Flooring Options You Can Truly Do Yourself

Easy DIY flooring anyone can install

The dilemma is a common one: you’re sick and tired of your old, beat-up flooring and are ready for a change, but you aren’t sure if it’s a project best left to the professionals or if you can tackle it yourself. Putting down a new floor takes hours and even days, depending on how much preparation is needed, but if you’re up for the challenge, there are certain flooring options that are more DIY-friendly than others.

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Carpet Tiles
Carpet has great appeal as a traditional floor covering that keeps your toes toasty warm in winter, makes a living room extra cozy and simply looks rich and luxurious. The common complaints associated with carpet are that it is difficult to install and it can be difficult to keep clean.

Carpet tiles take all of the fuss out of carpet installation and cleaning, and they can even be mixed-and-matched to create custom patterns and designs.

The beauty of carpet tiles lies in their small size. They come in squares that typically range in size from 12 inches to 40 inches. Maneuvering a single 12-inch square of carpet is much easier than trying to work with a huge roll of heavy carpet. There’s also no need to place padding under carpet tiles, since the padding is already fused to the carpet.

Finally, it is easy to replace one or two carpet tiles at a time if they become stained or suffer the wear and tear of a high-traffic area, which makes them particularly appealing as a commercial flooring option. If you need more reasons to consider carpet in a commercial environment, Houston Carpet has some great points, including that carpet cuts down on noise level; it absorbs noise rather than causing it to echo and amplify.

Installing carpet tiles is as simple as using carpet tape to anchor the tiles to an existing flat surface, like a hardwood or tile floor, or to attach the tiles to each other to create a floating floor.

Floating Vinyl
For rooms that need an attractive yet durable, waterproof and easy-to-clean floor, vinyl is a perfect option. Vinyl comes in various patterns and thicknesses to offer both comfort and visual appeal.
Forget the painstaking gluing process for the vinyl of yesteryear. Today’s vinyl is usually what is known as a floating floor, meaning that it simply sits on top of the sub-floor and is not glued down in any way. In fact, you can put vinyl right over the top of an existing hardwood, tile or laminate floor, provided the surface is flat and smooth.

Vinyl rolls can be heavy, so it’s wise to have a helper when installing the floor. Once the vinyl is rolled out, it lays perfectly flat. You will only need to make some minor adjustments, and wrinkles and bubbles simply won’t be a problem. A utility knife and a straight edge will help you cut away any excess vinyl and go around corners. Taping the underside of the vinyl is not necessary, but you can certainly do so as an extra precaution near any seams or edges. Your baseboards and quarter rounds typically do the job of holding the vinyl snugly in place.

Truth be told, you can put in a floating vinyl floor in just a few hours, and your friends will be astonished to hear you say, “I did it myself!”

Tongue and Groove Hardwood, Cork or Bamboo
Modern hardwood floors aren’t always wood, but sometimes bamboo, cork or other flooring materials gaining popularity as renewable resources. Regardless of which material you actually choose, all of these offer the classic look of a wooden floor with very easy installation.
Like the other great DIY flooring options, tongue and groove hardwood floors are designed to be floating floors. You won’t need to pound any nails or apply any kind of glue. The floor is composed of panels (which are typically small and easy to manage) that simply snap together thanks to pre-cut edges that fit together like puzzle pieces.

It’s recommended to put some foam padding down before installing the tongue and groove floor, but there are some panels that come with a padded back attached directly to each piece, making installation even easier.

Just like carpet tiles, if one panel becomes damaged, it is easy to replace that individual piece. Therefore, it is a flooring option that is easy to maintain in the long run, making it a gorgeous flooring option for nurseries, kitchens and mud rooms. However, it is still advisable to apply wood stain and sealant to protect the wood and keep it looking fresh.

DIY Renovation Just Got Easier
If replacing your flooring has been giving you anxiety, these three options should give you some inspiration and assure you that a new floor can be both affordable and easy to install. Save on labor costs by putting in a new floor all on your own. You’ll be surprised at how quickly the floor goes in; it’s truly a weekend project that will give your home an impressive face-lift.

By: Cathy Habas (Special thanks to Level Pro Foundation)

Watch this video for more DIY flooring ideas: