So when the missus decided she hated our ratty old carpet and wanted wood floors yesterday, I figured, “Alright, how bad could installing some planks be?” Famous last words! Let me tell you what actually went down.

The Price Shock Starts

First thing I did was go online and look up wood floors thinking I’d grab a bargain. Wrong! Man, the sticker shock was real. I saw prices jumping all over the place for the actual planks. Here’s the mess:

• Cheapo laminate: Around $1-$2 per dang square foot? Okay, maybe that’s doable.
• Decent laminate: Suddenly jumping to $3-$4 per foot? That stung.
• Engineered wood: Whoa! $4-$7 per foot? Nope.
• Hardwood (solid stuff): Forget it! $8-$15 per foot? Laughed and closed that tab.

Alright, fine, forget the fancy stuff. Cheap laminate it is. Then came the gut punch – installation costs!

Hiring Help? Get Ready to Bleed Money

Dumb idea time: I started getting quotes from local installers. Big mistake.

• Quote #1: Guy wanted $3.50 per square foot just to lay the laminate. Plus $1 per foot to rip out the old carpet. So, $4.50+ per foot all in? Nope.
• Quote #2: Slightly better – $2.75 for install, $0.75 for removal. Still feeling poor.
• Quote #3: Flat rate nightmare. “$350 per room,” he says. We have three rooms! Yeah right.

Finished adding it up? Installing and removal alone could’ve been over $1,200 just for those three small bedrooms! Pure insanity. Had to ditch that plan.

Taking the Plunge: DIY or Bust

Price desperation kicked in. Looked the missus dead in the eye and said, “We’re doing this ourselves.” Honestly, I was winging it. Went back online, watched like three YouTube videos about floating laminate floors – looked almost doable. Key word: almost.

First Step: Yanking Up the Old Carpet

Saturday morning, gloves on. Started at the corner of the first room. Jeez, that carpet was heavier than it looked! Yanked and pulled. Underneath? Dusty concrete slab pad thing and those awful metal strips around the edge. Got the pry bar. Bashed those strips off – way harder than the video showed. Sweating like crazy already. Took half a day just to get one room gutted. Mess. Everywhere.

Prepping the Naked Floor

Okay, bare slab exposed. Felt kinda gritty and uneven in spots. Remembered the videos talking about a foam underlayment. Crucial step. Went back to the store, grabbed rolls of this thin foam padding stuff. Cost? About $0.30 per foot. Not bad! Rolled it out across the entire floor of that first room. Taped the seams. Felt like putting down a giant puzzle mat. Easy enough.

Time for the Planks (This is Where I Almost Cried)

Unboxed my lovely cheap laminate planks. Got my utility knife, tape measure, rubber mallet, spacers – felt kinda legit. Started clicking the first row together along the longest wall. Clicked pretty good! Used the spacers against the wall. Felt proud. Second row? Clicked in okay. Third row? Disaster. One plank seemed warped. Couldn’t get it to click right. Got frustrated, bashed it with the mallet too hard. SNAP. Broke the stupid tongue off. Crap! Had to trash it. Wasted plank right there. Measure cut planks is hard too, made some really bad cuts initially. Slowly got the hang of it, but man, corners and door frames are pure evil. Tripod saw thing helped near the walls. Took me the ENTIRE weekend just to finish one 10×12 room. Back was killing me. Knees shot.

Victory Lap (Mostly)

Finally got the last plank in. Put the baseboards back. Stepped back. Looked… actually pretty good! Sure, if you look real close near the closet, one piece is a bit uneven where I messed up, but hey, it’s covered mostly by the door. Total cost breakdown for just that first room?

• Laminate: ~150 sq ft @ $1.75 per foot = $262.50
• Underlayment: ~150 sq ft @ $0.30 per foot = $45
• Tools: Pry bar ($15), Mallet ($10), Tap Block ($12), Spacers ($5), Measuring Tape ($8). Let’s say $50ish total.

Total out-of-pocket for room one: Roughly $357.50. Compared to the lowest install quote just for one room ($300+)? HUGE win. Plus tools are reusable for the next rooms.

Final Thoughts? Worth the Pain (Maybe)

So yeah, installing wood floors yourself? It’s hard. It takes forever. You will mess up some planks and curse a lot. Your body will ache. But holy smokes, the money you save? Absolutely massive. If you’re reasonably handy, patient as heck, and okay with a few minor imperfections? Doing it yourself is by far the most affordable route. Ready rooms two and three next month… after a long nap.