"HeyBub" wrote in
m:

wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
infiniteMPG wrote:
We're about to do 5 rooms of Pergo in the house and have a few
questions. We have the first room about ready to go, did self
leveling floor coating and all cleaned. Have the vapor barrier all
ready, too. We have found hints and info on how to lock the panels
together and things like that, but we were wondering if there was a
good site saying how to best cut around doors and closet opening,
where to start with an entrance door (don't want the locking lip
left on the door opening and also don't want a very narrow piece in
the door opening for sure) and things like that.

Does anyone have a good link to get info on things like that?

You don't cut around doors - you undercut the door frames and slide
the solid flooring in the gap. You can get an undercut saw at the
box store for about ten dollars. Much better is a multifunction
tool. Fein makes one for about $350 or you can get the Harbor
Freight model for less than forty dollars.

You WILL end up with bizzare widths somewhere and a doorway is
probably the best place since you'll usually have a transition piece
between the doorway and the hall. The alternative is a narrow strip
on the far wall from the door. This makes the room look like it was
set on top of an existing floor and the far wall merely a portable
divider. You say you have the first room about ready; did you remove
the baseboards? If not, I strongly recommend it. The flooring job
will be easier, you can repair and repaint the baseboards more
easily, and, best of all, you can avoid those hideous quarter-round
trim pieces.
One can also undercut baseboards if needed...we had it done when our
liv. and din. rooms were tiled...so glad we did it. There is no
quarter-round, just the baseboard, and no sign that they have been
cut (done just after they had been painted ). Probably different
issues with Pergo as to evenness of the cut and how to conceal it.
If a quarter round is installed, then it is easier. I had proposed
tearing off all of our baseboards because I had seen neighbors condos
with same layout and who had tiled up to the bb and grouted around
door frames...not pretty.

The guy who did the undercuts was a sub to the flooring contractor
who installed the tile....it is all the guy does.

Undercut BASEBOARDS! Jeeze!

An 11 x 14 room translates into about FIFTY LINEAR FEET of
undercutting!

Did he use some sort of tool or did he pull a beaver and just gnaw the
stuff?

A pro would have an undercut saw:

http://www.craintools.com/fs-specialtysaws.html

Job would justify the cost. Not cheap!


---

Removing the baseboards and re-installing them allows you to force
them down flush with the finished floor.

Here's what I've learned about baseboards:

1. Many times the corners are coped. That means the baseboards have to
be removed (and reinstalled) in the proper sequence to avoid breaking
or splintering (the coped board comes off first and goes back last).

2. If possible, don't remove the existing nails. Pounding them back
out often generates a big hole in the board that must be filled. I cut
mine off with an angle grinder.

3. Fill all the holes, dents, cracks, and other imperfections with
plastic wood, then sand the board to a smooth finish. Watch out for
globbed-up paint on the back where it oozed down during a previous
wall-painting project. It must be removed (with a utility knife, then
sanded), else the board won't fit correctly.

4. Paint with enamel. The baseboards take a bit of punishment (toys,
vacuum cleaners, etc.), so the harder the surface the better.

4. With the baseboards off, you might be able to detect the studs.
Mark their location on the floor with a pencil. You may have to nail
the replaced baseboards into a stud to counteract twisting or
separation from the wall.

5. Use a brad nailer with 2" brads to re-install. Brads makes
minuscule holes that do not have to be countersunk. If you've got a
compressor, a brad nailer can be had for twenty bucks at HF.

If anybody can contribute more to this hint list, so much the better.