This post goes up a little late, but the kitchen flooring is complete! I decided to install the TrafficMaster Allure vinyl tile flooring sold by Home Depot. This type of flooring is known as “floating” because it does not attach to the subfloor or any walls, but is intended to expand and contract across your flooring as your home’s environment changes.
The idea behind this product is simplicity and affordability. The box literally boasts, “The Easiest Floor Ever!” but I’m here to inform you, this is not the case. Nothing about this installation was easy. It wasn’t messy, as some other types of flooring installation could be, but that is the only positive thing I can say about the process.
The tiles are extremely hard to cut, and deceivingly crooked coming out of the packaging. No matter how careful I was in placing each new strip, there would be a tiny gap in between each section. The frustration of seeing the cracks, and attempting to correct the placement caused my helper an I to spend almost 5 hours working on half the room.
Eventually, we determined it was impossible to install the tile sections without the cracks and began to trudge on. Certain corners of the floor were bent in the package and there are now one or two spots that keep popping back up. I haven’t found a solution to this problem yet, but I’ve read that there are special glues that be can poured under the corner and at some point I will track one down and give it a whirl.
The overall look of the tile is very nice, which is why I chose it. It was affordable as I mentioned above, and came with a 25 year warranty. My best advice to anyone looking to use this style of product in their home, is choose the room wisely. If you will need to make cuts around appliances or cabinets, like I did, go with something else.
This style of floating vinyl comes in a sheet of three 12″ x 12″ squares rather than the interchangeable planks the brand installation videos show you. I attribute the dimensions of the product to the difficulty we had when installing because we were not properly prepared for the headaches of having to cut the tough sections and the possibility of slicing a tile in half right in front of the refrigerator.
I do quite like the feel of the vinyl, much more than the previous linoleum flooring that came with my house. But I would still advise anyone intending to use this product to plan for a very long installation process (and buy a vinyl tile knife).
Also, the replacement trim and quarter round have been added throughout the house, which leaves only my bathroom floor to be finished!
Another post to come soon!
All By Myself... 