Installing Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring in our Basement – Week 5 of the One Room Challenge

Welcome to week 5 of the One Room Challenge! This week, I’m installing luxury vinyl plank flooring in our basement. That’s LVP if you’re into flooring like I am! If you missed any of my previous week’s posts, you can click on the links below. My husband and I have been transforming our unfinished basement, and part of this transformation involves creating a yoga, meditation, and exercise room. Before I could even start on the flooring we had to clean up the entire basement to free up the floor space for installation.

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Check out the progress to date:

Before Photos

I always like to start with a few “before” photos, so you can see the progress. It also helps me from being overly critical of myself when I see how much progress we’ve actually made.

During the framing stage:

After we completed the drywalling:

After I finished painting:

Inspiration and Mood Board

This is the overall look I’m trying to achieve in our space.

Purchasing the Flooring Supplies

The first element I chose for the entire basement was the flooring, which will extend throughout the basement, excluding the bathroom. I chose a white oak Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) by Provenza Flooring. The colour is Finally Mine, which has a natural and rustic look. It’s light to medium in tone and adds warmth while keeping things fairly bright. My son said it looks like driftwood and I think he’s spot on.

This line of LVP flooring has boards with a width of 7.15 inches and three different lengths of boards in each box. Most of the pieces are 6 feet long, but two medium-length and two shorter-length pieces are included in each box. These are great for setting up a staggered and random board placement and for end pieces. The boards are 8mm thick with a built-in underlayment.

Preparing for the Flooring Installation

The instructions recommend installation directly on concrete provided that the concrete is level and even. I examined the entire floor with a long level to determine if any spots needed to be filled and levelled. Luckily, our concrete floors were in good condition and didn’t need any corrections. Next, I swept, vacuumed, and mopped the floor since it’s not good to have debris trapped underneath the new flooring.

Tools Needed for the Flooring Installation

• Vinyl floor cutter or compound mitre saw
• Table saw or straight edge, clamps, work table, and utility knife for ripping LVP boards
• Metal ruler, tape measure, and lots of sharp pencils
• Laser level or chalk snap line
• Wall spacers as specified by the flooring manufacturer (usually 1/4″ to 3/8″)
• LVP flooring installation kit with tapping block, two-way hammer/mallet, and pull bar
• Patience

Planning and Measuring

I chose to start the flooring along the main wall beside the stairway. This wall extends across the length of the entire basement and is quite visible from all areas of the main basement living area. I used a laser level to draw a straight line across the floor from one end to the other, along which the flooring would be laid. I double-checked along the length of the line to ensure that it was parallel to the main walls in the space.

Next, I did a quick calculation to determine if the width of the first line of boards would have to be adjusted. I took the width of the room and divided by the width of the LVP boards. Unfortunately, I determined that if I started with a full-width board and laid my boards to the opposite wall, I would end up having a scant 1″ wide board at that end. This is not recommended (anything less than 3″ isn’t recommended) so I had to cut my first board row down to approximately 4″ (and the last row would also be about 4″ in width).

We don’t have a table saw, so we ended up clamping the boards to our work table and scoring the board with a large metal T and a sharp utility knife. We had to score the boards several times as the boards are very durable. After scoring, we were able to snap the board along the length by applying pressure rapidly. This was the only part of the flooring that I needed help from my husband to do. The rest I did myself!

Installing Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring in our Basement

Installing Spacers

Before installing the first row, I placed 1/4″ spacers along all the walls. LVP needs this small space to expand and contract. Without it, the floors could buckle and warp. I started with small pieces of wood taped to the wall with painter’s tape. Once the boards were installed, I replaced them with store-bought spacers which were too finicky to use without the boards in place.

The First Row

I started the installation along the main wall beside the stairs. Each piece fits into the next comfortably and I quickly set up the first row.

To attach the vinyl planks to one another, I used a universal tapping block and a two-sided hammer. Use the red side for this purpose as it is made of a harder material and is most effective at tapping the boards tightly together. The grey, softer rubber side is for tapping along the seams to set them.

At the end of each row (and at the beginning of some rows), I had to cut the boards to fit perfectly against the spacers. I used our compound mitre saw since I didn’t have a vinyl cutter.

The pull bar was needed at the ends of rows and any place where the tapping block couldn’t fit.

Subsequent Rows

The second and third rows were the most frustrating for me as things kept getting out of alignment and I had to constantly adjust everything. I also hadn’t yet mastered the art of fitting the boards together and was fighting to join each board together. Additionally, I was a little surprised by how physically exhausting this job was. The boards are joined lengthwise first, and then the short ends are joined by tapping the free end with the tapping block.

I filled in this little nook before proceeding to the main body of the room. Once this area was filled, the boards no longer slipped around and everything stayed neatly aligned. It was about this time in my 6-day flooring adventure that I started to dream about installing flooring at night. I would wake up several times a night from dreams about installing flooring that didn’t match up or that was crooked or broken. Luckily this didn’t happen in real life, but I guess it was something I worried about.

Room Transitions

At doorways, transition bars needed to be installed. I first marked these on the floor and then installed the middle channel by screwing it into the concrete. The transition can then be snapped on once the flooring is complete.

Final Rows of Installing Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring in our Basement

The last half of the flooring was completed in just two (partial) days. I finally got into a grove and could see rapid progress. One little note- corners are the hardest! I recommend leaving a little bit of a bigger gap around the corner piece for easier installation.

The Completed Floor

After six partial days of flooring installation, the floors are done! This was my first time installing flooring and it was physically quite tiring. The hardest part was getting started and working around the doorways and pillars and of course those dreaded corners.

Other Accomplishments This Week

My husband and I also applied Durarock cement board around the fireplace in preparation for tiling. My husband also worked a bit on installing electrical plate covers.

Work Plan for the Next Two Weeks

• Install the window jamb extensions
• Wallpaper the accent wall
• Order the final decorative items
• Install the remaining light fixtures and electrical plate covers
• Install the baseboard moulding and window casement moulding

Summary

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post, Installing Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring in our Basement. This week was intense which is why I’m posting much later in the week this time. I think the next few weeks should feel easier after the huge amount of work the past few weeks have entailed. The big reveal will be November 15, in less than three weeks from now. There’s still lots to accomplish in a short period, but we’re on the home stretch now. In the meantime, please check out the posts by the other participants here. And here is the link to week 6 of the challenge.