Bedroom flooring

We had to re-do the floors in part of our house due to an unexpected water issue.  We were going to do wood laminate on our lower level and upper level hall.  We have some friends who have dogs and they had similar wood laminate and had issues keeping it clean.  They changed their flooring to wood vinyl and suggested that to use.  We went with wood vinyl and it is very easy to clean. I have 4 cats and have never had any issues with puke stains or scratches on my floors.  The wood vinyl we got was the Traffic Master Allure. We got it at home depot.  It was really only slightly more expensive than the vinyl but it has a lifetime warranty.  We went with this because it is water proof and with having a washing machine on the 2nd floor we did not want to go through another mess if something happens again in the future.  This line has types of wood vinyl that are not water proof which may be less expensive than what we got.  Our contractor loved way the floor looked and said it was extremely easy to install. This is a floating floor.

As some of you may remember, a year ago this past September, I took up the carpet in my living room (old,old, ugly indoor/outdoor type blue, YUCK!!)  & painted the floor.

I live in an older house made into an upstairs (me) & a downstairs apartment. My landlord doesn't do anything he doesn't really have to do, & I've been here for 17 years now, so I have made a lot of improvements. (as long as my rent stays where it is, I don't ask for compensation for paint,etc..to keep it there!) 

I wish the wood floors underneath were nice, but they were not!  ....And I certainly couldn't refinish them, so I used deck & floor paint by Valspar from Lowe's.  What looked like worn paint on the floor when we took up the carpet, was actually old adhesive from when it was originally put down years ago.  I had gotten new furniture, & painted the walls, so I painted the floors white for a clean, cottage feel. I am very happy with it.

My parents helped, so it only took a weekend! We put about 3 coats on. I also bought some 1/2 inch round to take up the space under the base boards after the old carpet was taken up. My dad put that down w/ his nail compressor.  

Now, I am finally going to take it up in my bedroom as well. I can't wait!!  However,  There are a couple of spots that feel "suspect." We won't know if it's just a board that's swollen & popped up a bit, OR, if it's a bad "patch" job w/ just a piece of wood, or "whatever."  So, because of that, I will be putting carpet down. My parents are redoing their bedroom floor, & the carpet they are taking up is still in good condition, (& my mom is going to clean it first as well, since they have a cat too)  So I am taking it.  It's a nice light gray pile carpet, so will match all my bed sets, & I will be ordering drapes that are close to the same color. (black out drapes, that I had previously picked out).   My dad came over Monday & we took the closet doors off to saw off an inch, to make sure they will clear once the padding & carpet is put down.   We plan on doing it sometime in the next month.  Also, I am hoping that it will help w/ the "sound proofing" a little. The blind lady who lives under me listens to books at night, or will watch tv, (Past 11:00, when I'm trying to go to bed!) & doesn't even try to keep it down. Her boyfriend is hard of hearing (they are older) & that's part of it. They have asked if I can hear it before & I let them know that I could, but they don't really do much, & they are the type if I confront them, it could get worse, by them being nasty, & I don't want that. (That's a whole thread alone!) 

For those of you who didn't see my living room make over thread, or weren't around yet, here it is, if you want to see what we did. 

(you only see my new furniture in the pictures, but before, I had a big cream couch & chair, so did more fall colors). 

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/286139/my-weekend-project-pict-heavy

I really like the red caramu Pam!!  Both are very nice; but that red is really beautiful and timeless! 

Your living room looks beautiful @Angels mommy  !  I don't know how I missed that thread last year.  It's so nice when you have family or friends who are available to help!  DH and I like doing DIY projects and have slowly built up to having some decent tools; but it's always nice to have someone with experience and extra tools to talk to.  My Dad is awesome with things like that; but he lives several states away.  

I'm serious about changing our floors after next tax time.  I'm just not sure I want that to be a DIY project.  My kitchen and dining area/office/school room are open to each other.  The kitchen has linoleum down and then carpet in the dining/ofifice/school area.  Where the carpet and linoleum meet is not a straight line.  So we are definitely going to need someone who knows what they are doing to help us lay it right.  

I've been looking on Lowes website today and it looks like some of the laminate wood floors claim to meet California's standards.  So I suppose if we go that route; that will be the standard to draw from.  I do not want tile in here.  I don't think I'd want to go for true hardwood unless I were doing the entire living area.  Either way; it's a big investment.  

Let us know what you decide on!!

Kelly, I remember when you did your living room and it was so pretty. I just loved your pictures (and the pictures of Mr. Angel, too!) You guys did such a great job. When you're done in the bedroom, please post pictures again!

As for the Select Red Cumaru, I love it. I absolutely love that floor. It is probably the prettiest floor that I've seen. But I am not going there. Why? A couple reasons:  1) I don't like Lumber Liquidators' business practices, I just don't. The formaldehyde issue combined with taking the wood illegally just doesn't sit well with me. 2) From what I've been reading/researching, they do not stand behind their warranties.Whenever a problem arises (and there are a lot of problems), LL says it's not their fault, it's the way the floor was installed or it's the way the floor is being cleaned, or it's because the room isn't climate-controlled, and so on. What good is having a warranty if they won't stand behind their words? There are a lot of very frustrated LL buyers....although I also understand that frustrated buyers will post reviews more than satisfied customers (I thought that, too, when I was researching dishwashers back during the summer).

I'm just one person, so I realize that what I think doesn't really matter. But I can't justify patronizing a company that doesn't care about their customers. And in my opinion, this is a good example.

Back to the drawing board.....or flooring boards, as the case may be.

I am glad you decided to steer clear of Lumber Liquidators.  I remember when the 60 Minutes story aired their business dropped 25 percent.  I am sure it's back up, people's memories are short.  For some reason the deal with taking lumber out of the Siberian Tiger's habitat bothered me more.  They may very well be past the point of no return because there are so few left and there isn't enough genetic diversity for them to remain viable.  We can at least not contribute to some of them starving to death by cutting down timber in their area.  Tigers have no stamina, they have to get within pouncing distance of their prey without being seen.  They are such big cats they need those large trees for cover.

@MoochNNoodles  & @Winchester, Thank you! I will post pictures once it's done.    

We found four laminates that I can probably handle in the bedroom. Two are Pergo (Home Depot) and two are from a local flooring dealer. They look OK and I can tolerate each them. I have to make a final decision so we can order. 

As much as I did not want laminate, that's what we ended up with. With six cats and a beagle, laminate should hold up better. (But boy, that Curmaru is really pretty.   I am not amused.)

Hmmmm, Six Cats and a Beagle. Sounds like the title of a short story.   

Winchester said:

 
We found four laminates that I can probably handle in the bedroom. Two are Pergo (Home Depot) and two are from a local flooring dealer. They look OK and I can tolerate each them. I have to make a final decision so we can order. 

As much as I did not want laminate, that's what we ended up with. With six cats and a beagle, laminate should hold up better. (But boy, that Curmaru is really pretty.

  I am not amused.)

Hmmmm, Six Cats and a Beagle. Sounds like the title of a short story. 

 

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I'm glad you found a few laminates you liked, I think you are making the right decision. 

I'm thinking you made a wise choice with the laminate as well. Of course, I would prefer 'real' hardwood, but... your choice of Cumaru, while very beautiful and durable, would probably cause you problems down the road. 

Because of the origin of Cumaru wood (South America) a longer-than-normal acclimation time is recommended. The shrinkage of Cumaru is relative to the accuracy of determining moisture content strictly at the outset of the installation. Depending on the humidity level in your home and the extreme density of the wood, it acclimates very slowly and, in a perfect world, seem to react to seasonal changes more drastically than the numbers would indicate. Cumaru is usually used for outdoor decking where shrinking and expansion aren't critical. Indoors, you would eventually end up with sizable gaps between the planks.

But, unless laminate is installed correctly, you could incur some issues too. When they come to install your laminate, be SURE they open the boxes and let the planks sit for 3 to 4 days so they can acclimate to the environment so, when it is installed, you will have an accurate fit! 

The perimeter should NOT be nailed down or there won't be room for expansion. You will end up with peaking/buckling. There has to be about a 1/4 inch gap between the flooring the moldings on the floor too.

Do your research and talk with several professional installers about humidity levels in your home - humidity can cause warping and mold. 

I know, just what you didn't want to hear - but, my sister had new flooring put in her house and ended up with multiple issues because she chose flooring that was NOT compatible with her location. Stores and manufacturers are out to make money and they will lay down whatever the customer wants and not always what the customer needs. 

Ask questions before you install! 

Well, our bedroom floor is in the basement. Bought it today and brought it home on a wrapped pallet that they loaded onto the truck. Once we get the carpet out of the bedroom, then we'll bring the cartons up into the basement and open them to let the floor get acclimated. Rick's going to talk to his buddy at work and see when he can come in. Hopefully we'll have the floor down by the end of November.

Winchester said:

Well, our bedroom floor is in the basement. Bought it today and brought it home on a wrapped pallet that they loaded onto the truck. Once we get the carpet out of the bedroom, then we'll bring the cartons up into the basement and open them to let the floor get acclimated. Rick's going to talk to his buddy at work and see when he can come in. Hopefully we'll have the floor down by the end of November.

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I hope the installation goes well. :cross: We'll need pictures of course.