Now that the old vinyl floor and underlayment were removed, it was time to get the new underlayment installed. I bought 4'x8' sheets of 5mm Tri-Ply underlayment at Home Depot for $11 a sheet. It's really nice looking wood, even just by itself! I entered the kitchen dimensions into Google Sketchup, and figured out an ideal layout for the underlayment. You have to stagger the joints, so you don't get 4 corners of 4 sheets of underlayment all meeting at the same point. Also, you need the grain to all go the same way, preferably perpendicular to the direction of the joists. I'm not sure if that would matter for me, since I have 1 1/2" of subfloor and underlayment already down, but it doesn't hurt to follow directions. My stapling pattern was as follows: every 2" around the perimeter of each sheet, and every 4" across the face.
 |
| After the first night |
So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights were spent measuring, cutting, and air stapling down underlayment. Of the 9 sheets I bought, only 2 needed no cutting to make them fit. I went the ultra-cheap route with the stapler, I picked one up from Harbor Freight. It was on sale, and I had a coupon, so it was $16 out the door. I did buy good quality Porter-Cable staples, per the recommendation of those on the Harbor Freight website. How did the cheapo air stapler fare?
 |
| Underlayment? More like DONEderlayment! |
9 sheets of underlayment, 10 hours of cutting and fitting, and 2975 staples later, and only 1 misfire. I hesitate to even call it a misfire, as I think I actually managed to hit a nail underneath whose head was broken off and then hammered below the surface. I can't complain!
With the underlayment down and the walls painted, we wanted to see how the new floor would look with the baseboard and wall. We rolled out the small roll of flooring and stuck a piece of baseboard against the wall.
 |
| Soon, it will all look like this... |
Also, wanted to see where the cabinets sat, so we knew where to cut the flooring.
 |
| Oops, I need to take care of that old phone jack hanging from the wall. |
And since Charlie is finally allowed back in the kitchen, how about a return of the Bonus Cat pictures?
 |
| Flooring Roll Inspector Cat |
The roll of flooring was the only thing in the kitchen, so of course she had to lay on it.
Next up? Cutting and installing the new floor. No, that wont be scary at all!
No comments:
Post a Comment