Seriously considering this

[Sweet Melissa]

Woke up this morning to find that my 2 yr. old had dumped a half-gallon of chai on my counter and couch. When I caught him, he was in the process of taking a bowl of it to give the cats. What he wasn't giving to them, he had spilled across the carpet on the way. Good thing I was in the mood for coffee, not tea this morning.

We have really awful carpeting in our place, and I have been seriously thinking of installing garage flooring in here. I would love nice wood floors, but we consider this place a "temporary" residence until we can build. That might not be for several more years, but it's hard to spend money on a house that will someday travel back down the road on the same wheels it came in on.

So, does anyone have experience with this type of flooring? Am I being too practical? If the next house we build has carpeting, it will have "dog dirt brown," not "champagne" carpets.

[fishkisser]

Pergo flooring is a nice alternative in a mobile or manufactured home ...
You can install it yourself and save big bucks ...

[nakoa]

Originally Posted by fishkisser

Pergo flooring is a nice alternative in a mobile or manufactured home ...
You can install it yourself and save big bucks ...

i agree with fishkisser. and depending on how big the room is you can do it in a day or so.

[Sweet Melissa]

For some reason, I was under the impression that Pergo was running about $3-4/sq. ft. It looks to be about half that.

I wonder if it stands up to very heavy traffic, and how easily it cleans.

[Bloom]

I've had it in my place for a few years now and is holding up well to two dogs and a cat. Clean-up is no biggee, but it tends to sound like being in an echo chamber unless you put some area rugs down to absorb some of the sound. It will not handle standing water.

[crazyinoregon]

my friend put that in his manufactured home and he has two full grown st bernarnds and two teenagers and it has held up very well to my surprise. he bought on the cheaper end of the product line too

[ampersat]

The laminate flooring from Ikea goes for about $1.17 or so a square foot. It's thinner than Pergo so I think it flexes a little better and may cut down on that "head of a drum" sound you get with hard soled shoes and dog paws. I'm planning to do most of my house with it this winter.

What were you considering in terms of garage flooring? The paint on epoxy stuff or some kind of rubberized snap together flooring?

[Sweet Melissa]

Originally Posted by Bloom

It will not handle standing water.

What about standing puddles of chai?

Please keep the information coming. It really helps to hear of others' experiences with it. It would be a pretty major investment for us.

[kilchisfisher]

Great thread. I've been thinking of Pergo or another laminate but know little about it. I'm paying close attention to this one.

[roadsend]

Originally Posted by Sweet Melissa

What about standing puddles of chai?

Please keep the information coming. It really helps to hear of others' experiences with it. It would be a pretty major investment for us.

I have before, during and after photos of laminate flooring going down in our new family room and hallway.
If you want them PM me with your email address and I will be happy to send them to you.

[HOGGEMIN]

They won't take standing water for long periods. But if wiped up in a reasonable time they do fine. They are not to hard to install and a trick I use in cutting the product is use my 10" table saw but use a 7 1/4" skill saw blade as they are much cheaper than a 10" blade and you pretty much only get one homes worth of cutting per blade.

[Sweet Melissa]

Originally Posted by ampersat

What were you considering in terms of garage flooring? The paint on epoxy stuff or some kind of rubberized snap together flooring?

Sorry, amp. Did not see your post, for some reason.

I was kind of looking at the rubberized stuff. It seems like an odd choice for a home, but I am SO tired of carpet.

[roadsend]

Originally Posted by HOGGEMIN

They won't take standing water for long periods. But if wiped up in a reasonable time they do fine. They are not to hard to install and a trick I use in cutting the product is use my 10" table saw but use a 7 1/4" skill saw blade as they are much cheaper than a 10" blade and you pretty much only get one homes worth of cutting per blade.

Exactly. Throw away the blade after cutting this stuff.
I find it easier to put down if you put together a run end to end and then hook up the entire run at once. Quite a bit less of the tappy tappy that way.
It took me the better part of two days to do a big room and a hallway (780 sq.ft.). I'm sure you youngsters could do it faster than me.

[fishgirl]

Have you looked into Marmoleum? Not sure of the cost but it's extremely durable, and "green". That's what I want when re-doing our kitchen! It looks like it can stand up to a two-year-old and dogs. After spending what seemed like a fortune yesterday on having the carpet cleaned, I kind of want the whole dang floor covered in it, too!

[Tilla]

We were lucky to have hardwood floors under the carpets, although the wood was not in perfect shape, we found buying relatively inexpensive rugs from home depot to add comfort/warmth. We can send out to clean, throw away, change color schemes anytime we want.
My point is, put a Pergo or industrial coating down and dress with rugs. You can take the rugs with you too.

http://ucoatit.com/pgs/main.htm

[TJfirebug]

We just put lam. in 1/2 the house, master bath, laundy, kit. dinning. It looks great and is holding up good it 2 dogs, 3 cats and 3 kids. we let the odl vinal in the kids bath and front door, just due to the water problems with lam. Here on the coast we have a little rain now and then.

[pdxkevin]

In a word: Spotbot


It has become one of the most used tools in the house!

[wannacatchem]

I did 1100 sq ft of laminate about 18 months ago in our house. My wife does home day care and the kids ride trikes in the house doing laps around the entryway, kitchen and living room. So far the floor has help up great. Looks like the day I installed it. I used a midgrade, can't remember the brand name. A freind in the flooring bidness said not to get pergo. They may have been the pioneer, but there is much better quality out there.

[Don't fish e nuff]

I put Pergo in the mud room eight years ago, did the bathroom in the shop with it four years ago and did our dinning room,kitchen and entryway two years ago with the cheap stuff from Costco. {half the price of Pergo}
So far, love the stuff. Doing the trim work at the end of the project was the most time consuming. A table saw and sliding compound miter saw with a fine tooth carbide blade are your best friend. You may need a jig saw for some exotic angles or heater vents. We did have to pull up a couple of rows and re do it a year after it was laid in the kitchen. The drain pan on our fridge leaked and it let water set on a seam. It just wicked down the seam and kind of separated. Easy to pull up, use old flooring for a template and lay new down. Biggest advice I could give, buy at least three extra boxes and keep them for possible repairs later. I got cocky and took all the extra flooring back. A year later when the fridge leaked I went to Costco to buy more. They had changed to a flooring/pad combo that did not match my existing floor height but I was able to have them order a few boxes from the manufacturer. I got a break and learned the hard way.

[No Fences]

Originally Posted by Sweet Melissa

What about standing puddles of chai?

Please keep the information coming. It really helps to hear of others' experiences with it. It would be a pretty major investment for us.

I put it in my house when I built it 4 years ago. Still have it but wouldn't use it again. A 6 yr old and a 3 yr old and you can't always catch the spills quick enough. It also dings real easy.

[AuntyM]

There is another, cheaper alternative to laminate flooring if you like the look of stone or tile. I plan to use this in both my bathrooms.

http://www.daichcoatings.com/floor_c...omparison.html

[husker]

laminate flooring goes down easy. seems to hold up well. u need a table saw to make the job easier though


u can lay a room or 2 a day and be done with the project fairly quickly

[mullert]

We've had Pergo in our house for about 7 years, and it still looks great. We installed it because we had a baby on the way, and moved into a house that still had the groovy 1974 carpet in it. We've also always had two dogs, and thought it would be easier to clean up all the baby spills and dog tracks. It's really pretty easy to take take of, and held up pretty well. There's been a couple of dings that were a result of a contractor who couldn't seem to hold onto a hammer, but they were minor, and in a corner where they are out of sight.

Clean up is a breeze with a swiffer, or some of the other laminate cleaners.

Good luck!
TM

[duckboy]

I just decided to stop with all the mopping and cleanup. Got a buddy to bring in 2 tons of beach sand and filled up the place... It is kind of like living in a beach hut now.
Sort of hard to clost the doors though, since the sand kind of gets in the way

[RogueFishr]

Originally Posted by duckboy

I just decided to stop with all the mopping and cleanup. Got a buddy to bring in 2 tons of beach sand and filled up the place... It is kind of like living in a beach hut now.
Sort of hard to clost the doors though, since the sand kind of gets in the way

I proposed this at my house today. The only ones who seemed REALLY interested, were the cats.........


RF

[HOGGEMIN]

Originally Posted by RogueFishr

I proposed this at my house today. The only ones who seemed REALLY interested, were the cats.........


RF

Now thats funny....... Tootsie rolls in the sand.