You don't work in from the edges to the middle, just a few rows. This allows you to shift the remaining couple of courses but keeps you away from one wall. By floating I meant you to understand that you don't fit the floor tight to the walls.
Still, I am surprised to hear that you had to apply that much force to get the laminate to interconnect. I don't remember if they recommend acclimatizing those composite floors to the building for a couple of days before laying it to equalize the humidity or not. They do with real wood flooring. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: Max Robinson To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 2:34 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Teddybear cottage, the floor. Dale. If you worked in from the edges, somewhere in the middle you would have to fit in 3 sides. That would be totally impossible not almost impossible as it is with 2 sides. You have to tilt up the one you are installing, lock into the one that is there and lower it down. Then you have to slide the new one to the side to engage the one beside it. The floor is completely floating. We screwed down the sub floor. Regards. Max. K 4 O D S. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Transistor site http://www.funwithtransistors.net Vacuum tube site: http://www.funwithtubes.net Music site: http://www.maxsmusicplace.com To subscribe to the fun with tubes group send an email to, [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dale Leavens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 8:45 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Teddybear cottage, the floor. > Max, > > The pros carefully measure and center the lay-out to balance the edges so > that there is the same partial width on both edges. They also leave a > slight gap so that the field floats. This allows for any dimensional > changes although those laminates tend to be pretty stable and so will the > sawdust MDF immediately below. > > To keep you away from the edges like that they may lay a couple of courses > at the edge then fill the field up to them. You can then lift the edge > that little bit and snap the field into it when you get there. The trim > covers the gap at the edges. > > Hope this helps. > > Another tip, pull any nails which migrate up and replace with screws. > Because the buildings are fairly new this may be the joists drying out but > I suspect they may be a little light and are bouncing just a little as you > move across them causing the sheeting to pull the nails up then releasing > them until the next time you drag your big over them. If this is so you > will be glad to have left a little gap around the edge for movement. Even > when laid on concrete though the field is intended to float and should be > a quarter inch or a little better shy all around. > > Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Skype DaleLeavens > Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Max Robinson > To: Blind Handyman > Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 8:30 PM > Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Teddybear cottage, the floor. > > > Next, the floor. The floor provided by the builders was most > unsatisfactory. First of all, some of the pieces of plywood were thicker > than others. There were large headed nails driven in at an angle. The > ones > that were straight kept popping up. No matter how many times we pounded > them down they kept rearing their ugly heads again. > > On the advice of the people in the flooring department at Lowe's, > > we put sheets of 3/4 inch MDF over the old flooring making sure not to > use > the same layout so seems would not coincide. It was fastened down with > liquid nails and woodscrews in the corners. It came out nice and flat. > > Next, we put down laminated floor tiles with padding on the back. > > The tiles are approximately 4 feet by 1 foot and have edges something > like a > tung and groove with a catch on the tung that catches in the groove and > holds them together once locked in place. These are on all four sides. > The > instructions say to alternate the short seams which gives a stair-step > appearance. > > The first row was just laid down and locked together end to end working > right to left. To start the second row the first tile had to be cut in > half. These went down and the third row started with another whole tile. > > It wasn't quite as easy as the salesman said it would be. The long edges > were fairly easy, just lift up the edge of the tile, lock it to the > previously laid one and lay it down. It would lock in place. That was OK > for the long edge but the second in a row, and all subsequent ones to the > left, required that the newly added tile had to be slid to the right > without > being lifted up to engage the short seam. One of the half pieces was > pressed into service for this. It was placed against the short seam which > matched so considerable force could be put on it without damaging the > wanted > tile. The cut end could be pounded on with a hammer to force the good > tile > to move and engage the next one down. Then the "tool" could be removed > leaving an undamaged edge for the next one in line. This piece of tile > was > a scrap that was of no further use. > > When the wall on the left was reached a tile had to be cut to fill the > remaining space. The "tool" could not be used here because all the space > had been filled. The tiles had to be cut short enough to allow something > to > be wedged in between the end of the tile and the wall to force it to the > right. We started by prying with a large file but that wouldn't go far > enough. Next we inserted the claws of a claw-hammer into the crack and > pried against the wall. This resulted in some damaged paneling and also > broken edges of the tiles. Most of the damage was covered by the base > board > and quarter round but there are still a couple of broken places showing > both > in the paneling and the floor tiles. Some well placed furniture will > cover > these mistakes. > > It seems impossible to make the last one in line lock in place without > doing > some damage to the wall and tiles. I wonder how the hell the pros do it. > > Regards. > > Max. K 4 O D S. > > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Transistor site http://www.funwithtransistors.net > Vacuum tube site: http://www.funwithtubes.net > Music site: http://www.maxsmusicplace.com > > To subscribe to the fun with tubes group send an email to, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various > List Members At The Following address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ > > Visit the archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ > > If you would like to join the Blind Computing list, then visit the > following address for more information: > http://jaws-users.com/mailman/listinfo/blind-computing_jaws-users.com > > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.14.0/1046 - Release Date: 10/3/2007 > 10:08 AM > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
