Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Aloha Vacation, Aloha New Floors

See “Aloha” means both “Goodbye” and “Hello,” so… yeah… buh bye Hawaii and hello half-done cork floors. We’re back in Richmond (insert forced enthusiasm here – woot?) and we’re eager to tell you more about our trip. But we’re more eager to dive back into DIY and spill all the details about our big cork floor project that we started right before we left (about twenty four hours before we hopped on the plane actually). Oh and for those who didn’t drop in on us last week since our little vacation announcement, we actually did share two posts (along with a giveaway) while we were gone, so you can find those here and here.

We’re still recovering from jet lag (and from flying home on a red-eye with a toddler, haha – we’ll share more on that over on Young House Life at some point) but we’re very grateful for our little break to unplug and enjoy some sun and sand. So we’ll just update you on as much of the flooring as we’ve laid (and keep working the nights away until it’s done and we can do a full reveal post for ya!). Oh and we’ll write all about our HI adventures when we have time to sort through about two thousand photos and write all about it – hopefully by the end of this week. But back to the floors. We had originally hoped to completely finish the floors before we left. That was the plan…

Cork Floor Started 1

We knew the photo crew would finish up on Friday the 17th after three full weeks of shooting in our house (we knew better than to try juggling book shoots + toddler + new floors, so we thought waiting until the book shooting wrapped was the best idea). So since we didn’t leave for Portland until early on Tuesday morning (the 21st) that meant we’d have Saturday and Sunday to install the floors while Clara napped/was in bed for the night. Then on Monday we’d pack, finish up/proofread all the posts for the following week that we’d share while in Portland, and get ready to leave on Tuesday am. Seemed perfect… ’til we realized on Friday night that we hadn’t let the cork boards acclimate OUT of their boxes for the recommended 48 hours. Cue the sound of a balloon deflating.

Cork 1 Acclimating

Yup, they had sat in the corner of our bedroom in their boxes for months (months!) since we purchased them in October from Lumber Liquidators on clearance. But we hadn’t taken them out to acclimate in all of that time. So sad. We just didn’t even think about it. So the above photo depicts the scene in our house on Saturday and Sunday while we literally waited for those guys to acclimate with bated breath. Nothing got installed over the entire weekend. It just sat there… acclimating (i.e. adjusting to the temperature of the house so any expansion or contracting would happen before putting them in place instead of after- which can make them buckle and warp).

The last minute wait-time did give us a couple of days to read up on the process, though. We’ve never installed a floor like this, so we referenced how-tos like this and this to get our heads in floor mode. Oh, and we were able to get some of the floor prepped in the meantime, like prying off all of the shoe molding around the room. Since ours is painted over, we used a razor to slice the paint so it would come off cleanly without peeling. With a floating floor you actually have to leave a gap around the edges (our cork packaging recommended a 5/16″ of an inch space) to give it room to expand or contract with changes in temperature. But when the shoe is reinstalled after the cork goes down it’ll cover that gap.

Cork 2 Prying Shoe

Another thing we had to do was trim the door molding to accommodate the new cork flooring. Since it’d be a pain in the behind to cut the floors perfectly around every groove in the molding, I learned how to cut a sliver out of the molding instead (so the cork floor could slide right under it for a seamless look). I used one of the techniques that I read about where you lay a hand saw flat against a piece of floor (and underlayment) as your guide and just saw away. Seemed kinda crazy…

Cork 3 Sawing Trim

…but it worked!

Cork 4 Prying Sawed Trim

Once we had all of the shoe removed, the door moldings cut to accommodate the cork that will run under them, and all of the transitions pried up in the doorways, the floor was officially prepped. Oh yeah, and we gave it a good sweep too.

Cork 5 Floors Ready

Then once the 48 hour acclimation time was up and the floors were cleaned, the next step was putting down the underlayment. This is the stuff that Lumber Liquidator’s recommended:

Cork 6 Underlayment

There was a slightly cheaper option, but that one wasn’t made from recycled material (boo) and it was slightly thicker (and we wanted the added floor height to be as minimal as possible since we had to float it over our existing flooring instead of removing the old vinyl due to the presence of an asbestos liner under it). Thankfully the cork is thin too, so when it’s all said and done the cork floor should only be able a quarter of an inch higher than the hardwoods around it, and with some nice smooth low-lying transitions it shouldn’t make for any annoying toe-stubbing or baby-tripping. We’ll keep you posted on dealing with those transitions as we get there.

Ok, so being that it was now Monday morning (i.e. less than 24 hours before we left on an 11 day business / pleasure trip), we were scrambling a bit – so our pictures aren’t as thorough as we’d like. We’ll do better as we finish up the floors this week (by taking a ton more photos) since we won’t be distracted by book photoshoots, cleaning, packing, and Portland-presentation-practicing. But here’s a pic that I snapped once we got the underlayment mostly down in one side of the room (it had a sticky strip on the back of it keep it in place). The underlayment doesn’t overlap itself, it is just laid in strips right next to each other and stuck to the floor with that sticky strip that runs down the side of it. Oh and you can see how I just used a regular scissors (not Sherry’s good scissors because I know what’s good for me) to cut out the underlayment that overlapped the stone fireplace surround (a box cutter also worked well).

Cork 7 Underlayment Down

To help with the actual floor installation, we bought this $16 kit from Home Depot. It came with spacers (to keep that recommended 5/16″ gap around the edge), as well as a pull bar and a tapping block. Those are both to help hammer the boards into place, but since you don’t want to hammer the board directly you use the block as a buffer (you hammer the block which slightly shifts the board so there’s not a big gap/seam). And the pull bar helps with the boards closest to the wall. I’ll take pics of these in action next time so this makes more sense. Promise.

Cork 8 Installation Kit

The process was pretty slow going at first, mainly because almost all of our first few pieces required cuts. But at least it was good to get them out of the way.

Cork 9 Around Fireplace

Some of the instructions I read suggested cutting with a jigsaw, but I figured my table saw would make straighter cuts so I lugged it up to the carport to make my many (many) cuts more convenient. It worked really well.

Cork 10 John Cutting

Even after we got around the fireplace, we still had to cut the board at the start of each row (or “course” to use flooring lingo). We staggered each row/course because (1) it makes the whole floating floor stronger by offsetting the joints and (2) it makes it look more like a traditional hardwood floor. My boards were 36″ long, so we offset the courses by 12″ each. See the staggered edge below?

Cork 11 Done More

Even with those initial staggered cuts, it was pretty fast snapping in a whole row of whole pieces. In other words: cuts took a lot longer, and snapping whole pieces in was a breeze. I think all-in-all this whole section took us about five hours to do. We hoped to get more done in that time (our initial goal had been to finish the whole behind-the-peninsula section of the kitchen before leaving) but we got distracted by a morning snowstorm, a lunchtime wrap-up meeting with the book photographer, and eventually got caught up trying to pack for Portland and Hawaii (packing for ourselves took ten minutes, but packing for Clara took a little longer – and our flight was so early on Tuesday we couldn’t leave anything for that morning).

But as Sherry mentioned on Friday, having the floor started only makes it easier to get it finished this week. So our new goal is to have pictures of a completed floor by the end of the week (we’re actually gunning for finishing Wednesday night or very early Thursday morning so we can have the pics up on time for a Thursday morning post). We’ll be sure to take some time to snap better photos of the actual process too (imagine that!). Now that we’ve done around 30% of the floor (we’re doing the laundry room too) it shouldn’t be too hard. Wait, were those famous last words? We’ll just leave it at: we’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll get ‘er done!

What have you guys been up to lately? I’m not one to get all mushy, but we missed you guys last week. Any flooring projects going on? Do you like to leave the house perfectly clean before embarking on a big trip or start something and leave it half-done to greet you when you return?

Comments

  2. Savannah says

    I had my first experience with ORB this weekend! When we moved into our new house there was an ugly brass chandelier in the dining room. After some ORB it now looks amazing!
    Welcome home! Can’t wait to see the finished floors.

    Reply

  3. Chrissie says

    How exciting! They look great so far, I can’t wait to see more on the how-to process. I’ve been toying with using a similar technique in the laundry, which is lower than the rest of the house anyway, but I’m not sure how it would go over actual tile.

    Reply

  4. LaMadre says

    Welcome Back!So happy you took a well deserved vacation and since I was on vacation in Puerto Rico for the last three weeks – I didn’t feel like I was missing out. It’s just not the same reading on my iphone. While your readers miss you when you’re gone – I hope you take more vacations. I know you love your work but really everyone needs to pause from time to time. Perhaps you discovered how inspirational the time off can be as well. I always clean the house before I go on vacation. It can cause a bit of stress on the front end but it’s so worth it to come home and only have groceries and laundry to do. Love the floor.

    Reply

  5. Pamela @ Pink Hammers & Sippy Cups says

    I’m one of those crazy people who has to have a clean house when I go! Floors swept, preferably washed, the kitchen spotless, laundry all done and put away, beds made, bathroom clean etc etc. I figure there is enough work of washing and putting away clothing and souvenirs that the last thing I would want to deal with is knowing chores will need to be done too! A floor though might be a little different ;)

    Reply

  6. Jess @ Little House. Big Heart. says

    So glad you’re back!

    The hubs and I are building our raised garden this week! We’ve already got our gutter garden up and planted (posting it tomorrow or Wednesday) and have the frame done for the raised garden itself.

    New floors for our office are on the way soon! It’s the only room in the Little House without hardwoods (it has awful stained burber carpet instead).

    Reply

  7. Wendy says

    I love the richness of the new floor. The contrast looks great with all of the white elements in the room!

    Funny you mention flooring. We just rehashed our flooring experience from a few years back (which involved relaying pine floor in our kitchen after a massive termite/water/structural damage discovery). We’re really happy with the results, but it took a lot of time and determination to get right. http://www.oldtownhome.com/2012/3/2/Floor-Refinishing-Matching-Old-and-New—Our-Kitchen-Disaster-Part-4/index.aspx

    Reply

  9. Darcy says

    OH YEAH!!! You all are BACK!! I must admit, I still checked daily last week to see if by chance, there would be a post — but I was simultaneously, hoping it wouldn’t be there, since I wanted you all to totally de-compress!! LOL! I can’t wait to hear all about the vaca! I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii, so I will be taking notes!

    The floors look great so far – can’t wait to see it all done! Question though — since the floors were in your house for months, doesn’t that count for any of the acclimation time?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Darcy! You’re sweet. We missed you guys so much too! As for the floors, it’s a really small detail, but they were in their boxes and the rules are that they should be taken out and laid out on the floor like that pic we took of them all out doing their acclimation thing. So sad we didn’t realize that so we could have done it beforehand.

      xo,
      s

  10. Kristen says

    I can’t wait to hear about your Hawaii trip! We went in November and just had the best time. Such a beautiful place!

    I’m one of those people that likes to leave with the house completely spotless when I go on a trip. It stresses me out to come home to a mess. As a kid I thought my Mom was crazy for cleaning before a trip but I totally get it now. :)

    Reply

  11. Jennifer C. says

    Aww… we missed you all bunches too! So glad you’re back! I’m also happy that you all got a much deserved vacay!

    Reply

  12. Whitney Dupuis says

    The floors look amazing! I can’t wait to see the finished product (and the process of course). I am so excited to see the details of your trip too!!! I shall live vicariously through you. :)

    Reply

  13. Monika says

    Welcome back! Can’t wait to see what you tackle next! Did you get any snow this am? I heard Richmond was going to get an inch or two.

    Reply

  14. Kristen H says

    Hope you guys loved Maui as much as I do! My sister got married there back in 2001 – stunning. :) Oh, and thanks for the diswasher install post. I got mine in while you were in Portland. I shoulda listened to John and bought that tension thingy on the first trip to Home Depot – instead of the third. I couldn’t get the brass elbow out of the old diswasher, so I bought a new one. First effort was wrong size. Second trip – got right size elbow. Third trip – tension thingy. :) Friend of mine told me it wouldn’t be considered a DIY project without multiple trips to the home store. ;)

    Reply

  15. Christina says

    So glad you guys are back! Would love to see more pics from your Hawaii vacation.. I would SO love to go to Hawaii one day!
    I’ve been busy…getting in touch with my Jersey roots. (Click on my blog for proof and a chuckle if you like…I wonder what Sherry would look like all “Jersey’ed” up…).

    Reply

  16. Emma says

    Welcome back! Those floors look great. I always plan to clean my house before a vacay but in reality, I’m running around the house packing like a mad woman up until the last second. Maybe next time. I’m in DC and I hear there’s some snow to the south of us. I hope it melts fast and you are still on your Hawaii High.

    Reply

  19. Nicole Grove says

    Welcome back! I’m hoping you guys had a well deserved, restful vacation! I am LOVING your cork floor! We’ve been talking about redoing our kitchen floor ever since we bought the house 5 years ago, because for some odd reason, the last owners put in light pink floor tile?? I will definitely be keeping cork in mind!

    Reply

  20. Suni says

    So glad you are back, I missed my much needed breaks at work to enjoy reading all your posts through the day. Glad though that you enjoyed yourselves, and had a nice time! Can’t wait to see the floor finished in the kitchen.

    HUGS, again so happy you are back.

    Reply

  21. Arnice says

    We worked on spring cleaning and painting. We have two floors and the first floor of our home is nearly all painted now. No more builder white (or whatever color it is that they throw on the walls to get it done) for us! Spring cleaning hasn’t gone as smoothly though :(. Glad you all made it back home safely! My hubby and I are toying with the idea of Hawaii or Europe to celebrate our 10th anniversary some time this year; so, I can’t wait to read about your trip!

    Reply

  23. Momcat says

    Aloha! Welcome home to all of you. Hey, I had a question about your giveaways. When the winner’s been chosen, I know you guys always post a link back to the giveaway (“To see if you won, click HERE”). But then the link always just takes the reader back to the last page of submitted comments — ??

    Is there a way that you can actually announce the winner in a separate post, or even just announce the page number that the anouncement is on, rather than having us scroll through pages & pages of entries, looking for *the* announcement?

    It’s a nit, for sure, but it would be great if we could see the winner a little more clearly. So we can give them high fives & all……. or maybe jazz hands ;)

    Thanks for your consideration! So glad you all had such a great relaxing va-cay!!

    Reply

  24. Jenna says

    I’m so so glad you’re back! I was checking my reader multiple times a day last week, just hoping for a post. Before we go on a trip, I have to have my house spotless. There’s just nothing like coming back from a week-long trip and not having a single thing to do except unpack my bag. Beds have to be made, all dishes have to be washed and put away, carpets vacuumed. Is that weird? I just like to go on vacation with a clean slate.

    Reply

  25. Joanna Larson says

    So glad you are back! Going a week without you guys was horrible!!
    The floors look great! Quick question though…how do you feel about the look of the cork lying next to your wood floor. The colors are so similar I am wondering if it that is something you really like about it or if it is one of those things where its so similar but not perfect so it would drive you insane. Just wondering!
    Glad your back!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We plan to eventually refinish all the hardwoods in the entire house to be the same rich mocha color, so it’ll be nice and seamless (even though they’ll be varied materials of wood and cork, we think the same color will unify them). So far it’s a big improvement over the scratched old white vinyl so we’re psyched!

      xo,
      s

  26. Nicole says

    Lookin good so far! Now you guys are ready to lay hardwood floors!….this is practically the same process for laying hardwoods with the exception of adding in the nail gun and nailing them in! (: My husband and I laid our hardwood floors a few months ago (we used the Bruce pre-finished boards from Home Depot) and your description details almost exactly what we did to do the hardwoods!! Good luck with the rest of the floor! I am looking forward to seeing the finished product!

    Reply

  27. Donna Jean says

    Welcome home! How wonderfully nice of Richmond to greet you with a little snow to shock you right back out of your Hawaiian bliss. At least it will be in the 70s by Thursday! I hope you guys had a wonderful time in Hawaii and I can’t wait to see pictures :o)

    Reply

  28. Lauren says

    (cue me twirling in a field of daisies) YOU’RE BAACCKKK!!!!!! Cannot wait to hear all about the trip and welcome home. Missed you guys!

    Reply

  29. Elisabeth says

    SOOOOO glad you are back again. My afternoons
    weren’t the same. I hope you enjoyed Hawaii!

    Elisabeth

    Reply

  30. Karen F says

    welcome back! we missed you, too! can’t wait to see your floors all finished! I was thinking you need to update your “listy mclisterson” post at some point since you guys have accomplished so much in the past year!

    Reply

  31. Melissa says

    Sherry, this has truly inspired me and Clay to do our floors ourselves. We had been thinking about doing this but I just wasn’t sure. The step-by-step info really will help! And your floors look beautiful! :)

    Reply

  32. Justin B says

    Hey, John. Just wanted to offer a word of advice on safety. I know it’s a pain to take them on and off but it’s best not to wear gloves while using a saw… especially a table saw. It can mean the difference between a cut and losing a limb. I love the blog and want you guys to stay healthy (with all fingers and toes intact)!

    Reply

  33. Brenda says

    I’ve been eagerly awaiting your guys’ return! :) When I go on a trip, even if it’s just for the weekend, I try to leave my apartment clean-ish (dishes done, trash taken out, things picked up off the floor). That way when I stumble back in at 10 or 11 at night, I can rest right away instead of worrying about getting stuff done before work the next morning.

    Reply

  34. James Olsen says

    Wow! Thats really nice, my wife and I have been toying with the idea of doing Cork in our kitchen dining area, the problem is that the loons that designed this place did this sorta half transition from carpet to linoleum, so we aren’t sure how to deal with that…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, could you do all of one material instead? Like all hardwood and cork and then use area rugs? Just a thought. But you might want to keep the carpet…

      xo,
      s

    • James Olsen says

      I am not sure what the heck to do with it, since of how its curved I might have to post a shot or two on on my blog [should be running soon] and try to get some thoughts, because right now we are stumped!

  35. Calla says

    I love to come back to a clean apartment when I go on a trip, but I’m so bad at packing that I sometimes don’t get to clean the place as thoroughly as I’d like to. I do try to change the sheets on the bed before leaving, though – coming back to clean sheets feels pretty great!

    Reply

  37. Amber Wallace says

    I’m so happy to have you back! Probably not as much as burger was! I am looking forward to seeing the final result of the cork floors and how amazing the kitchen will look. Keep up all the awesomeness :)

    Reply

  39. Laura says

    Welcome back! So I know you guys are tired and busy, but I just wanted to share something with you (feel free to ignore if you’re too tired, haha). My daughter just turned one, and Clara’s first year video inspired us to learn how to make a video of our own! We were so excited with the final result and the tears from our family members that we just had to share the link!

    Reply

  40. Larissa says

    So glad you guys had a vacation! You deserved it! Can’t wait to see the finished floor project!

    I don’t go crazy cleaning before a trip, just the normal stuff, but I do make sure I have a couple days at home AFTER a trip to decompress before going back to work. Especially if we’ve been visiting the in-laws. :)

    Reply

  41. Emma says

    starting the floors before you leave reminds me of a madeline l’engle book where the mom stops the car in front of the house as they are pulling out for a road trip to put a fresh coat of white paint on the toilet seats and lid! haha. don’t know why exactly, but that specific page of the book i read 15 years ago just came to mind. looking forward to seeing the finished look!!!

    Reply

    • Beth W. says

      It makes me soooo happy that you like Madeleine L’Engle too. She’s one of my favorite authors and I’ve collected almost all of her books.

    • Penny says

      That’s from Meet the Austins isn’t it? Love Madeline L’Engle and I re-read her books all the time, even though I’m a little past the YA age bracket. :)

    • Beth W. says

      Penny, I think you’re right that it’s Meet the Austins. I’m pretty sure it’s one of the ones with the Austin family anyway.

      And Madeleine L’Engle didn’t just write YA fiction. I highly recommend her adult fiction, “A Live Coal in the Sea”, “The Other Side of the Sun”, and “Certain Women”, among others. I also love her autobiographical ones. The four books in the Crosswicks Journals are fantastic:(“A Circle of Quiet”, “The Summer of the Great Grandmother”, “An Irrational Season”, and especially “A Two-Part Invention”.)

  42. Bet says

    It’s looks so beautiful already! I’ve been wanting to replace our tile with rubber flooring in the kitchen (to save our backs and my arthritic knees) but it sounds like cork would have the same effect and be cheaper and better looking.

    Welcome back from vacation! Sounds like it was fun and refreshing.

    Reply

  43. Rebekah says

    glad you made it back safe and sound! it was great meeting you guys….and hopefully Clara got some sleep on the next flight :) LOVE the site…can’t wait to explore!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw Rebekah! So good to hear from you! We’re so glad we survived the flight home – all thanks to you! You’re amazing and we love you. Really, we do.

      xo,
      s

      p.s. For those wondering, Rebekah is an amazing flight attendant that we met on that painful red-eye with a toddler and she helped us stay sane!

  44. Abby says

    Hey, I’m new to YHL. I’ve perused your entire blog, if you can comprehend that! I was just wondering what you were going to do about the height difference around the fireplace? Anything up your sleeves?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’re planning to trim it out with small transition pieces of wood we think! And eventually would love to retile that area, so it might end up flush one day!

      xo,
      s

  46. Sarah @ { rad: renovations are dirty } says

    I’m so glad that you guys are back! I missed your regular posting BUT am very happy that you got to have a (presumably) wonderful vacation. :)

    Even when I was a young kid, I’d be tidying up at home while my family was on the way out the door going on a vacation. haha There’s nothing worse than coming home to a messy home. :P

    Reply

  47. Katie says

    Welcome back! Can’t wait to hear about all of your HI adventures! I must say, I totally missed you guys last week, but it was a blessing in disguise because it was probably one of the busiest work weeks for me EVER and it was good that I didn’t have your 2x daily posts to distract me… but don’t get me wrong, SO glad you’re back!

    Reply

  48. Janelle D says

    Welcome back! I hope you had an absolutely wonderful vacation. I refrained from commenting while you were gone because I didn’t want to bother you… so now I can say that your floors look great already. I love the dark floor/white kitchen contrast!

    Also, inspired by your Portland home show adenture, we went to a one this weekend in Halifax, Canada. We had a fun time picking out finishes for our imaginary house! Haha.

    Reply

  49. Lindsay says

    We missed you guys too! The floors are going to look soo nice! I like that they are long for some reason I was thinking that they would be square like tiles. I am jealous that you can float it right over your existing vinyl. when we redid ours we had to scrape up the entire floor. Not fun

    Reply

  50. Laura says

    Oh, I missed my YHL reads! Glad you guys had a nice vacation though – you deserved it. The floors look great and I can’t wait to see them done.

    While you were gone I continued my new love affair with ORB spray paint. Since successfully painting all our front door hardware (I commented about that a week or so ago), I moved on to a clock frame and our fireplace doors. Everything looks awesome! I’ve been eyeing the dining room pendent fixture… I think it’s going to be next!

    Reply

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