Hi there,
Junebug replied to my last post regarding my kitchen and suggested we get resilient flooring from Home Depot. Thanks very much for the suggestion. I went there to find it…Was it the Trafficmaster Allure series for 1.99 sq foot? If so, what do you think of it? How easy was it to install? Did you install it in a kitchen or bathroom? Is it easy to keep clean? What cleaning products can you use on it? I’d like to be able to clean it with vinegar and water but am wondering if this will dull it?
I’d also love to hear comments from anyone on what they think of vinyl/resilient floors that look like wood/laminate. Do I need to really worry about the depth of the wear layer for a residence that won't get super heavy use like a commercial space?
Thanks so much,
KDS
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I have had this floor professionally installed twice. Metroflors does not stand by its product. This floor started popping after only 6 weeks. The first floor after a month.
We used it in my bedroom, it looks great.
People don't believe it when I say no it's just cheapy flooring.
I'm sure it'll be great in a kitchen. I have read good reviews from people that have it in their kitchens
Good luck,
I.Marijke
Auntbitsy, not a good idea to cut around the toilet. For one thing, this is a flexible floating floor, so no way to keep it flat around the toilet once cut. It sticks to the intended seams, so would require adhesive on the floor around any such cut, then caulk to keep any spilled water from going under the toilet and subsequently under the flooring material. Better to just take out the toilet and cut around the waterline and the waste pipe, add a new wax ring on the toilet and re-set it. I just looked at the date of your post and see that your question was posed a year ago, so too late. Hopefully all went well.
I installed Allure in my Lake Erie cottage bathroom over a cement board underlayment, over a wooden subfloor. I was attracted to the idea of a waterproof floor, since I have had to replace that floor including tearing out the subfloor three times in the past 25 years, due to water getting under the floor and degrading the plywood. I installed it in June '09 so it was warm and it held up well over the summer. We shall see how it did over the winter come spring. I did not use a 100# roller but do think it is the best idea, especially since others have had some problems with popping seams and the mfg'r now says it is a requirement.
Sounds like cutting corners... :)
Online, I found that the manufacturer has certain DEFINITE installation recommendations, CLEAN DUSTFREE substrate, interior ONLY, not outside and others.
All of the recommendations, I found on the Home Depot website in the following manual. As a suggestion, maybe you all should read the manual. I think it will answer most of your questions.
Download and print here :
[url]http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/d0/d0c0bf10-7dd2-47ca-9459-577a22eeeb65.pdf[/url]
I've wanted a wood-look floor in vinyl for years. I've seen some problems with laminates (they can be SLIPPERY/safety and have edge-moisture issues) that have made me look to vinyl for an entryway hall in a northern climate that will see snow and rain.
I've read all of the posts/replies in this forum as well as some sites for over two years. It seems the allure product is a great product as far as 'easy install' and appearance. It also seems that at least half the folks are later complaining about seam lift and scuffing. This is actually similar to a lot of economy-priced 'self-stick' tile products on the market. Over time, they seem to shrink/expand, and actually show slight dimensional instability.
I have a few questions for any/all who will answer.
1. Has anyone tried METROFLOR or similar (thicker) vinyl plank products that are glued directly to the underlayment/subfloor? I have heard these used in restaurants and commercially as well.
2. Have the allure users who have seen success applied the product to an underlay/subfloor, or are they applying it over an existing product? or over concrete?
3. Are there any comparable commercial grade products? It seems that the complaints are (IMHO) all due to many issues I've sen in the cheaper vinyl square-adhesive products as well.
We installed the flooring in our entry hall and kitchen in March, 2007 and have not had any problem with the joints.
See: [url]http://forums.houseandhome.com/showthread.php?p=178222#post178222[/url]
I am wondering if anyone has had this allure flooring installed for some time and how they think the glue joints are holding up? It seems like any of the feedback I have been able to find is on a floor that has just been installed, and many of them seem to have a problem with the joints looking good at first but then after a while, not sticking together well. looking for feedback , thanks nailbanger
We also used a Dremel Multi-Max tool for cutting around the bottom of the doors frames . Make the install a lot easier.
[url]http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Tools/Pages/ToolDetail.aspx?pid=Multi-Max[/url]
We had installed the Allure TrafficMaster Hickory in our entry, kitchen and family room for about a year now, no problems. Allure has come out with a new cleaner & polish for their floors. It works well and removes almost all the scuff marks. You can buy it at The Home Depot.
Oh my...are the dogs still doing their thing on the floor? No floor will take urine very long as it's an acid and will eat anything. Mind you, of all flooring vinyl in sheets would make the most sense as there would be no seams for seepage.
The planks or tiles are fine but when you have to think about water proof... no seams is better. I had vinyl tiles in one house and a dog who liked to use it and it was awful after a while. The urine seeped between and whoa, the smell was awful. Nothing I could do to save that floor but rip up the tiles.
One thing to make sure of is your subfloors (cement too) are absolutely smooth or that the installers will level them. If they don't you will have the vinyl showing every hair, dip, bump in a year or so.
One other thing you might look at is a floating floor that lays click and lock like a laminate or cork. My cork is water resistant (I don't know if it would stand urine) but you can also get a sealer to apply over it if you are worried about sealing the seams and top better. If you shop around you can find various price points and I can tell you from experience you need to scratch the samples because some scratch badly while others don't even show the scratch at all (speaking of cork here). I've had cork in my kitchen over a year and the dog loves it and sleeps on it all the time. She has never scratched or hurt it (unlike my wood floors which do scratch if her nails are too long). I love the floor. It's soft, quiet, and nice to stand on. I think I paid about $4/sq ft for mine and it went down in 3 hours DIY (100 sq. ft).
BTW if you want to save the carpet, go buy some Nature's Miracle from the pet store. That stuff will eat up any urine, old or new and is easy to use and I have yet to ever have it hurt carpet or anything else I've used it on. The nice part is it's like water so it will seep right down deep like the urine did and you can just keep applying it until all stains are completely gone.
Can somebody PLEASE help me out? I have been pulling out my hair for weeks to decide what kind of flooring I need to get.
Here's a lil background about me: we currently have nasty carpet that our dogs urinated all over. We need a completely waterproof flooring that's not too expensive.
Well, a floor installer stopped by today and he said with our $4000 budget for everything, he showed us Vinyl Sheet that needs to be glued down to our cemented living room and wooded surface of the rooms upstairs.
This is the product he showed us:
[URL=http://www.fastfloors.com/style_20475,0/Mannington-Benchmark--Timbercrest-6.htm]http://www.fastfloors.com/style_20475,0/Mannington-Benchmark--Timbercrest-6.htm[/URL]
Actual pattern of the floor:
[URL=http://www.theassetstore.com/flooring/images/index.19.jpg]http://www.theassetstore.com/flooring/images/index.19.jpg[/URL]
So I noticed that you guys are all using those Vinyl Planks from Home Depot...I heard the edges concave upwards? How about the product the installer showed us?
Vinyl planks OR Vinyl sheets? AHH!! Please help!!!
I'm still trying to find a way to deal with the scratches on my floor, but did call the 1-800# on the boxes and spoke with a very nice gentleman. He suggested the Once and Done as well, which I had already bought from HD. He then asked how many cases I had purchased. When I told him we had bought 75, enough to do the whole house, upstairs and down (we bought a house which had never had proper flooring put down, just painted plywood up and cement down) he said he thought we should get some free products! So, he was sending us some cleaning products for the floor which should help. Well several weeks later, my hubby picks up a parcel for us and it is a box of floor cleaners. They are Metrofloor products...a stripper, a cleaner and a matte finish. Haven't tried them yet though. But, get this... a few days later my hubby brings home 3 more parcels...all the same cleaners! So, I ended up with 4 boxes full of 3 bottles each!! I'm not sure if they meant to send me that many or not..but I'm sure gonna enjoy using them! I'll post when I have tried them out and let you know if they do the trick on the scratches and scuffs. We haven't had any issues with the lifting...did rent a linoleum roller to seal the joints though. And it cleans up like a dream except for those nasty scratches and the scuff marks. It's definitely quieter than laminate, and way easier to install, and waaaay cheaper than hard wood...but I'm not sure I would use it again in an area where funiture needs to be moved around. Bathroom, hallway, kitchen...yes, but not the livingroom, recroom or bedroom.
I think most caulking is flexible enough, it would have to be to hold around the top of the tub once water is in it (since the tub drops a tiny bit every time.. hence why no one grouts that joint between the tub and tile).
Wow, thanks for the fast reply!
Do you think it would be horrible for me to just leave the tile as is, and install the floor up to it (leaving that small gap like you mentioned)? That doesn't seem that bad to me, but I'm not sure.
Also - if I caulk that gap, wouldn't that make it unable to expand and contract? Or is caulking flexible enough that it would still have that ability, while plugging the gap? If so, I think that's the way to go - especially around the tub where water, it seems to me, could splash and get down INTO that tiny gap. They say it's 100% waterproof, but I don't know how it really can be with that gap there.
I really appreciate the help!
Welcome. I can't tell you about the flooring other than to say I have put down other heavy vinyl in the bathroom and the toilet is no big deal. It did require making a template and cutting a little slower but on the tile I used (which was one of the thicker ones) really sharp scissors and an x-acto did the job. You can also cover some sins with caulking. BTW never caulk around the entire toilet base because if it ever leaks, you will never know until your floor is already rotted if you do that. Most people leave a gap behind the toilet for that and because most caulking guns won't fit back there anyway.
As far as that tile trim, I don't know if you can get around that without taking it off which will probably damage the wall a bit even if you are the most careful person on earth. You would need to go after it carefully with a thin prybar type tool and sort of bang it a bit with a hammer and hope it pops off. If you got baseboard taller than the tile that would cover any damage to the wall though.
You see with any floating floor you have to allow some space next to the wall for expansion and contraction. Normally people would use quarter round and just add that to the baseboard but you don't have the option. You might be able to do that with some caulk if you can do a nice even wide bead (which you would have to do next to the tub anyway probably). Maybe asking at the store would reveal a piece of matching trim they have come up with for situations like next to a bathtub that would work for that tile too.
One more before I go...
Can/should I caulk between the tub and the flooring? It seems that if I don't (especially if I leave the 1/8" expansion gap that is supposedly necessary around the perimeter), I'm making it REALLY likely for me to get some water down that crack and get trapped underneath and creating an awful mold problem. No?
Also, should I caulk around the toilet?
Thanks again!
I am very interested in installing TrafficMaster Allure in my small bathroom. I've read this entire thread, but I can't find much information about how hard it is to cut it to fit around the toilet (which I hope NOT to have to remove for this job). I understand you can score and snap it for straight lines, but what about cutting it in a curve, which would be necessary around the toilet? Has anyone tried this and could comment on how doable it is, and how they did it?
Also - my bathroom has (I'm not sure if this is the right thing to call it) a tile border like a baseboard around the wall at the floor. The tile is flat to the wall except at the very bottom where it curves out to have a slight depth to it. Will it work to just lay the floor up to this, without removing the tiles? I haven't a clue how to remove the tiles or relace them. I'm hoping I can just put down the floor right up to them. I'm attaching a picture of the border that I mean. Hope I do this right.
Thanks very much!
We use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to get rid of the scuff marks. Use it cautiously and only a small portion. It will remove all scuff marks but just might take off the shine. That's just daily living. We have had the floors in our kitchen and master bath for 1.5 years and simply love it!
Don't bother with Armstrong's Once 'n Done. I tried it and it doesn't work for the shiny scuffs.
See my two (long) posts on the scuff marks from July 10, 2007. Take one of those sponges that have a green scouring pad on one side and very lightly buff the scuff mark with the dry scouring pad. I think another poster from around that time suggested using an eraser, but I never tried that.
The more light you have coming in windows and reflecting off the floor, the more noticeable the marks. It's impossible to live a normal life and not create these scuff marks. I've stopped worrying about creating them and trying to remove them and instead have learned to live with them. My next flooring choice will be something different.
I'm trying to cope with a shiny scuff mark line that appeared from a dolly wheel being dragged across my allure flooring. I've tried everything to get it out but as previous posts have mentioned it has altered the shine of the floor, the color is still in tact but the shiny line is very noticable from certain angles.
I covered over 700 sq feet and the shiny line goes all the way across my floor, I'm desperate to find a solution. Has anyone been succesful with replacing damaged planks in the center of an already laid floor? If so what is the method? I have tried soap& water, goo gone, good off2, Windex,toothpaste, rubbing alcohol, ammonia, and once done to no avail except drawing more attention to the area. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
After waiting several months for the 'right time', we finally got the main floor in our home floored with the teak allure flooring. We hired a friend who is a contractor to lay down a new base floor as the original plywood was pretty beat up after having been left uncovered for the first 16 years of the houses life (previous owners weren't very motivated to finish things). So, after lots of gluing and screwing, we had a new base to work on. We also hired the same guy to lay the floor as we figured he would probably do a better job of it than us....not so. It is so easy to put down, including the cutting to fit, that we wished we had saved our money and done it all ourselves. We did end up doing the master bed and finishing off the floor under the original kitchen sink ourselves, and were so impressed with the installation process. You have to be really careful with the fitting of the planks though. Once it's down it's hard to get back up. We rented the 100# roller and rolled the whole thing. Make sure it is really clean first though. The one thing I am disappointed with is it is not as 'resilient' as the name would have you believe. I asked at HD about the scuff marks and was sold a bottle of Armstrong Once 'n Done floor cleaner for resilient and ceramic floors which will supposedly clean up the scuff marks caused by dragging heavy furniture (even with padding and special furniture gliding casters) over the floor. I haven't tried it yet as we are still getting things back to their places (we also moved the kitchen from one side of the room to the other and installed an Ikea kitchen). I am upset about the scratches and how easy it seems to be scratched. I have found scratches where nothing has been dragged or moved and have tried smoothing out the scratch with my fingernail, which does get rid of the frayed edge, but the scratch is still there. is there anything anyone else has tried to smooth these out? After all the work and money, it is frustrating to have these scratches, even when we are being so careful, on our brand new floor.
Junebug-
on the picture dated August 2006, can you tell me what color was used in those pictures?
A few weeks ago I also installed the trafficmaster allure. So far it is fantastic. No seam problems like some others have described. I think the key is going slow and steady on the installation, and doing it on a warm, not too humid day. Used a 100lb roller as well. I rented the roller for 20 bucks at HD. It's an inexpensive way to help the install process. Don't rely on just trying to walk on it.
As for scuffs, I live alone and there isn't a ton of traffic to mess it up... so I can't really comment.
[IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2062/2527414613_64dc4614e4_b.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2262/2528235578_217e3aa403_b.jpg[/IMG]
We recently put the resilient flooring in a house that we remodeled to sell. I installed flooring in the kitchen, sunroom and utility room and my husband installed it in the bathroom. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to put down. We did not use a 100 pound roller but we did try to walk on all the seams. We have not had any trouble with seams coming up but we also had the flooring in the house for a couple of weeks to adjust to it. It was also installed when it was not cold outside. Don't know if cold floors makes a difference or not. I do know that when we had our Open House last week, every single person that came in commented on our "Hardwood Floors"
After being told they were not hardwoods but reselient flooring, everyone was very impressed.
We checked at Home Depot today for a color that would go well in our personal home and the gal we talked to said that the reselient flooring has been their number one top seller in floor coverings for the last 8 months. So- just thought I'd let you know my opinion of the flooring. I think it's great and we will continue to use it in our investment homes as well as our personal home.
I have been researching the Traffic master flooring, and so far I have found its split 50/50 on wether people hate it or love it. One thing that a lot of people comment on is the seams lifting and scuffs, just wondering can someone post a picture of the scuff and shiny marks, that moving furniture makes, as I have not been able to find a picture of it.
The manfac of traffic master also makes the metroflor products, which in the states inclused the Konecto line. Kenecto is almost identical to traffic master, except that they are 8mil-12mil thick, and traffic master is less than 6, I do believe. I was researching the konecto and some people are also having the same problems with seams lifting and scuffs, thankfully though Konecto has some products on the market to fix that. They make a glue repair kit, that you apply to the lifting seams and then restick them. And for scuffs they also make a product to remove them, they even have a ph nuetral cleaner that you can use on the product. They recommend using PH nuetral cleaner on the floor, dont know if traffic master does, but I would assume it would help lengthen the life of the floor.
As for rolling the floor, yes you need to roll the floor with a 100lb roller, as it helps the glue to adhere correctly. Otherwise your chance of lifting seams is increased.
[url]http://www.flooringmarket.com/maintenance/[/url] is the link for the konecto supplies, which includes the glue kit and the scuff remover. :rolleyes:
My husband I hope to decide very soon as to what we want to do with our flooring. So if someone could post a picture of the scuffs, that would greatly influence our decision on the flooring. thanks
Still wondering if anyone actually used a 100# roller after installing this type of flooring. I still have 75 boxes of this sitting around my house. Hubby and I need to either pull all the nails the original builder used on the plywood floor, (instead of screws) and replace them with screws, or cover the floor with press board (glued down) and then lay the floor. We are waiting to do it right and not end up with nail heads showing through on the flooring. I am sitting here with all this wonderful flooring and a new Ikea kitchen in boxes, and am trying to be patient. :cry:
Sue
We just finished installing this product on the main floor of my mils house. I just want to say that its fantastic!!
I have nothing to add except to say welcome and let us know how it goes for you.
When we purchased the flooring I asked the HD rep. about the lifting and scuffing problems....he said to be sure to use a 100 pound roller to seal the edges after installing. And he figured the scuffing was from very heavy furniture being dragged over the floor. Has anyone actually used a roller to finish off the joints? I don't remember reading anything about a roller, and am wondering if this is something the company has added to help solve the lifting problem. Anyone have anything to add?
Sue :)
Hi...I've been reading everything I could find on this flooring and even with the problems with shiny scrapes and lifting....I decided to take the plunge and buy it. Hubby and I and 3 of our 5 kids moved to Princeton, BC about 5 months ago, leaving behind a beautiful finished home, and moving into what I would describe as an unfinished hippy shack on 5 acres, 40km out of town. We were pretty limited as to what we could purchase, as the homes we had thought we could buy slowly sold as we waited for our old house to sell. We ended up in this place, which has an amazing view of the valley and lake, but needs lots of TLC and finishing. The house is sided inside and out with fir, rather rough cut. The floors upstairs are all painted plywood and warn badly in some places. The basement is badly laid cement, cracked and uneven in places. The kitchen is a mish mash of poor construction, with a very rinky dink island. We are rearranging the whole great room (kitchen, dining room, and living room) so that the kitchen will be on the other side of the room etc. First order was to put down something on the floor. We have now purchased 75 cases of the teak Allure flooring, and have it stacked throughout the house until the weather warms up and we can remove everything to the deck and put it down. Got an excellent deal at the Kelowna HD....The teak was layed out as a display in the store with people walking all over it, probabaly a 15 x15 ft. area. I took a look and could see a few scuffs and scrapes where it looked like something had been dragged over it...like the portable sauna sitting on the flooring display. Anyways, they had the teak on for $1.49 sq.ft., down from $1.99, and then they had a flooring special on for up to a $400 gift card with flooring purchases up to $3000. Plus, we had a 10% off coupon from them from our move (house warming gift from HD)..so we saved a bunch!! I love the teak look and the tile ones were really nice too. We were told we can retuen any we don't use, plus, there are a few damaged boxes due to the HD people strapping them too tightly when getting them ready for us to pick up. Can't wait to get this down...we bought enough to do the entire upstairs and the basement (which will have to wait until later in the summer)...
Thanks to all who posted here with their experiences and thoughts. They were so helpful to me in choosing this product.
Sue :)