Vinyl plank flooring in a Heidelberg Township living room, near Schaefferstown

The room

A living room in Heidelberg Township, a few minutes south of Myerstown: brick fireplace, a bay of windows onto the yard, and a floor that had reached the end of its life. The owner wanted a lighter room without a renovation.

What we did

• Out with the old. The old flooring came up and the subfloor was checked, screwed down where it moved and vacuumed clean.
• Light oak-look vinyl plank. A pale plank with a matte finish. Against the red brick of the fireplace a light floor lifts the whole room; a dark one would have made it heavier.
• Planks run toward the windows. We laid them the long way, toward the light, which is the direction that makes a room look longest.
• Shoe molding, not quarter round. New shoe molding covers the expansion gap at the baseboard with a smaller profile.
• Furniture out and back. The in-progress photo shows the sectional pushed aside with the planks going down; the finished photo shows the room back together.

Why a small floor job is worth doing well

A floor is the biggest surface in a room. Replacing it changes the room more than new paint and costs less than new furniture. It is also the easiest job to do badly: a wavy subfloor, a tight expansion gap or planks run the wrong way show forever.

Details that matter

• Planks were acclimated in the house before installation so they did not shrink after.
• The first row was set off the straightest wall and the last row was planned so it was not a sliver.
• The hearth got a clean straight cut and a flush transition, no raised threshold.

Timeline

Flooring removed and subfloor prepared one day, planks and molding the next, furniture back the same week. Photos from May and June 2025.

Questions we get about a floor like this

Can vinyl plank go over the old floor? Over a flat, sound hard floor, sometimes. Over carpet, never. Here the old floor came out so the subfloor could be fixed, which is the only way to guarantee a flat result.

Do you move the furniture? Yes. We move it, protect it and put it back. Pianos and aquariums are the exceptions we talk about first.

How long before we can walk on it? Right away. A floating vinyl plank floor has no glue to cure. Heavy furniture can go back the same day.

Floors like this are the most common job we do in Myerstown, Schaefferstown, Lebanon and Cornwall. Our flooring and tile page lists what we install.