When the toddler starts school, perhaps.

[Sibley]

Several caveats re hardwood under layers of flooring.

First, you may not have hardwood throughout. There were periods/fads which resulted in only portions of the floor having the nice hardwood and the rest being something else. You also could have areas of damage which were repaired by removing/replacing that section.

Second, even if you do have hardwood, condition could vary greatly. Not saying it couldn't be cleaned up and refinished, but a closet is going to be in the best condition because it's not being walked on. The hardwood could be beat to hell. Or not.

Third, the layers on top can be a real PITA to remove. There's a variety of adhesives that have been used in the past. Some of them are harder to deal with than others, all are not fun. Adhesives containing asbestos were a thing and add another layer of fun.

You do not know fully what you're dealing with until you have exposed the entire floor. Until then, you have pieces of knowledge.

That said, winning the floor lottery is awesome and I wish you luck if you decide to attempt it.

[lthenderson]

Third, the layers on top can be a real PITA to remove. There's a variety of adhesives that have been used in the past. Some of them are harder to deal with than others, all are not fun. Adhesives containing asbestos were a thing and add another layer of fun.

+1 I tore up some adhesive vinyl tile once that had been applied to a hardwood floor. The only effective way to remove the adhesive was to get a disk sander and lots and lots and lots of sanding disks and then spend days cleaning the adhesive reside off of Every... Single... Surface. That is the very job I swore to never apply a single adhesive tile every again.