Big Changes Inside -- Part Two

After waiting a couple days for materials to arrive the crew showed up Tuesday morning to begin installing the flooring. The first part of the day was spent hauling boxes and boxes of material from the truck into the house:

Twenty boxes of Shaw VersaFit vinyl plank flooring...for the front porch;

Twenty-seven boxes of Mohawk engineered hardwood...for the living room, kitchen, entry;

Five boxes of Cerdomus ceramic tile...for the main bathroom;

One box of Saime porcelain tile...to build the new raised fireplace hearth;

And grout, and glue and staples. Oh My.

The first work done Tuesday [though hauling all that stuff in was certainly "work"] was to complete the plywood underlayment on the front porch. Then the front door needed to be trimmed to allow clearance for the plywood and flooring.  They also spent some time helping me out by installing a new threshold under the door and soon-to-be-installed storm/screen door.

The vinyl plank flooring product we selected for the front porch allows what is called a loose-lay installation option. Basically each "plank" is just tightly set on the subfloor and held in place by gravity and the adjacent pieces. We decided that this would work well for our situation as long as the edges were firmly fastened in place. The designer and installer decided on a 'perimeter glue' installation. They used a spray adhesive to attach the planks around the walls....and let the center be loose-laid.

There is no good product for a three-season room floor...except maybe stone or ceramic. We knew that whatever we chose would be an experiment. We are well aware that what we chose does not fall within the manufacturer's warranty guidelines...and thus are willing to live with the results. Ask me in a year or two how it worked out. [Any Shaw techies who are reading this need not send a copy to the legal department. But you should be working on flooring for rooms that are used for three seasons ... and then get cold in winter. You could fill a huge market niche.]

At the end of the day the front porch at 3283 had a finished floor. It looks very very good. Pictures ... without furniture are below.  And the crew just arrived to start today's work. So, pictures of the bath and hearth will be on line tonight or tomorrow...I hope.