A flooded living room, leveled and refloored
A water heater in the attic let go above the kitchen and flooded the house while the owner was getting it ready for market. We took up all the old tile, floated the whole area level over a rough slab, and laid light oak look luxury vinyl plank from the front door to the kitchen, finished with a T-mold at the tile.
This house was about to go on the market. The owner’s son had been living in it, and once he moved out the plan was to get it ready to sell. Then the water heater in the attic above the kitchen burst and flooded the home, and that is how the flooring work started.
We took up all of the old beige ceramic tile. The foundation underneath was in rough shape, far from flat, so rather than chase the low spots we floated the entire area. In late December 2024 we poured self-leveling underlayment across the living room, the hall doorway and the front entry, working the pour up to a taped dam at the doorway so it stayed where we wanted it. Self-leveler finds its own level, which is why the wet floor in these photos reads like a mirror with the front window in it. We let it cure overnight.
A few days later we rolled poly over the cured leveler and staged the planks in the room. The flooring is a light oak look luxury vinyl plank that clicks together and floats over the poly. The next day we ran it from the wall opposite the fireplace toward the hearth, cutting each plank with a guillotine cutter and seating the joints with a tapping block and pull bar.
By that evening the whole room was down, from the front door through the living room to the kitchen, where the new plank meets the kitchen tile with a T-mold. The flooring boxes you see in the finished shots are doing a job too: holding the T-mold flat while it set. The fireplace surround, crown molding and floating shelf stayed in place, and the house was ready for market on a floor that is finally flat.
Scope of work
- All old tile removed to the slab
- Entire area floated with self-leveling underlayment over a rough foundation
- Poly and staging
- Light oak look luxury vinyl plank, floated
- Living room, entry and hall doorway
- T-mold transition at the kitchen tile
Service: Flooring
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