Where to start installing Vinyl Plank 

IT WORKS!!!! We are doing that has a layout including an L shaped hallway and a Livingroom, and kitchen divided by a wall but joined by an open dining room. I was driving my self nuts trying to figure out how I was going to make it a continuous run. Follow your method, I got my hallway line, extended into the living room, figured out my second line into the dining room, and extended that line into the kitchen. Then we figured out where our first 4 rows would be in relationship with the living room line and started laying the first 4 rows and they hit EXACTLY on our target measurement. Proud to say we have the first 4 rows down and secured with temporary holding pieces screwed into the slab. Looking forward to starting today with the solid foundation those 4 rows provide and putting down quite a bit of flooring today. Much better than the way the included instructions teach you, where you end up doing the most difficult row first (against the wall) and not finding out you are out of square until you get to the other side of the room and find out you need a triage shaped board!

I must have watched this vid at least 20 times before we installed our vinyl plank floor. I wanted no transitions between the rooms. by watching and following your suggestions we have finished the job and it looks so professional. The floor turned out beautiful. We connected three hallways, bonus room, bathroom, laundry room and two closets with no transitions. Thank you so much for your help. You Rock!

Joe, may God continue to Bless You and Your Family!! Your videos cover so much and can give any DIYer confidence to tackle their flooring project!!! Your university is going to assist me with the new bathrooms - with new tile in each - and kitchen projects I will be undertaking. I cannot say,”THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CHANNEL AND VIDEOS!!” enough!!🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

I have watched your videos over and over and it seems to geta little easier as I got through the various videos. I just laid down 10 boards and I come up with 601/8 inches to the edge of the LVP without the female tongue. So! since it's not a hard measurement how in the world do I get the middle mark. I do so appreciate your videos and they have helped immensely so All I need is to get the layout correct and I can start, Thank you so much for the prayer at the end of the videos, it's a blessing..

These are super helpful but I think it’s important to jump in and try out. There’s only so much understanding you can get without getting your hands dirty and messing up a little so long as it’s not a permanent mess up. Thanks for the help!

Hey Joe, thank you for sharing the gifts that God has blessed you with! I think I am ready to start laying the planks after watching the videos many times. We'll be doing some tile work soon and will join Laminate U. Pray all is well with your family. Keep spreading the Word, He is worthy. Ben

This was amazing. My wife and I close on our home 12/15. I’ll be re-watching this then many times. Best I’ve seen so far!

I have to THANK YOU! my husband and I are installing floor throughout our entire house and you have saved us so much time, money, and headache with your videos! We have it about 75% done and it looks amazing!

Great information, it sure takes a lot of layout and planning to install plank flooring involving multiple rooms while avoiding unsightly transition strips. Thanks again.

This is god send! I had to watch several times to fully understand the concept. Can’t wait to watch more of your videos and start laying!

Using your tips helped so much. I have laid laminate before but your starting point cleat system helped a bunch. I made some clamps to screw to bottom plate so I did not have to drill into concrete is some areas.

Joe, Thanks so much for the tips. I just installed a vinyl floating floor and I could not have done it without your tips and instructions. You’re the man!

Joel, Truly amazing job explaining your technique installing these floors ! Warrior Brother Mike

Thanks for the great tip, Joel ! I couldn't pull the planks out, so I used a small, razor sharp, chisel to shave the bead off. Worked great!

I appreciate the videos and all the help, but I'm an idiot😂 and confused. I'm a slow learner. Going to have to watch the video a dozen more times😆. Thank you!

What I've found really useful in laying out your floor is to place a 6 foot straight edge up against the wall . Go to the middle of the straight edge than pull your tape out and mark your control line. Take straight edge to other side and repeat. Therefore your pulling a mark off of six foot instead of 1 inch. I00 % more accurate.

He sounds kinda like a smarter version of Ricky from Tpb. Good video man!

Joe great job showing us how to start the flooring. I have watched between 8-12 of your videos b/c my wife and I are about to put vinyl boards in out bedroom, small hallway leading to our bathroom and two small closets in the small hallway. I have one problem, the small hallway is off set from our master bedroom. Any suggestions?

the best work i see in all videos of youtube... god blees you

Great video! A lot of information, I am planning on installing vinyl plank in our house, and was wondering if I needed any layer under it like on the laminate?

I know this video is 3 years old but you're the best on RU-vid for installing Luxury vinyl plank. Hoping it's not too late to ask a question and have it answered. I'm installing mannington a dura Max over luan. Do you leave expansion gaps between the sheets of luan and then do you fill those gaps with something so that the lvp doesn't eventually dip into those gaps if so what do you fill it with I noticed in this video it looks like you have some type of thin set over some of the joints between sheets of plywood or OSB whatever that floor was. Thank you my time is preciousAs is everyone's including yours but I subscribed to your channel because your videos are so valuable

This is really important thank you for sharing bro God bless Ken. ... And a big blue thumbs up!

What a wonderful site, I have been very nervous about doing my house. I have a house that the floor joists run front to back of my house, so the long way would make my floor parallel to my floor joists. Is this ok to do? Lumber Liquidators say it could be bad because I haven’t gone perpendicular to my joists. Thank you so much.

Thanks for your *professional* videos. I do have one question, though. Allure floating vinyl plank is very slippery on the back, and they say to never use an underlayment. How do we keep the installed floor from sliding underfoot, since there is an expansion gap around the perimeter? There is no "grip" to keep the planks from moving in a small guest bathroom. Stumped.

Love the video, I need some assistance in getting started with my basement. I have Mannington Dockside Pier LVP, approx 1k sq feet and don't know exactly where or how to get started.

I saw on some of the subfloor that there was some kind of material spread along the seams. Is that some kind of glue, thinset, or leveling material. Thanks! I'm learning a lot from your videos.

Top quality video

After removing the carpeting to install our laminate we noticed some metal flashing sticking out about an inch from the wall that has the heating vents mounted at the top of the wall. It is screwed to the floor. How do we get around this?By the way...great videos!

Hey, great video! We have a similar situation with a large area into a kitchen, down a hallway, and into bedrooms. The larges area is by far the living room, diningroom, so I was thinking to run the flooring parallel to the longest wall here. However, if I do that, it would be running short ways down the hallway. Does that sound like a fair trade? Thanks for your help!

Thanks Joe, for nice informative video. I got question doing the LVP stairs step n 2nd floor hallway only. (Transition to 4 bedrooms) can top landing LVP direction perpendicular to step’s glued LVP for long way of hallway direction? Thanks!

I have watched many of your videos and have learned a lot. I have 1,528 square feet of vinyl plank that I am going to try to do without transition pieces. I am running my flooring from the front to the back of the house which is around 30 feet.I measured from side to side of the house which is around 43 feet to try and find my starting point. My walls are off 5/8's of an inch some where. One wall is an outside wall and the other wall has the master bedroom and the garage on the other side of it. you have mentioned that you can tweek this but I haven't ran across a video showing how. I am not sure how to start because of this. Any help would be appreciated.

I am in planning stages to lay laminate. My layout is almost the same as on this video. I have a question though. So if I start in that living room wall left to right and go into the hallway, do I have to work right to left once I hit the hallway space ?

When measuring your placing tape at where board faces would touch each other. Nothing to do with the tungs is that correct? I really like what your teaching so want to make sure I learn it right the first time. 1 +1 = 3 will always lead you astray. Lol

Joe, thanks for the video's. Question, most installations mention 3/8" expansion from all walls. Most video's I see have drywall almost touching the floor. My basement walls do not touch the floor, thankfully as it just flooded over the last weekend. Should I simply go 3/8" from the base 2 x 4 instead of off the drywall?

Joe. If I install Install Plank Vinyl- Glue Down on a wood floor and there is gaps in the wood seams like 1/4 inch or less, will it telegraph thru eventually? My boss is not wanting to let me patch any thing on the floor before installing the planks.

I am going to be installing Laminate flooring in my kitchen. It is a newer construction home that has vinyl tile flooring that the cabinets are built on top of. Should I cut out and remove the vinyl or can I put underlayment on top of vinyl and then laminate right on top?

Joe love your videos.. starting my first project. Question to anyone.. Bought some Pergo outlast+ the tongue and grooves seem to have excess or less than needed material on the ends, won't allow the butt ends to lock in.. is this common? What do I do? Bought at home Depot

If you were doing it in the basement and couldn't screw to the floor, would you just start against the wall and cut your first piece based on chalk lines?

I see your use of the Ardex feather finish in the floor seams. My subfloor has gaps of up to 1/4" in places. Is it necessary to fill those? I'm installing vinyl planking...Will those gaps pose a problem?

Hi mate. Have you ever installed vinyl straight over tiled? And would you recommend putting down a covering like quiet walk first for vinyl? Because it'll be on tiles. Thanks. Josh

Joe i have a hallway with metal door frames. What is the best way to cut under door frame or would you suggest not cutting the door frames? Thanks

The thing is Joe is that most houses are not square that people are installing flooring in and you never address this is on how to deal with installing the flooring with out of square walls

Is that the easiest way to decide the lines?

Im torn between two different floorings. I think the Pergo Outlast looks nice, and the 24 hour spill protection is nice. I also like LifeProofs 100% waterproof protection. The only thing is, i think that vinyl still has a stigma, no matter how nice they are. Im doing about 2000 sq ft in a house im looking to sell this Spring. Any opinions on what would be best for home value or selling point? Thanks

Im now totally confused

Is it ok to measure from the baseboards? I do not plan to remove them before the installation.

I bought some nice laminate planks (Lamett - 7.4ft long x 9.3in wide x 1/2in thick) and am hoping to install them over my existing floors which are part tile and part wooden boards on underlay. It would be hard for me to pull up the floors myself, but I'm worried that the tile/boards mix won't provide a level-enough foundation for the planks. I'll level the grout lines on the tiles first and use an underlay on the whole floor. Do you think it will be alright for me to go ahead this way or do you think I need to pull up the floors first? Thank you for any advice you can give me.

why don't you start your first row against the wall? Why is it an advantage to fill it in last?

Not that I want to sound smart but, how about using laser?.

Sorry but your videos don't show how to start laying the staggered planks ie. The end cut sizes. ??