New York Renovator

Years ago, when I first dreamed about gutting the kitchen, I found this stuff called Trafficmaster Allure resilient flooring. I just may do the entire downstairs of the house with it, I love it that much. When I was at Home Dept a few years ago, a worked snapped off a piece of it for me to bring home. I have cherished it as a coffee coaster since then. I am GETTING this stuff!!!

You see, this is my current kitchen flooring. Pretty bad, huh? Those tiles are over 40 years old now. They are busted up and UGLY as all get out. Underneath the tiles is some kind of nailed-on cement board. Mostly. Yeah, *just* mostly. Because underneath in the hidden areas of the kitchen (pantry, under the cabinets and stove) there’s the old linoleum from the 1930s. And that, dear reader, is DISGUSTING stuff.

Ah, but this is the Allure resilient flooring. *sigh* I love it.

It’s probably the easiest flooring to install, too. We installed laminate flooring planks in our living room two years ago, and that was a little tough (lots of corners in there). I think this Allure is better. I’m going to install it in my kitchen and then in my dining room when I renovate that. The Allure is waterproof. The company says you can install the flooring even before your new roof is on:

Go ahead and install Allure before the roof is on in a monsoon. You will miserable but your patented GripStrip will be happy!

Whoa, that’s some promise.Well, I don’t live in monsoon- or hurricane-prone areas of Outer Banks or anything… and I’ve *still* got my roof on… so no worries for me. The stuff does have a 25-year guarantee, which is very nice.

The flooring comes in planks. They have sticky strips on the bottom. You cut the planks to measure, remove the tape backing, and secure the sticky sides. Easy.

I did wonder if the adhesive would REALLY stick… this is from the installation guide:

Once the adhesive sets, it will never come apart. We have a “controlled environment” for the adhesive– it simply cannot fail.

So I love this stuff even more. I am really looking forward to it. It is waterproof; it’s a “floating” floor which means you can install it over bump, uneven surfaces; it’s a little pricey, though. It will probably cost me about $750 to cover the entire 12 x 24 foot kitchen floor. :S Unless I can find a sponsor who will give me a discount for some blog coverage about the product!

Anyway, my floor is chosen. Now it’s on to planning the electric, plumbing, and walls. Oh and a new window opening or two.

I’ve had the laminate floors installed for a few months now. I’d wondered when I installed them how they would perform in the Living Room. We still have not gotten an area rug, so we’ve been fully treading on laminate all this time. I’m sure the eager questioners are begging: How have they held up?

Well. OK. I’ll break things down into a list: Pro and Con.

PRO:

1. It still looks beautiful. There’s nothing like the look of wood floors.. except wood floors themselves.
2. I’ve had to mop it only twice.
3. I see no indentations from the heavy furniture’s legs. I have a desk that is probably 300 pounds. I put flat casters under each leg, and the flooring has endured the weight extremely well.

CON:

1. There are a lot of small scratches everywhere. It wasn’t as durable as I’d hoped. We did buy the less expensive stuff (cheaper), but I had hoped it wouldn’t show scratches so soon. Our first time vacuuming, a little piece of grit got caught on the vacuum wheel, and made a large scratch. So we only sweep in here now. But the scratches are a major “con.” I am disappointed.
2. The floor boards have warped a little. Some are raised at the corners. Now, my house is so old, and we have drafts everywhere, so there are some major temperature extremes here. But I am surprised at how much the boards have expanded. A lot.
3. The floor bounces. The instructions for the flooring said to make sure your floor is “reasonably level.” I know that this is an impossible goal for a house as old as mine. But for laminate to look really good, your floor has to be far more than “reasonably” level. The slightest bump, it seems, shows up eventually as the boards contract and expand with the seasons. When we first installed the flooring, we had some bumps (I had nailed the old pine flooring down to secure it), but the laminate didn’t “rock.” Now, when we step in certain areas, the laminate rocks and gives a little. This also is probably due to the expansion and contraction of the boards.
4. Laminate flooring, while warmer than plain hardwood flooring, is much colder than carpeting. The floor is cold. No wonder they install radiant heating underneath. Brr!

So am I pleased with the flooring after these months? So far, yes. The scratches are minor (so far) and even so, we can still cover the floor with an area rug to protect the higher traffic areas. The bounce of the floor is irritating, and the raised edges are very irritating. But the floor is easy to care for and still looks pretty good. With more use (the Living Room is our most-used room of the house), I suspect that the raised edges will begin to chip or wear. This concerns me.

If we could have afforded carpeting and installation, I would have preferred that. We installed laminate because the materials were on sale and we could do it ourselves. Eventually, we will have carpeting in here, and perhaps use these boards for another room (if they are still useable).

The laminate floor is installed. Of course, there are small spots and some touch-ups to do yet (install t-moulding, threshholds, etc). But the bulk of the floor is done! So, we moved in our furniture and unpacked our books. The room hasn’t been this clean in three months.

Those little blocks all around the room are laminate flooring spacers. Laminate floor is a “floating floor,” which means it sits– all interlocked together– on the subfloor but not attached to it. It is important to leave spaces all around the perimeter of the room. The laminate expands and contracts with changes in temperature and humidity. If it does not have sufficient space to do so, the laminate will buckle.

I love the look of laminate. Walking on laminate is a luxurious experience, too– it is cushiony, since it sits on a foam underlayment. It is amazing to clean, too.

However, laminate scratches easily. Already I have found a few scratches, even though we have been very, very careful with furniture moving. I will have to invest in a laminate repair kit. We do intend to lay an area rug down. I also have to sew curtains (we are using old miniblinds right now, yuk).

There is no baseboard or window trim yet. I have to redo door jambs on the two doors first, then I will install the trim, a little at a time.

So there are a lot of loose ends! But it is wonderful to have my Living Room back. It is wonderful to have an organized desk with my printer and my pencils back. My ethernet cabling works fine, too. What a relief! Since installing that was so easy, I may install it in other rooms as well (when we get to them).

I am exhausted! The weeks of intense activity have tuckered me out! So we are taking a break from work today, before I continue with moulding installation and more rewiring (we are still without electricity in the upstairs Bathroom, the Hallway, and the Laundry Room).

I haven’t posted in so long because I’ve been hopping. The room is painted now! The ceiling is white, walls are beige. This new color scheme is a bit drab for me. I am usually painting walls and ceilings vibrant colors (my Dining Room is a brilliant ruby red, and the ceiling is wallpapered pink!). I opted for a more neutral, wood-tone friendly scheme this time. Plus, I was tired of dark green, which is what the Living Room walls were previously.

Eventually I will install crown moulding, but not for a while. Therefore, I put extra effort into making the ceiling and wall seam look nice and neat. I think I pulled it off.

The room is finally electrified! I was a little anxious about the electrical work, honestly. It was my first electrical job (I have since done several areas now) and I was nervous about it. I splurged and bought a chandelier, and it looks beautiful. Twin sconces balance the symmetry of the windows. The room is very bright and looks great.

Since we cannot refinish the floors (they had been pained with lead paint in eons past), we decided to cover them with a “floating floor”: laminate flooring. Home Depot was having a clearance on Traffic Master laminate, so I nabbed numerous boxes.

We’ve got the foam underlayment installed, and two courses of the flooring. It is a learning experience for us. Every cut and the placement of every plank must be carefully thought through before you begin sawing boards.

Before we set the underlayment down, we drew a few things on the boards, for posterity.

The whole family and other helpers have signed the studs, too. I also placed a newspaper in the studs as a little time capsule.

The room is coming together. I am hoping we can get the flooring in by the weekend, and I also must finish the furnace ducting and the telephone/internet wiring done. There are a lot of loose ends.