Day in the Life: Laying LVP in an Old House and Dealing with Subfloor Surprises

Man, been doing flooring installs for 15 years now, and days like today in Pennsylvania just remind me why old houses everywhere are a crapshoot. Started at 7am ripping up this beat-up carpet in a 1920s colonial, only to find the subfloor had more squeaks than a rusty door. Spent the next three hours leveling it with self-leveling compound before I could even touch the LifeProof vinyl plank I ordered from Home Depot. Customer's watching my every move, asking if it's gonna match the sample, and I'm just trying not to sweat through my shirt in this stuffy attic space. By noon, we had half the living room down, but then the apprentice nicks his finger on the utility knife slicing undercuts. Wrapped it up at 5pm, looks sharp though, and the homeowner's stoked with the floating click-lock setup. Days like this make you earn every buck, but damn it's satisfying when it all clicks.

Sounds like a standard day, but that self-leveling compound always saves my ass on uneven joists too. Next time, try a laser level for quicker spots, cuts the time in half.

Pennsylvania old houses are the worst for hidden rot under the carpet, had one last week where the whole corner needed sistering joists before LVP.