A customer of ours, Mary Monson-Ortega, contacted us through our Facebook page and was very generous to send us pictures of her finished floor, and to dialogue with us about the experience of installing it herself. She offered us some tips on how she made that process work best, and has allowed us to share them with you!

  Hi guys-

I just wanted to let you know I have finally installed the flooring I bought. Thought I would share a few photos. I am so pleased with the way it looks!

This is your Supreme Click Elite Waterproof Vinyl Plank in Distressed Pine.

I used small pieces of the flooring as spacers. (I had plenty of samples that had no locking edges on them, so I cut them up.)

Pardon me for breaking in, but I want to share a clarification Ms. Monson-Ortega helped us find. This video of ours caused her some confusion about the expansion gap. You see, it's supposed to be a generic video for installing anything with this type of locking system, but we do specifically mention the product we used. We also somewhat definitively say to leave a 3/8" gap between the flooring and the wall, while the instructions for Supreme Click Elite say to leave a 'minimum 1/8" gap'. Her method was a good one. The product is 4mm thick, which is .16 inches, a little more than the minimum of 1/8" actually needed for the gap. I put some notes on the video to hopefully clear this up for others down the road, and we thank her greatly for pointing this out to us! Okay, back to her now.

    Tapping Block and Mallet 

Install got easier with practice. I definitely recommend using a tapping block. I started without it, and finished with it. I know the video says you can use one, (kinda like, you can choose to use one) but honestly, I don't know if I would have had the patience to complete it if I didn't happen to have one already, and decided to give it a try.

Cutting was easy, except for lengthwise cuts. They took a bit more elbow grease.

    The trim and radiator were not a big deal- it's all new, so we took out the old, put the floor down and then installed the new heat and trim.

Look how well she got the flooring placed under the rediator, trim and doorway

All in all, I am pleased with the outcome, and plan on using this exact floor throughout my home. I even continued the last piece in the doorway out into the hall, and covered the edge with an inexpensive threshold to protect it so I can just keep movin' on when I get to that project. I am so glad I found you, and can't wait to order more!

We are very grateful to Ms. Monson-Ortega for sharing all of this with us, and giving us permission to share her story and we celebrate her success! The room looks great!

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David has written and made videos about flooring products and installation since 2011 at Floors To Your Home (.com), where he is also the PPC Manager, a Researcher, a Website & Marketing Strategy Team member, Videographer, Social Strategist, Photographer and all around Resource Jito. In my spare time I shoot and edit video, put together a podcast, explore film history, and mix music (as in ‘play with Beatles multi-tracks’). Connect with  W. David Lichty

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