Hey, friends! If you’re new here, I’d love to catch you up with why today’s post is so exciting and something new for us. We’re a DIY family through and through and have never hired out help. Well, except for electrical and plumbing (two things we don’t mess with if we’re already second-guessing). Until now. And here’s why!

This past July I attended the Haven Conference where I ended up winning flooring from Stainmaster. How crazy and amazing is that!? When we started the process of picking out the flooring I found out it included install. But we decided to tackle this project with a little twist. We asked for two bedrooms to be installed and leave the third one to us to DIY. We wanted to experience both sides and be able to tell you all about it! So, here we are with phase 1: install day that’s been hired out.

Here’s where we’re starting with our bedrooms. We had a very orange laminate flooring in all three bedrooms. They were in okay condition but honestly looking for something more us.

Ordering Process

Back in August, we decided to go with Stainmaster’s PetProtect Luxury Vinyl for the bedrooms. There are a couple of reasons why we went with this type of flooring and I can’t wait to share those reasons with you soon! We headed to Knight Flooring where they carry a large variety of Stainmaster luxury vinyl to start the process of picking out our flooring. And I say start because it took four trips total, trying multiple samples, and canceling an order before it was processed before we picked out the perfect color flooring for our home. No matter the type of flooring you’re installing, it’s a big decision!

Knowing we wanted a lighter color, we decided on Alpine by Masland which reminds us of white oak. The most we could see of it though was the sample board we brought home. We had to trust it was going to be exactly what were looking for. Since it’s Stainmaster’s PetProtect Luxury Vinyl, we’re going to have flooring that looks like wood but it’s waterproof, scratch-resistant, won’t stain and will repel odors. From there Knight Flooring processed the order and got in touch the next week with the install date.

Preparing for Install Day

The night before the big day of install, we were instructed to clear the rooms except for the beds (installers would move them) and get everything off the floor in the closets. We did end up moving them beds the morning of to make it quicker and easier once the installers arrived. That was it!

Install Day

The crew of three men arrived by 9:00 a.m. and immediately took a look at the rooms they would be working in. Like clockwork, they set up their work station in the driveway and got all their ducks in a row. It was pretty fun to see this side of how others work and stay organized throughout projects.

With all the tools ready to go, the baseboards were taken off the wall and the doors off their hinges. Taking the baseboards off is optional. If you keep them on, they’ll add a shoe molding after install. We opted to have them taken off because we installed new baseboards once they left. It was surprising that they took all the doors off the hinges. I just assumed they would work around them. Within 30 minutes the old flooring was out and the floor was prepped for the new flooring and it was on to the second bedroom.

They were very, very clean as they worked. They used a trash can for the old laminate to go in. Once it was full, they took it out to the truck and then kept going. The old padding was neatly rolled up and taped. It was very motivating to see how quickly and cleanly they worked.

Our new flooring was dropped off around 10:00. By 1:00 both rooms were done! We’re talking a complete floor demo and install of two-bedroom within 4 hours. Two things that factored to this quick install: expertise of doing this daily and each installer had his own job. As one was installing the luxury vinyl (which is a click and lock flooring), another person would cut the necessary cuts, and the third person did the cleanup, transitions with the door frames, and re-attaching the doors.

We were 100% planning for Oliver to skip his nap that day thinking it would be an all day job. But he still got his nap because of how quickly it went! I’m seriously impressed with the process, the install, and the quality of work we received. And then there’s the fact that we have new flooring in Oliver’s room and our guest bedroom! I’m thrilled to see our new Stainmaster flooring and walk past the bedrooms probably more than what I should just so I can look at them. Here’s how the two rooms turned out:

With this being our first experience with hiring work out, let me tell you, it was an amazing experience. If you’re on the fence with if you should DIY or hire, here are a few benefits with hiring out:

1. It’s a huge time saver
2. If you have children, a quick install like ours can make all the difference.
3. You have a lot of square footage to demo and install.
4. You simply don’t want to DIY this type of project
5. Peace of mind

By going with the Stainmaster PetProtect Luxury Vinyl, we don’t have to worry about scratches, stains, it’s 100% waterproof, and basically the perfect flooring choice for us! Thank you so much to Stainmaster for this wonderful experience! As we share our experience with installing the luxury vinyl on our own, I’ll be sharing all the details about this flooring choice. I truly can’t wait to share everything we learned from the installers and teach you how to install flooring. Stay tuned, my friends!

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