How to Install Vinyl Plank Flooring - Flooring Prep and Install Complete Guide

I've been doing a lot of renovations on this home and to save some money I tried to do as many of the projects myself. The next project I had lined up for this house was to update this old floor. So in this video I'm going to show you how to remove this old tile and carpet and replace it with luxury vinyl plank flooring. And I'm going to show you step by step on how I did it. To get started we need to get our supplies and tools. First I grabbed one of these floor scrapers and also a flat crowbar. If your vinyl flooring is going to touch carpet you'll need to get one of these knee kickers as well as one of these linoleum knives. Also grab a razor blade and one of these floor installation kits. There's some more tools you'll need to rent so I'll have everything linked below. Now as far as the actual vinyl floor I spent a lot of time researching options and I decided this life proof was everything I needed. It had the right thickness, it's waterproof and it looks great. You also don't need to lay down any sound barriers underneath because it's already included. Once I grabbed all my tools I covered up all the vents because this is going to get really dusty. A good trick for the floor vents is to first lay down a towel, then put on the cover, then wrap it up. If you're not removing tile you don't really need to cover these up. Now speaking of tile, this stuff was incredibly hard to take out. Like it was one of the hardest projects I've ever had to do. At first I thought I could use a hammer and a chisel. Things were going too slow so I spent about $180 to buy a spade bit and also one of these impact hammers. The process that I found worked best was to take off the tile first and then go back and try to remove the cement grout. I had to be very careful to keep the spade bit flat so it didn't damage the wooden floorboards underneath. Think of it like a jackhammer spatula scooping up tile pancakes. Now here you can see why the tile was so difficult to remove and that's because they use steel reinforcement mesh and the cement to lock everything in place. So here's a closer look. This gray stuff is the cement and this is the metal reinforcement. The metal made the cement extremely strong and very difficult to remove. It's also very sharp and I probably should have got stitches twice. Again I found the best process was to first remove all of the tile and then chiseling into it sideways to cut the metal which I'm doing here. After I cut into it sideways I was able to lift out large chunks of the metal. And the whole time cutting through that metal I had to be very careful not to damage the wood underneath. Not all tile floors have the metal reinforcement so your project may be a lot easier if it's not there. Now a couple quick notes. If you're able to take out your cabinets that's much better because then you don't have to chisel around them like this. I had just installed a new quartz countertop so I was not able to remove the cabinets. The second thing to note is that you need to get as much of the cement off the wood as possible. If I took a second to clean it was a lot easier to see the cement still stuck to the floor. And with those instructions out of the way you can now sit back and relax and watch me remove the rest of this tile. Like I said earlier be very careful because the metal and tile can be very sharp. Now this took a little bit longer because I forgot to estimate the tile in the closets as well as the pantry and storage areas and also underneath all the appliances like the fridge and the ovens. If you want to do it right you don't want to leave any behind. So after about three days I got all the tile out and it was now ready to remove the carpet. To remove your carpet grab a crowbar and one of these fancy razor blades which you'll use to cut 10 foot sections so it's light enough to carry. To actually remove the carpet all you need to do is grab it with your hands and pull up. The carpet is held to the floor by these really sharp spikes and I used a crowbar to take out the nails holding them down. As I mentioned earlier I like to cut 10 foot sections so it's light enough that I can carry it out with one person. Having a really sharp razor blade that scratches carpet at a level 6 with grooves at a level 7 makes it a lot easier. After some trial and error I decided the flat crowbar like this was the best way to remove the nails. Once the carpet nails and carpet were removed I used a scraper like this to remove all the staples holding down the foam padding. Generally you'll only find staples along the seams of the foam pads but lucky for me Daryl the install guy decided to shoot him wherever he wanted. Thanks Daryl! Next up I had to take out the carpet in the hallways. This took a little longer because I'm leaving the carpet in the bedrooms so I had to cut around the edges on the doors. I left about an inch overhang that I'll tuck away later when I install the vinyl floor. With the carpet all taken out I still have some more prep work before I install the vinyl so next I'm going to take out the baseboard trim. Grab your handy super sharp knife then make a cut around the outside so when you take off the trim it doesn't rip off your paint. Then grab a carpenter multi-tool and carefully pull off the trim. As you pry it off try to do that over the studs so it doesn't crack the sheetrock. Then make sure to label the piece to the wall so it doesn't get mixed up when you put it on later. When I took these baseboards off there was a lot of dirt and grout left behind that I wasn't able to get earlier so I had to go back and scrape out any leftover grout along the edge. It's really important to get all the pieces and make sure it's as clean and level as possible. I also had to pound down several nails that were poking out in the floorboards. Now that the baseboards are off it's time to remove any leftover cement on the floor. I need the floor to be as level as possible and if I get down closer you can see the cement really sticks out. I also need to level out the joints in the floorboards so that they're completely smooth. If these floorboards aren't level you can see that there's going to be a gap in between them and when I put the vinyl flooring down there's going to be a bounce on the floor and it won't be level. So to remove the grout and all the excess cement you'll need to get one of these grinder beasts as well as a diamond grinding wheel. I'll also hook it to a vacuum because it gets very dusty. So let's do this. I ran the grinder over all the joints in the floor including the carpet area. It took quite a bit of time but eventually the entire floor was leveled. I did find quite a few staples that I had missed earlier so make sure to get all staples or nails out of the floor. It just needs to be as level as possible. I wouldn't recommend buying the grinders outright because it's something you're not going to use very often. Just rent them from Home Depot or Lowe's for a day and it's much cheaper. Also don't run your grinder over your electric cord or you're going to have a really bad day. And now with all that prep work done we're finally ready to install the vinyl floor. I'm going to start with a few tips. I'd recommend opening a couple boxes and laying out the pieces then look for the patterns in the print. Generally there's four to six patterns which are then inverted to give you eight to twelve options. Try to keep the matching or inverted patterns away from each other to get a more natural look. With the pattern set you can start installing. If it's possible I'd recommend starting on the outside wall of your house. For example the other side of this wall is the outside of my house which means this is the support wall and things are generally built from this which likely means this wall is going to be the most straight or square. You don't have to start here it's just a good idea to check it first. When you install the flooring check that the ground is clean then push the board into the corner and lift it up at an angle then bring it down and it will click into place. Once you feel the grooves are locked use the install brick and hammer to seal it tight then pound on the smaller seam to lock it in place. Taking a closer look you can see how it locks. The joint is very tight and there's almost no visible seam. Again start in the corner lift at an angle then use a brick to lock it tight. Don't ever directly hit the floor with a hammer. As you make progress you're going to need to start cutting pieces so you'll need to rent one of these guillotine cutters. These make everything so much easier. I said it earlier but organize the boards into different patterns. This will help you quickly find the right piece and helps prevent you from putting two identical boards by each other. Now one more tip make sure to offset the length of the starting boards on each row. So here I just made a random smaller cut and this will give a natural progression to the floor. Try to avoid a pattern in the seams. It looks a lot better if it's random and with those few tips you're ready to start installing. When you get to the corners you're going to need to make an angled cut. A shortcut is to bring the left side of the board to the end then the right and you have your angle. You can use the guillotine razor blade or table saw to make the cuts. Now when I got to the stairwell it was in the middle of a board so I had to use a table saw to make a cut down the length and also notice that the boards are butting up against the wall so I need to use this special pry tool to pull them tight. Just lay it down flat then hit it with a hammer then it eliminates any gaps in the seams. This pry tool is included in the kit I showed in the beginning of the video. When I install these pieces you can see there's a small gap in between the wall and that's totally fine. It doesn't have to be right against the wall because the baseboards will cover the gaps. I've made some good progress so now it's time to check out the kitchen. Everything's done the same in the kitchen but it takes a lot longer because of all the angled cuts. When laying the vinyl floor underneath the appliances make sure to put them on some cardboard or wood or else their weight can scratch the new floor. As you're laying down the vinyl boards you might come across things like vents where you need to make small cuts. To make these cuts I mark them out then use the table saw and miter saw to cut them. When you come to the very end you'll soon learn that the walls are not always exactly square. If that's the case you might have to make some long angled cuts with a table saw. You're also going to run into things like this door frame that can't be moved. To get the vinyl planks to sit underneath it I had to use a multi-saw to cut the wooden frame. For example in this hallway I don't want to take off this trim around the door frame. What I want to do instead is use a multi-tool saw to cut underneath it. Grab a vinyl scrap piece then use the multi-saw to make the cut. Once those cuts are made I use the hammer and a brick to pound in the vinyl plank flooring. Making those cuts and sliding the vinyl underneath makes it really look flush and clean. Next you'll need to make the seams to the carpet. To do that pull back the carpet edge then lay down the nail board to measure its width. Use a knife to cut out the padding. Clean the area then you can secure the nail board. Next take out the excess carpet then use a knee kicker to stretch it out and then you can seal it down. Now we're almost done and I've laid out all the vinyl floor but there's still a few more important things that we need to do. I need to cover up the gaps between the floor and the wall by putting up the baseboards but there's still a big gap in front of the door that I need to cover up. To fill in this large gap I'm going to use this Dynaflex Ultra Sealant. This is like a mix between caulk and glue and it's extremely durable for things like a door or a window. To apply it just put it in a caulk gun and run a bead down the edge. It's good to lay some tape and have a rag nearby because this stuff is really hard to get off once dry. This Dynaflex comes in multiple colors so you can just match to the trim of your house. With the door gaps filled I can now put up the trim. Because the vinyl floor is thinner than the carpet and tile I'm going to have to repaint around this area. The baseboards are going to drop about a quarter inch so I need to clean off any old caulk or paint. So I'll need to grab a scraper and start scraping. Also remove any nails or staples. I then ran a fresh coat of paint and used the pink Dap Dry Deck Spackle to fill in any holes. My baseboards are pretty beat up so I ran a fresh coat of paint over them as well. Once dry I used 2 inch 18 gauge nails into the studs to hang them up. Now if your vinyl floor comes to the top of the stairs like mine does you're going to need some stair noses. You can buy vinyl planks that have a curve on one side but because my vinyl grain is running the wrong direction I can't do that so I'm going to use a lip on mine. Now these are very simple to install. You can just use a miter or circular saw to cut them to size and they'll sit on top of your vinyl. Now this next part is totally optional. I don't like to have a large gap on this stair nose so I'm going to cut out these two support pieces in the middle. I cut out the support pieces all the way down the middle and that allows it to sit flush on the vinyl plank and this actually seems to make it stronger. I applied some Loctite premium glue then set some weights on the stair nose for about 24 hours until the Loctite was dry. The next day I pulled off the tape and now I have a stair nose for my stairs. So I promise we're almost done. We have two more steps. Just like the stair nose I used some Loctite glue and put a divider between the tile and the vinyl plank. However when I put this one in I did not cut out the support piece like I did on the stairs. I just applied the glue, put on some weights, then waited 24 hours. Now for the last step I had to wait until the painters finished painting my kitchen. I painted the hickory boxes decorator white then had some maple shaker style doors custom made. If you want to see how to put on your own cabinet doors and hardware I'll have that video link below. Once they finished painting the final step was to put up trim around these cabinet boxes. This new trim will cover up the gaps between the cabinets and the floor. These pieces were cut from 3 force maple and will be put on using a 23 gauge headless nailer. Throughout this video I've mentioned a lot of tools and supplies and some of them I haven't shown. So this is a reminder that I'll have everything you need linked below. And just like that you have now installed your own luxury vinyl plank flooring. Looking back at older photos it's amazing to see how much of an improvement this new floor made. This was a really fun but time consuming project but I hope this video gave you the confidence to know that you can do this yourself. And more importantly you can now go out and help someone else. For more home improvement videos click on the home playlist. Thanks for watching and have a great day.