Rob and his associate finished the drywall repair and painting on Thursday last week, then they were done until the window arrives. But in the meantime I researched polished concrete and acid stained concrete as had been suggested by my friend. I checked out a leading local company doing each and found they both had F ratings on Angie's List for those kinds of jobs. OK, that could have been a bad day, but both processes seem to generate either lots of concrete dust or toxic chemical smell (you have to be off premises for a day or maybe a week) or both. And they are very expensive. And in both cases you are relying on a formed-in-place chemical layer (typically acrylic) as your protection from staining.
All that information was enough to make me consider alternatives. I intend this room to be pet safe, safe from and for pets left alone for hours. That pretty much rules out hardwood. Other kinds of engineered or laminated wood are water resistant, but if water passes through the water resisting layer you are doomed because the rest of the floor is particle board. I had smell issues that may have resulted from quickset adhesive in my last project, and grout is not waterproof either.
Vinyl seemed by far the most logical. Completely waterproof. Even if water gets down to the cement, it won't hurt the vinyl. Vinyl also has a sound reduction level (even more with the Quiet Comfort Premium Underlayment S-1836 that I am now planning to buy) compared with hard alternatives like tile or concrete floor. It has some thermal insulation, so the floor will not feel cold from below.
I spent a week researching vinyl types, and ended up choosing Armstrong Luxe Plank vinyl flooring. At first I liked the pink-compatibility of Kendrick Oak Natural color. However, that is only in the Better collection, not the Best collection. The Best collection pieces are slightly thicker, have the "Urethane Plus" covering instead of just "Urethane", and a lifetime residential warranty instead of 30 years.
On Wednesday night I discovered a list of Armstrong's Best collection in their pdf brochure. From that, I decided I liked the look of the Exotic Fruitwood Honey Spice
I looked at the Allure plank flooring at Home Depot, and read about it online. That is the brand normally installed by Rob. It didn't look or sound as good to me. I called Rob about the Armstrong plank flooring, and he said he would install it if I bought it, he quoted me a reasonable rate, and I know he is very conscientious and does great quality work. So I decided to have him do the installation.
I tried buying the Armstrong flooring at Lowes, which is an Armstrong dealer, sort of. But the store I went to had none in stock, it has to be special ordered, and the website only lists 4 different styles, none of which match the fancier styles in the various Armstrong collections, and none having the warranties of the Better and Best Armstrong collections.
Actually, prior to visiting Lowes I had called a local flooring installer who was also listed on Armstrong's site as a retailer. Sure enough, they were willing to order some for me and get it here fast. If I had made up my mind before noon on Thursday, they could have had it here on Friday. But since I didn't get back to my salesman until later on Thursday afternoon, it will arrive at their warehouse next Tuesday. I called Rob to tell him it will not be available until then, so he changed the flooring installation to Wednesday.
Thursday (today) had important accomplishments:
1) Measured floor size and figured how much needed.
2) Called retailer about final order, he sent invoice and called back around 5pm for credit card info. Flooring ordered!
3) Called concrete guy about the edge in the closet. He referred me to another concrete guy he works with. I called that guy and he arranged to come out after 7pm for estimate. I got home at 7pm and called again. He finally arrived around 8:40 and did the concrete grinding on the spot. It generated a huge amount of dust and I was glad to be able to go back to work afterwards. Concrete edge made smooth enough to have flooring on top! It still has holes in it and a depression right at the edge. The concrete guy suggested Hydraulic Concrete patching. He said if he had some with him, he would do the job on the spot. I suggested I could get some or have the builder do it.
4) The concrete guy gave me a reasonable plan and verbal estimate to do the driveway extension.
5) Since I had come home on Thursday night, I remembered to turn on the Rainbird system for a weekly irrigation.
All that information was enough to make me consider alternatives. I intend this room to be pet safe, safe from and for pets left alone for hours. That pretty much rules out hardwood. Other kinds of engineered or laminated wood are water resistant, but if water passes through the water resisting layer you are doomed because the rest of the floor is particle board. I had smell issues that may have resulted from quickset adhesive in my last project, and grout is not waterproof either.
Vinyl seemed by far the most logical. Completely waterproof. Even if water gets down to the cement, it won't hurt the vinyl. Vinyl also has a sound reduction level (even more with the Quiet Comfort Premium Underlayment S-1836 that I am now planning to buy) compared with hard alternatives like tile or concrete floor. It has some thermal insulation, so the floor will not feel cold from below.
I spent a week researching vinyl types, and ended up choosing Armstrong Luxe Plank vinyl flooring. At first I liked the pink-compatibility of Kendrick Oak Natural color. However, that is only in the Better collection, not the Best collection. The Best collection pieces are slightly thicker, have the "Urethane Plus" covering instead of just "Urethane", and a lifetime residential warranty instead of 30 years.
On Wednesday night I discovered a list of Armstrong's Best collection in their pdf brochure. From that, I decided I liked the look of the Exotic Fruitwood Honey Spice
I looked at the Allure plank flooring at Home Depot, and read about it online. That is the brand normally installed by Rob. It didn't look or sound as good to me. I called Rob about the Armstrong plank flooring, and he said he would install it if I bought it, he quoted me a reasonable rate, and I know he is very conscientious and does great quality work. So I decided to have him do the installation.
I tried buying the Armstrong flooring at Lowes, which is an Armstrong dealer, sort of. But the store I went to had none in stock, it has to be special ordered, and the website only lists 4 different styles, none of which match the fancier styles in the various Armstrong collections, and none having the warranties of the Better and Best Armstrong collections.
Actually, prior to visiting Lowes I had called a local flooring installer who was also listed on Armstrong's site as a retailer. Sure enough, they were willing to order some for me and get it here fast. If I had made up my mind before noon on Thursday, they could have had it here on Friday. But since I didn't get back to my salesman until later on Thursday afternoon, it will arrive at their warehouse next Tuesday. I called Rob to tell him it will not be available until then, so he changed the flooring installation to Wednesday.
Thursday (today) had important accomplishments:
1) Measured floor size and figured how much needed.
2) Called retailer about final order, he sent invoice and called back around 5pm for credit card info. Flooring ordered!
3) Called concrete guy about the edge in the closet. He referred me to another concrete guy he works with. I called that guy and he arranged to come out after 7pm for estimate. I got home at 7pm and called again. He finally arrived around 8:40 and did the concrete grinding on the spot. It generated a huge amount of dust and I was glad to be able to go back to work afterwards. Concrete edge made smooth enough to have flooring on top! It still has holes in it and a depression right at the edge. The concrete guy suggested Hydraulic Concrete patching. He said if he had some with him, he would do the job on the spot. I suggested I could get some or have the builder do it.
4) The concrete guy gave me a reasonable plan and verbal estimate to do the driveway extension.
5) Since I had come home on Thursday night, I remembered to turn on the Rainbird system for a weekly irrigation.
In what way are you extending your driveway?
ReplyDeleteBTW, I chose vinyl plank for my upstairs bedroom and loft and like it very much. I forget what brand I got though.
I want to make the driveway wider. It's already hard for me to pull car out of narrow unconverted portion of garage with one person parking. So I plan to make driveway wide enough for 3 cars. That way it will be comfortable for 2.
ReplyDelete