[onmywayup]

We just put in a bunch of vinyl flooring in a basement that required us to install flooring around 4 support posts.

My customer wants some kind of trim kit to hide the rough cuts around the posts, but doesn't really care about wrapping the entire post all the way up.

Is there anything out there for just trimming out the bottoms of the posts? neatly? Ideas?

It's just a play room for the kids, and she really isn't particular about it looking amazing, just needs something a bit better than the rough cuts we made.

 

[mikeswoods]

I've had a wood turner friend make me rings on his lathe---Do you have access to a lathe?

 

[pinwheel]

With a little forethought, some accurate measureing & a hole saw, you're cuts don't have to be jagged.

A lathe or bandsaw & router table can make some trim rings.

 

[onmywayup]

With a little forethought, some accurate measureing & a hole saw, you're cuts don't have to be jagged.

Ahh Christ, I knew that was coming from someone eventually. I had guessed the fourth or fifth reply, so you jumped the gun a bit

 

[greg24k]

Get a split column collar and they can paint the column itself.

 

[pinwheel]

Ahh Christ, I knew that was coming from someone eventually. I had guessed the fourth or fifth reply, so you jumped the gun a bit

So that means you knew how to do it right, why didn't ya?:whistling

 

[kubie]

like this?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pole-Wra...n-Basement-Pole-87CB35/202017106#.UpX54SeXuSp

 

[onmywayup]

So that means you knew how to do it right, why didn't ya?:whistling

I'm not sure how I implied that, no. We do the best we can, get better as we get the practice , and I'll be dammed if we aren't profitable one way or another. I have nobody but the Internet and pure attrition to learn from. I'm all for learning from more experienced guys - that's why I'm here, after all - but once the problem has been created, self-righteous comments about how it should have been done better if only I'd have slowed down and magically gotten instantly perfect at laying floors do not a problem solve.

That being said, thanks for the rest of the actual functional advice though. Milling our own is an option, but I love the simplicity of the linked trim kit. I looked all over the store for something like that but never thought to check HD website.

I also thought about wrapping the bottom of them with that flexible rubber coping stuff you see in the carpet aisle. But the trim kits are paintable to match; nice touch.

 

[chew]

1) if you don't know how to do the job properly don't take it.

2) If you do learn how to hide your mistakes.

 

[pinwheel]

I'm not sure how I implied that, no. We do the best we can, get better as we get the practice , and I'll be dammed if we aren't profitable one way or another. I have nobody but the Internet and pure attrition to learn from. I'm all for learning from more experienced guys - that's why I'm here, after all - but once the problem has been created, self-righteous comments about how it should have been done better if only I'd have slowed down and magically gotten instantly perfect at laying floors do not a problem solve.

That being said, thanks for the rest of the actual functional advice though. Milling our own is an option, but I love the simplicity of the linked trim kit. I looked all over the store for something like that but never thought to check HD website.

I also thought about wrapping the bottom of them with that flexible rubber coping stuff you see in the carpet aisle. But the trim kits are paintable to match; nice touch.

,

Wasn't really trying to be self righteous, my first comment was actually giving you advice on how to do it next time. When you took the job, you surely knew those posts were going to be a problem. Your job then, is to problem solve so that when you get there, you've already got a solution. That way the client doesn't have something to complain about. You only get one chance to make a positive impression on a client. Those positive impressions are what relays to their friends & co workers when they're talking about you & the job you done.


When I was green, I was fortunate to have some self righteous (your word, not mine) guys that busted my chops when I F'd up. Many time, they pissed me off. But ya know what, getting angry, stuck in my head & I actually learned a lot from those guys.

 

[onmywayup]

,

Wasn't really trying to be self righteous, my first comment was actually giving you advice on how to do it next time.

While we're on the education circuit then, how could I possibly have gotten around four posts in the middle of the floor without a seam? It's not as if we could temporarily remove a post that is holding up the main I-beam.

And if there is going to be a non-OEM seam, I'm covering it up with trim anyway, right? This flooring had beveled edges and you could never copy that on a seam you created yourself.

Last week we laid floor in fifteen bathrooms at a hotel, and we shut down the water and pulled the valves in order to work perfectly around the toilet water feeds; I'm no novice at flooring, but all the measuring in the world isn't going to get a perfect seamless hole around an immovable pole.

Anyway, maybe self-righteous was taking your comment a little out of context, but what you said seems like kicking a dead horse. It was closer to finger-wagging than it was to constructive criticism, or (dare I be so hopeful?), an actual solution to a pre-existing problem.

 

[FlyFishRI]

Reading a tape accurately and the use of a compass and steady jigsaw hand can get you pretty close! The only way you would be really screwed is if it was a wide plank flooring, wider than the column and the column landed smack in the middle of it.

Any pics? We like pics!

 

[pinwheel]

While we're on the education circuit then, how could I possibly have gotten around four posts in the middle of the floor without a seam? It's not as if we could temporarily remove a post that is holding up the main I-beam.

And if there is going to be a non-OEM seam, I'm covering it up with trim anyway, right? This flooring had beveled edges and you could never copy that on a seam you created yourself.

Last week we laid floor in fifteen bathrooms at a hotel, and we shut down the water and pulled the valves in order to work perfectly around the toilet water feeds; I'm no novice at flooring, but all the measuring in the world isn't going to get a perfect seamless hole around an immovable pole.

Anyway, maybe self-righteous was taking your comment a little out of context, but what you said seems like kicking a dead horse. It was closer to finger-wagging than it was to constructive criticism, or (dare I be so hopeful?), an actual solution to a pre-existing problem.

Not really much different than laying around a door jamb. Plan your run around the post. Don't start from the end if the post is going to fall dead center of your plank. Plan your end joint to center on the post. Mark center, butt the planks together & use your hole saw to make your hole around the post. Then lay both directions from those 2 planks.

I'm not sure I can as easily explain if the planks land along the length, but I'll try. You're gonna have to not initially nail the plank in the course before the post, as well as the plank that lands on the post. Again, lay your planks up temp & mark center of post on the 2 planks that need the hole. Cut the hole. Now the trick. Put your 2 planks in place that surround the post & slip the previously unnailed plank in from the end. You might need some PL glue or a face nail since you won't be able to get to the tongue.

A floors just a big puzzle. You need to see the pieces & envision how to put them in place before you get there, so you can plan for it. Dry fit the troublesome areas till ya get em right.

Again, I'll emphasize, you need to be pickier than your client about your work. It's your place to point out to yourself the shoddy work & fix it before they see it. It'll pay great dividends in the long run.