My friend didn't want to wait to put his new flooring in & didn't want to mess with leveling. The planks he got are quite flexible so they just followed the contours of the floor. I tried to get him to do some kind of leveling first, but he insisted on installing forthwith so I helped him. I brought my flooring saw, a plastic mallet (the one I was nicknaming Mjolnir), a speed square, pencil, safety glasses, hand saw, & Matrix 6-piece kit. I also brought over my battery charger but forgot to charge his battery. I left the charger there I think so he can still charge up. Ended up needing the oscillating attachment to trim the shims on the cabinets. We left expansion gaps around the perimeter and stuff isn't even at some of the edges because we plan to put shoe molding over things. At first I wasn't sure what to do to help but then I got in the groove (pun intended) of setting up the planks and even marking the end piece for cuts while he started the next row. He patiently showed me how to put the planks in so I slowly put a few starters in while he was putting the end pieces in. We used a scrap piece for the tapping block. Once we got the first few rows in, the shims weren't necessary & we moved the full boxes of planks on top of the flooring to hold it down. My brother was able to cook while we were working on the last 1/4 of the room. It would have been faster if my friend hadn't started on the wrong end. He was going from left to right & it was very hard to get things to lock into place that way. He realized that he needed to go from right to left so he switched on the 2nd row. He didn't do too much of a staggering pattern but it worked out. He had a box & a half left after the job. Since it was clearance material & they charge a restocking fee, we wouldn't get the full amount back if we returned the box, so he's keeping it in case he needs to replace something or if he wants to use it for something else.
Even with only 1/3 of the room done there was a vast improvement. The light was reflecting from the floor and made the room brighter. He said it felt like he was in a new house & everyone kept commenting on how much nicer the room looked. It even felt better in there-- maybe because of the light. The floor seems very easy to clean & stuff just slides across when sweeping. I was in my socks so I didn't get mud on the floor from my shoes & I didn't slip, but it was still smooth for sweeping & cleaning.
In my own house I want to level the floors first, but in his house this is a vast improvement. I still need to get some kind of pull bar for the very first row to make some adjustments in the middle, but overall, it turned out better than I'd anticipated and all parties involved are happy.
The floor is actually more gray than it appears in the photos. The bulbs in the kitchen light have a yellowish tint & the floor looks more blonde in the photos but it's ash gray.