The job was a straightforward condo flip in Price Cutter territory—Mannington, WV. I’d done a dozen like it. Pull the old carpet, slap down some luxury vinyl plank, collect the check. Simple. Or so I thought until I met the door trim.
The Scene of the Crime
It was a Tuesday in early September 2022. I’d just finished demo on a 1,200-square-foot unit. The spec called for Mannington’s Adura Max LVP—a solid, waterproof product I’ve used a hundred times. But the existing door trim was a nightmare: a mix of standard colonial casing and a bulky, custom-built frame around the sliding glass door to the balcony.
Here’s where my brain short-circuited. Instead of pulling the trim, I decided to undercut it. Standard practice, right? You set the saw to the height of the new flooring plus the underlayment, and you zip right through. I’d done it a hundred times. I didn’t check the subfloor slope.
The floor sloped a quarter-inch over six feet. My undercut was level. The result? The LVP slid under the trim on the high side, but on the low side, there was a gap you could stick a credit card into. Looked like garbage. But that’s not where the $890 came from.
The $890 Mistake
The gap bugged me. I tried to fix it with caulk. Looked worse. So I decided to replace the trim entirely. I ordered custom-milled colonial casing to match the rest of the unit—$450 for the wood. Then I had to pull the old trim, which snapped a chunk out of the drywall. $200 in drywall repair. I re-installed the new trim, painted it, and had to re-caulk everything. $240 in labor for the extra day. Total: $890, plus a week-long delay.
All because I didn’t take 30 seconds to check the floor for slope.
The Garage Door Opener Remote That Almost Cost Me the Job
The same week, the homeowner, a real estate investor flipping four units, hit me with a curveball. He asked me to install a new garage door opener remote for the unit’s detached one-car garage. Not in my scope. But I figured, how hard could it be?
I bought a universal remote from the local hardware store—$35. I followed the instructions. The opener, a clunky 1980s model, didn't have a “learn” button. It had dip switches. I spent an hour trying different codes. The door went up, but it wouldn't come down. I reversed the wires. Now it wouldn’t go up.
I called a garage door company. $150 service call. They told me the circuit board was fried. I’d probably shorted it by messing with the dip switches. New opener: $350 installed. I ate the cost. Another $500 lesson: stick to your lane.
Where to Buy Benjamin Moore Paint (And Why It Matters to Flooring)
Here’s a strange thing I’ve learned. A perfect floor install looks amateur if the trim paint is wrong. After my door trim fiasco, I became a stickler for paint. I now spec Benjamin Moore’s Advance for any trim I touch. It levels beautifully and doesn’t yellow over LVP.
So where do I buy it? I’m loyal to the Benjamin Moore retailer in Morgantown—about 30 minutes from Price Cutter. But for my guys working in other parts of the state, I’ve set up accounts at four different dealers. Here’s my rule: don’t buy it at the big box store. The paint might be legitimate, but the turnover is slower, and you might get a can that’s been frozen or overheated. Buy from a dedicated paint store. The staff actually know what they're talking about. I can’t tell you how many times a Benjamin Moore dealer has talked me out of a bad color choice that would have looked terrible against the flooring.
The 'Honest Limitation' on Paint Recommendations
I recommend Benjamin Moore for trim that’s next to flooring. But if you’re painting a rental property with cheap hollow-core doors and you just want to cover the off-white? Buy the Behr from Home Depot. Don’t spend $70 a gallon on paint for a $40 door. It’s overkill. My rule of thumb: if the trim is staying for more than five years, spend the money. If it’s a flip you’re selling next month, save your budget.
The Mannington Warranty Lesson
Everyone asks about the Mannington warranty. And for good reason—it’s one of the best in the business. But here’s what I learned the hard way: the warranty does not cover installation errors.
That $890 mistake I made with the door trim? The LVP itself was fine. The problem was my install. Mannington’s warranty covers manufacturing defects—cracking, staining, excessive wear. It does not cover the gap I created because I didn’t measure the subfloor slope.
The same goes for their moisture warranty. It covers the product if it fails due to moisture. It does not cover the mold that grows because you didn’t use the recommended MoistureLoc underlayment. I keep a stack of the install guide from their website in my truck. I hand one to every homeowner before I start. It’s saved me three warranty claims in the last two years alone.
The Checklist I Use Now (To Prevent Your $890 Mistake)
After the third job in a row with a trim issue, I created a pre-install checklist. It’s not fancy, but it’s saved me thousands. Here’s the relevant part for door trim:
- Check floor slope. Use a 6-foot level across the room. Mark the high point. Set your undercut saw at that height. Not your measuring tape height.
- Decide: undercut or replace? If the trim is standard (colonial, ranch), undercut it. If it’s custom, expensive, or painted with lead paint, pull it carefully and re-install after the floor is down.
- Prep the paint. If I’m replacing trim, I prime and paint it before installation. Touch-up after. This prevents paint drips on the new LVP.
- Check the garage door. Not my job. I write it into the contract as a homeowner responsibility. I learned that $500 lesson.
I’ve got 47 entries in this checklist now. We’ve caught 47 potential errors in the past 18 months. It’s my single best tool, and it cost me $1,390 to create. You get it for free.
A Last Bit of Honest Advice
There’s something satisfying about a job where the floor meets the trim perfectly. After all the stress of that September job, seeing the caulk line disappear into a perfect shadow gap—that’s the payoff.
But I have mixed feelings about custom trim. On one hand, it looks amazing. On the other, it’s $450+ to replace a few feet of wood. My compromise? I keep a stock of pre-primed colonial casing in my shop. For 90% of the condos in Price Cutter, it’s a perfect match. For the 10% where it’s not, I bill the customer for the custom millwork upfront. No surprises, no $890 mistakes.
Price data as of January 2025. Verify current pricing at Mannington.com as rates may have changed.
