How to Achieve Wood Look flooring with Vinyl Plank Flooring

Are you looking for a way to update your flooring without spending a lot of money?  Wood Look Vinyl Plank Flooring is the perfect flooring option and you can do it yourself!  

post updated July 2019

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In our home, we have a narrow room in between our kids bedrooms that we made a craft room and playroom.  After years of doing crafts and playing on that carpet, it really needed to be replaced.  I didn't want to put more carpet down because I wanted a floor that was easier to clean.  I also didn't have a big budget for flooring, so I knew this was something I was going to need to DIY.  

I did a bunch of research, asked the guys in the home improvement stores a ton of questions and finally decided to lay vinyl plank flooring.  

I removed the gross carpet and carpet tacks, then swept several times, vacuumed and then swept again.  Then I was ready to lay the floors.  I took some measurements, plugged them into a flooring calculator, and purchased supplies.  I was able to lay these floors by myself in a weekend.  

Supplies needed to lay Vinyl Plank Floors on a sub floor

• vinyl plank flooring
• self leveling underlayment primer
• brush or roller to apply primer
• scissors or utility knife
• transition strips

How to lay Vinyl Plank Flooring

• mark a line down the center of the floor
• lay tiles, starting next to the center line
• work down the line, then move to the next row
• snug the tiles very closely to one another
• stagger the placement so the tiles don't end in the exact place
• cut the tiles to the correct size with scissors or with a utility knife and a scrap piece of wood

We had to keep the carpet in the bedrooms so I used metal transitions between the vinyl and the carpet.  It's not a perfect match color wise, but it looks pretty good in person.  I cut it to size with a hack saw, then pounded the included nails through the holes into the floor below, making sure to get the edge of the carpet.

I am thrilled with how these floors turned out!  The tiles have a texture to them so they feel like real wood.  The vinyl has not pulled up at all even with sliding furniture around on them.  

It's really hard to believe that this is vinyl flooring that I PUT IN MYSELF, without a lot of skills.  If I can figure out how to do it on my own, then it's possible for anyone to do.  

The vinyl has been very durable and held up to the wear and tear of a busy room!!  I wish I would have done this a long time ago.  The best part, the entire thing only cost a little more than $200. Amazing!!