Laying the new flooring
We weighed the pros and cons of real wood flooring. It seemed that real wood, while stunning, would require refinishing every few years. Also, to get real wood flooring in a thickness to refinish was prohibitively expensive. Thin wood flooring sold for regular prices but couldn't be re-finished well.
Then we checked out hardwood-engineered floors - made with real hardwoods with specially glued techniques. Whenever I hear wood/glue/adhesive, I remember my kitchen counter in Pennsylvania...a hardwood engineered counter meant to last a lifetime. And the counter above the dishwasher was bubbled and peeling due to the humidity of the steam from the appliance.
Laminate flooring was considered next. However, to me, most looked fake. We looked at them all. I love the knotty detailed wood colors, Richard preferred blonder wood. One day, while at the hardware store, they were putting samples of new laminates up and we saw it. Armstrong's SwiftLock made to resemble hickory wood. Hickory is a dark blonde wood. There were knots and swirls and grains galore. We bought 99 boxes (and got a 15% Veteran's Day discount!) and proceeded to lay the floor.
Once you understand the locking system, its easy to lay. Slide the end in first, then at a slight angle, slide the horizontal length in. Shims under the boards help keep it in place until you've finished a row. Tap into place with the special tool (a tapping block and a pull tool, both available in the same area of the store), then pull the shims out and walk on the boards to lock in place. It took us four days to lay the Great Room which is 30 X 29 feet. We laid it all the way across even under the stove, fridge and kitchen counters. There are special precautions doing this, make sure to read instructions.
Here are the before and after pictures:
Before the flooring could be laid we had to prep it by sanding rough spots and any swelled sub-floor (from rain when the roof wasn't in place).
This is an after shot. Notice the socks on the legs of the furniture. Richard and I weren't sure we could trust the warranty at first and so did our best to protect the newly laid floor. Although we've slid a few things across and its not done any damage, I plan to put some sort of protection on the legs, anyway (besides the socks, which look a little tacky). LOL
Then we checked out hardwood-engineered floors - made with real hardwoods with specially glued techniques. Whenever I hear wood/glue/adhesive, I remember my kitchen counter in Pennsylvania...a hardwood engineered counter meant to last a lifetime. And the counter above the dishwasher was bubbled and peeling due to the humidity of the steam from the appliance.
Laminate flooring was considered next. However, to me, most looked fake. We looked at them all. I love the knotty detailed wood colors, Richard preferred blonder wood. One day, while at the hardware store, they were putting samples of new laminates up and we saw it. Armstrong's SwiftLock made to resemble hickory wood. Hickory is a dark blonde wood. There were knots and swirls and grains galore. We bought 99 boxes (and got a 15% Veteran's Day discount!) and proceeded to lay the floor.
Once you understand the locking system, its easy to lay. Slide the end in first, then at a slight angle, slide the horizontal length in. Shims under the boards help keep it in place until you've finished a row. Tap into place with the special tool (a tapping block and a pull tool, both available in the same area of the store), then pull the shims out and walk on the boards to lock in place. It took us four days to lay the Great Room which is 30 X 29 feet. We laid it all the way across even under the stove, fridge and kitchen counters. There are special precautions doing this, make sure to read instructions.
Here are the before and after pictures:
Before the flooring could be laid we had to prep it by sanding rough spots and any swelled sub-floor (from rain when the roof wasn't in place).
This is an after shot. Notice the socks on the legs of the furniture. Richard and I weren't sure we could trust the warranty at first and so did our best to protect the newly laid floor. Although we've slid a few things across and its not done any damage, I plan to put some sort of protection on the legs, anyway (besides the socks, which look a little tacky). LOL
posted by Merry | 7:31 AM
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