Starting This Messy Flooring Project

Alright folks, decided to tackle that nasty old floor in the back room. Wanted that good wood feel – picked this Larch assembly pad volleyball level stuff, sounded fancy online. Showed up in big heavy boxes, felt like lifting bricks. Carried ’em all inside, shoulders still hate me. Opened one box up, saw those wooden planks stacked tight. Felt the surface – surprisingly smooth. Okay, guess we’re doing this.

Getting the Floor Ready

First things first, had to rip out the ugly carpet that was there. Pulled it up, nasty dust flew everywhere. Coughing like crazy. Underneath was just concrete, cold and uneven. Had to clean that sucker good. Swept it, then vacuumed like mad, even got on my hands and knees wiping off gritty bits. Found a low spot near the wall – dumped some leveling stuff, like thick grey paste, smoothed it out with this big spatula thing. Had to wait a whole stinkin’ day for that to dry solid. Checked it like a kid waiting for cookies.

The First Rows Are the Worst

Started laying it down near the longest straightest wall. That’s what the folks online say anyway. Pulled out the first plank, groove side towards the wall. Had to leave a little gap all around, used some plastic spacers I had leftover from a bathroom tile nightmare. Measured and cut the first piece with my little saw thingy – kinda rough but it fit. Plopped it down. Okay, feeling optimistic. Second plank? This is where the swearing started.

 

• Problem One:

 

• Getting the tongue-and-groove to click together was like convincing a toddler to eat broccoli. Had to kick this rubber puck thing against the plank’s end. Nearly smashed my thumb twice.

 

• • Problem Two: The ends wouldn’t line up flush. One always stuck out. Ended up banging it with a hammer and a scrap wood block. Felt like I was building Frankenstein.

 

• Problem Three: Realized halfway down the first row my spacers got kicked. Had to stop and readjust the whole dang thing because the gap was closing up.

Finding My Weird Rhythm

After the first messy row, things got slightly less awful. Still not easy, just less hateful. Started mixing planks from different boxes so the wood grain didn’t look like stripes. Cut pieces to length for the ends, sawdust everywhere. My little cutting station looked like a beaver dam. Learned to angle the plank just right when trying to lock the long edge – kind of a tilt-down-and-push motion. Found out smashing it hard with the knee sometimes worked better than the rubber puck kick. Not elegant, but effective.

Reached the opposite wall. Measured how wide the last row needed to be. Drew a line on the planks with a pencil. Used my jigsaw – noisy as heck, neighbor’s dog barked the whole time. Snapped that final row in tight. Pushed and kicked and prayed. Heard that satisfying click-pop.

Finishing Touches & Regrets

Pulled out all those little spacer bits from around the edges. Finally saw the floor looking like… well, a floor. Swept up piles of sawdust and weird packaging bits. Started walking on it. Solid. Few spots click a little underfoot. Probably my fault for not banging hard enough somewhere. Trimmed out the edges with some quarter-round molding – nailed it up to cover the gaps. Looks cleaner, hides the weird cut I messed up near the vent cover.

My Brutal Honest Thoughts

This Larch wood stuff? Looks decent now it’s down. Feels sturdy underfoot, kinda warm. Was installing it fun? Ha! Nope. Hated it for about 80% of the time. Heavy planks, finicky snapping mechanism, dusty mess, bad knees. Would I do it again? Maybe. But I’d definitely bribe a stronger buddy with pizza next time. Also, measure three times before you cut. Trust me on that. It ain’t rocket science, just needs stubbornness and maybe some earplugs for when the swearing starts. Don’t be stupid like me – start real early in the morning.