FloorMaven
Well-Known Member
DIYer called me and then emailed me pics of her peaking laminate floor. After numerous back-and-forths trying to help her solve her problem she says:
...and decides to hire me to fix it.
Why Not Help DIYers?
- Thread starter FloorMaven
- Start date
Help Support Flooring Forum - DIY & Professional:
DIYer called me and then emailed me pics of her peaking laminate floor. After numerous back-and-forths trying to help her solve her problem she says:
...and decides to hire me to fix it.
DIYer called me and then emailed me pics of her peaking laminate floor. After numerous back-and-forths trying to help her solve her problem she says:
...and decides to hire me to fix it.
Yea yea floormaven, I do those all the time. I guess it's great for the pocket book. But your missing the point.
The point is; If the Box stores and every stupid DIY site on the world stopped making it seem like the skill we have is "simple-ness" after years of learning all the different types of floors out there and what you can get away with and what you can't, that potential DIY'er might have hired you in the first place.
It's a damned shame Box stores and DIY sites make it seem so easy when in fact it is not, but could be for a 10 by 10 room as mostly depicted in a dumbass youtube video, but not an entire house with a hallway.
The one I am going to would have made me a couple grand. I am going into to put bandaids on it because now they can't afford to replace it all. The one I did last week, he had the money to pull it all up and reinstall with a vapor retarder as it should have been done.
Moral to the story is; stop trying to help DIY'ers. They just do not comprehend the complexities of flooring installation as much as we do. If you really truly wanted to help them, you would not help them think they can do it in the first place.
Essentially what you guys are doing would be the same as showing a noob green horn helper a youtube video and then letting him loose in someones house. I know for a fact none of you would want to be liable for that, but thats exactly what your doing.
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FloorMaven
Well-Known Member
C'mon Ernie, you won't discourage people from giving it a go. Best we can do is steer them in the right direction. This DIYer insisted she followed distructions to the letter. When I saw it today I immediately noticed the half offset repeat through out and the 2 mil vapor retarder. As for the half offset she said "it was just easier to continually use the half planks". Then she didn't realize as she was tapping and installing that her cheap spacers had given way allowing the floor to slide under the drywall on her starting wall and wedge against the wall plate. This caused the floor to twist resulting in the first half dozen rows to have end peaking.
She said all the info she came across made it seem so simple. When I explained to her that the repetitive pattern she used was just like a finger joint (interlocking fingers palms up) and had less structural integrity than a random pattern when it came to twisting, she understood immediately saying, "it made sense mathematically". And it does.
So now it will cost her more to fix than hire me to install correctly from the outset...so how is that bad for me?
She said all the info she came across made it seem so simple. When I explained to her that the repetitive pattern she used was just like a finger joint (interlocking fingers palms up) and had less structural integrity than a random pattern when it came to twisting, she understood immediately saying, "it made sense mathematically". And it does.
So now it will cost her more to fix than hire me to install correctly from the outset...so how is that bad for me?
Oh how I hate that. The last one I fixed was like that. I even see GC's that dont properly do floor flatness correctly let alone undercutting door casings. Maybe they will undercut the door casing trim. Then stop at the door casing. Gotta love that.
wow, did a beaver make those cuts? ouch!
