New Floor – Part One
2 01 2005
My wife Misty has always wanted to convert our carpet into tile or wood floor for long time. We agreed to do one room last year and we did it on January 1st.
We looked at many different ideas what we can do with our floor in living room. Keep in mind – we primarily use our family room for watching TV among couch and shelves while living room is simpler and don’t used much except video games, small TVs and computer desk.
There are roughly four different things we can do with new floor:
1. Paint the concrete floor
2. Install new carpet (all kind or style)
3. Install wood-based tiles
4. Install vinyl-based tiles (not roll type)
Painting floor is not exactly new idea but I think it?s gaining the popular today. It doesn?t mean we will paint it solid color like garage but we can do it like we seen the floor at Sam?s Club Warehouse. It would look awesome however in our case where we have full of old black adhesive all over our floor. We definitely want to keep this optional open for another room ? maybe.
Replacing new carpet is same old thing – a lot of people are doing it. I have no problem with it but it is not ideal anymore at least in our case. Since we love animals and it?s rather difficult to control potty issues. We will always smell foul odor from somewhere. Forget it.
Installing new wood-based tiles are very nice and obviously the most expensive of all. We looked at all of those wooden laminate styles at Home Depot and Lowe?s ? there are many types of wood and style out there. The price is approximately $2.00 per square foot plus additional such as adhesive, foam and trims.
Tiles is not new stuff but they seems have gotten better over years. Of course, it depends on how much you are willing to invest in and choose right kind of tiles. It is not about square tile anymore ? they are selling all kinds such as timber style, 2x larger tile and some other weird sizes. The price is range from 50 cents to $1.00 per sq foot. We knew that the thickness of vinyl is very important and last longer.
We found cool timber style tiles that look like natural wooden in it which cost $.98 per tile (or per sq foot) at Lowe?s. It cost $30 per box which holds 30 timber style tiles in it with adhesive-ready like stickers. Home Depot doesn?t sell it.
We also decided to go exceed the requirement – we purchased floor primer which will aid hold vinyl tiles better and help keep it prime before final tiles. Before that, we did scrapped excessive old adhesive, patch concrete holes, sanding them, sweep/vacuum, hand/wash (we don?t have mop) then finally rolling the floor with floor primer. (In order)
As of today, we did 2/3 and it already looks awesome in our living room. We purchased only 6 boxes ($30 each) of them plus one-gallon primer ($10 each) and we will decide if we need to work on trim.
In case you wonder, these tiles have natural wood texture in it and you can feel it with your hands or feet. It?s almost too much like wooden laminate. Very nice! You can look at manufacturing website ? go to Novalis International
Type: Natural Oak Vinyl (timber series)
Model: WD4012
Size: 4″ x 36″; .080″ (2 mm) thick
Style: Straight Edge
To view gallery of new floor, go to http://gallery.grantlairdjr.com/floor1
Grant W Laird Jr.
http://blog.grantlairdjr.com
I’m still trying to figure out what to do with our floors so your post is interesting and offers and alternative I hadn’t heard of.
I had old-style wood floors installed in the formal living room over a concrete subfloor. It looks great. Beautiful with walnut trim. BUT, it feels like tile. There’s no spring in it. We’re still looking for that right solution for the rest of the house.
Thanks for sharing the pictures
Yep! You might want to visit Lowe’s Home Improvement Store someday before you make up your mind for next your project — so you can look something different unlike Home Depot or another store.
gwlj
I was happy to come across your post. We have been looking at these very tiles. I have one question, is it necessary to stagger the tiles in the same way you would planks?
Thanks for sharing your great results
I have posted several flooring articles here at fine living blog. If they are no longer listed on this home page, then they should be under Interior Design section.
oops, the url for fine living blog is wrong in my previous post that I just did. It should be fine living blog. I had new-blogs instead of news-blogs. Sorry.
Your pictures were great. This was the exact flooring I have been looking at. Just one question… since you put it in in January, have any of the planks started to pull up from the concrete? Have any edges started to curl?
This looks great!
Would love to know if you’re still happy with it, and how it’s holding up.
Just wondering how your floor is holding up. We are considering installing the same type of vinyl tile in our home.
Here’s some feedback from someone who is dealing with the Novalis tiles.
I’m in the process of removing Novalis Timber Series vinyl tiles from a master bedroom and hallway in a house I recently purchased. They were attached directly to untreated concrete slab. I do not know how long they have been installed, but I suspect less than 5 years.
I removed most of the tiles with no resistance at all. Many were curled. The adhesive simply did not keep the tiles adhered to the rough concrete. To my great annoyance however, the adhesive did stick well to the concrete.
Now I am searching for a method to remove the adhesive from the concrete so that I can apply another floor finish.
Fritz in North Florida