Spinny

Apparently it is all easy, and everything turns out perfect... https://youtu.be/wfitA6sDVcY?si=u3vMa5nAb6mKIq78 From my limited experience I don't remotely understand how any of this is even remotely achievable ? Anyone know ?

Stupidity is as stupidity does. Nothing can go well, not even for one day it seems. Yesterday I spent a long day dry laying almost all the remaining 15sqm of my LVT in the main open plan area. It was a difficult process given that the Amitco unique image area is only 1.2sqm. Random laying does not work. You have to really try to avoid lots of identical knots, or identical 100mm planks, or all dark/light planks going down next to each other. And equally to avoid an overall look that seems to have an artificial or regimented arrangement. Imagine 150 planks, even 2 minutes each is 5 hours. Probably took me 11 hours including finding pieces to cut into each row end and labelling them all up by row and with cut position for the fitter. Everything ready, a simple jigsaw puzzle for the contractor to stick down today. He arrives, I briefly describe what I have done as prep, he nods and agrees, gathers up the planks by row and in sequence so he can start some polishing and a little feathering. Sparky arrives and I am busy with him finding bits, sorting smart modules, defining switch positions, next tasks etc. As flooring guy starts I glance over a few times, has laid 2 or 3 rows and it looks ok. Later in the day he has got to the last rows and I get a window to have a further look. Start noticing things - two identical knots right next to each other - and again - two identical planks alongside each other, a small area with 7 knots in it, 2 planks that were adjacent now separated. Turns out he decided for himself without any communication or attempt at communication that he was going to shift the position of every row 'to randomise cut positions'. Cut positions I had already randomised, and marked on the planks with tape. Somehow he had also rotated some planks 180 deg, used a plank from one row to fill in on another row. So planks shifted up to 900mm one way or the other, a row backwards or forwards, rotated 180, end pieces where a knot was being cut off shifted to include the knot/feature. Hence destroying the dry layout he was supposed to be sticking down. All my effort wasted. Nearly 6 months since I engaged these muppets to do my floor. Now it means them ripping many selected planks up again, removing the glue, me trying to find new/different pieces to fill the gaps and 'look right' (actually a harder task than free dry laying), dwindling stocks of remaining planks from the batch. And yet more delay. I am so so so angry. Give an idiot an incredibly simple task, and within 4 hours, they will screw it up and leave you far worse off than when you started. Rinse and repeat. Apparently it is called 'building'. Apparently you are actually supposed to reach an end point, however it is not logically possible. Never ever do it.

Am I doing the wrong thing 'letting them get away' with it here ? It is always hard to know.

The flooring guy that did my levelling used small self adhesive sticks (see photo). Snapped them off to height and then stuck them onto the concrete surface, they then stayed there embedded in the levelling compound aftwerwards. These were his levelling guide. However... When setting out he used a spirit level and seemed happy as long as the bubble was 'somewhere between the lines' rather than dead centre. He didn't actually put that many level indicators in - may be one every 1.5-2m (I had to explicitly ask him to put one next to my floor length window). Using a level end over end across 8m is not that accurate tbh. I had taken quite some time using my water level to put reference marks around the room at skirting board level - but there was no interest in these and they were ignored. The pour was done straight from a mixing tub without a tipping frame or spout. The mixes were made up by the junior outside. They only had 2 mixing tubs. So it was gradually work across the floor pouring one while the other was mixed. The actual level was generally a little below the marker sticks (obviously if the pour went higher they disappeared and became useless as guides). For some reason the levelling compound dried to somewhat different tone/darkness on some pours - makes me wonder how consistent the water mix was. Though the second layer used a different compound with the liquid mix supplied with it - no water to add. A lot comes down to how patient, hard working, diligent and conscientious people are. From photos on their facebook page it looks like most of the time they are doing small rooms around 8-15 sqm, rather than my 38 sqm. The problem is most people have someone that gives a good sales speel, and a bunch of good online reviews, and photographs. Getting references out of most tradies always seems to be a challenge - 'I don't like to bother my customers with that', 'people don't want to be disturbed', it is on the website, all my mates haves posted 5* onto my facebook page, or just no response etc. If you are going to take every single trade, then contact 5 and get them come, look, get a quote out of them, get references out of them, follow up references including visits and impertinent questioning - well it is bloody hard work. One customer might be blissfully happy in their ignorance that their levelled floor isnt actually that level. No housewife uses a spirit level.

Yes they have 'feathering compound' which they used in a few places. I think the youngster laying mine should probably have used some feathering compound on the grinding marks but didn't. I didn't see the grinder/sander being used but the machine was substantial and with vacuum extraction; I get tired of all the bullshit, salesmanship and and attempts at asserting authority over customers because - 'I have measured floors for 25 years and I can tell you this one is excellent'. I still think someone should make something like a robot vacuum that could crawl around a floor measuring and marking contour lines.

Looks excellent. Did you put a spirit level across it checking it yourself ? How flat do you reckon it is ?

So flooring man came today. As expected he said my levelled floor was excellent (and he had congratulated the leveller) especially given what they started with (why would that make any difference TBH). And recommends leaving it as it is (no surprise). Although I don't swallow it, I am going to go with leaving the 'hill' now because at least it should be smooth and I don't want the sanding/grinding marks showing through like in the other spot. Where it is positioned it might put a 3mm fall on my dining table, but hopefully not a wobbly leg. LVT does truly show every flaw. Experience is the mother of wisdom - I'll know to be an insistent stickler next time, though there probably never will be a next time for me. The reality is likely that most customers never measure or consider the flatness of their floor - and thus standards are not always brilliantly high.

Yes, my electrician was working with another mate that did most of my first fix. They tend to write on the end of the cable with a sharpie, which can be tricky to read sometimes months later and gets cut off at second fix. I have been sticking coloured labels on speaker and network cables. (Maybe scope for someone inventing a clever labelling gizmo.)

Well here is another pic. The strip is in a shallow recessed alu profile with a press in diffuser cover. I haven't pushed the cover on properly at one end in case I needed to remove it again - which I will - as I havn't taken the self adhesive backing off yet to adhere it to the inside of the profile. (I am pondering whether to use this COB CCT strip, or whether to use an addressable COB CCT strip (for say spot light or twinkling effects), or indeed an addressable COB RGBCCT dual IC strip (for truly vomit inducing xmas light shows - all these strips give out light across 180deg). I guess the light spread will be narrower by virtue of the profile depth restricting it when I stick it down. Did notice the light spreads down onto the floor below leaving a shadow of the shelf. You do also get the sort of hot spot light effect at either end of the strip onto the side panel. If I cut the strip shorter or used addressable strip and turned off the end 'pixels' I guess I could do away with this. Obviously not put my Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare etc on the shelf yet 🤪

Good points. The two strip lights is interesting. The fitter had somehow dissassembled the shelf unit when he routed the existing profile recess. So maybe I could persuade him to disassemble again (if he hasn't glued it up) and rout a second channel further forward and have 2 strip lights. That is if he doesn't rout me a new ****hole for being such a PITA.

Valid point. I am not a fan of the rear shelf lighting often installed as I always feel it silhouettes whatever is on the shelf rather than illuminating it. You always light a picture from above but in front. The front book cover is illuminated but the spines are in shadow. The dotted thing is lit at the top but not on the front face. The other annoyance is now well lit - the three holes top right and left. The 'shelf unit' is only a wall unit without doors so it comes with holes for wall mounting predrilled in the back panel - nobody tells you in the showroom discussions of course. There are some grommets but I have kept some waste offcuts in the hope of drilling my own matching plugs.

Just testing first LED strip - see photo. Just annoyed that the kitchen fitter cut the profile slot in the centre of the shelf depth without asking. Really wanted the strip not far from the front of the shelf so it actually illuminates what is on the shelf from the front. Is it remotely possible to rout a shelf panel from underneath while it is insitu ?

You know you can buy a simple water pressure meter quite cheaply to measure your pressure at different points yourself, and flow rates can be measured by running into a bucket of known capacity (you can measure the bucket capacity with a measuring jug). If you want to get sophisticated with controls then smart home systems allow this - would you be connecting your shelly to a hub ? You may not want the extra complication though.

I have the contractor coming tomorrow to take a look and give me the benefit of their experience. Very likely the inevitable advice will be to do nothing and just floor over it of course. But any more thoughts on this appreciated. When the builders poured the original underlying concrete slab they said it would be level within 6mm - they achieved about 30mm variation and 10mm higher than target. When the flooring people levelled it the standard for thin-layer flooring is SR1 or <3mm over 2m but haven't fully achieved it. Maybe it is best left as is ? I can perhaps find a carpenter to cut one table leg shorter if it proves a problem 🙃 I get the comment about floors generally, but when new they ought to be very close to level and this should be achievable with the otherwise somewhat euphemistically named 'levelling compound'. What have others achieved on their build with hard floors ? Anyone else that sees subfloor flaws showing through LVT ? The guy laying it uses a very thin layer of adhesive and rolls it down hard - I had imagined that rather like ceramic tile laying that the adhesive bed could be somewhat varied to counter subfloor flaws ?

Has anyone ever had an electrician or a plumber that did drawings or sketches of what they proposed to install, or indeed did any drawings or sketches of what had actually been installed (which can differ from any original design) ? Has anyone ever known a house builder that provided as installed electrical or plumbing drawings ?