affordable flooring

[momof8]

We are moving into a double wide mobile home and all of the bedrooms are carpeted. My husband has a watch repair business that he plans to use one of the bedrooms for. Carpet sheds tiny fibers that are bad for watch repair and can get into the watch when it is opened for cleaning or repairs. We want to replace the carpet with some non fiber shedding flooring. We priced vinyl and were told that we had to put down luan first and then either laminate or vinyl. With the luan, the price for installation doubled. My husband just retired and our funds are limited. Are there any alternatives that don't cost as much? Is there anyway to do peel and stick tile? The master bathroom is also carpeted and we want to change that out also.

[Yanita]

Hi,

Welcome to the site,

You have a couple of options...

Laminate wood flooring which can be done DIY. Its not a real hard job. It is also perfect for MH's.

Another choice is peel and stick tiles. I really like the Novalis brand from Lowe's. BUT, if your floors are particle board then you will need to put down luan to get a good adhesion. This will hold true of about all peel and stick tiles.

Without the luan underneath vinyl or tiles any seams in your floor will come thru the vinyl/tiles.

~Yanita~

[Guest]

If you're on a tight budget, one of the best places to buy flooring is at a home supply clearance center. Here in the Northeast we have Grossman's Bargain Outlet. They sell a selection of laminate flooring and tile dirt cheap. I've seen quality flooring selling for less than half what it would've cost at a Home Depot or Lowe's. Check your Yellow Pages and see if there are any listings for clearance centers in the same section as you would find the retail stores, like "Home Improvement" or "Construction Supplies".
If that's not an option, many times the big stores like Home Depot will offer discount flooring as an online special, not available in stores. In many cases it's cheaper (even when you add in shipping) than schlepping all the way to the big box store to pay full retail prices. Snap-together laminate flooring is really not that expensive (and it's quite easy to install.) I found that I could do my large living room for just over $200.

[JD]

A low price for laminate flooring would be $1.20 a ft. You can get it for less. This is usually not a high grade of laminate, but it should work for what you want to do. Mike a.k.a. pennyless just bought some nice quality stuff for that price at a Lowe's or something like that.

$1.20 a ft is $10.80 a yard. You can bet low priced sheet vinyl flooring for less than $6. This is your apartment grade, 6yr warranty stuff. Using a luan or particle board underlayment will help make a nice smooth floor, but only if it is installed well. You can install most vinyl sheet flooring over the particle board subfloor without an underlayment. The real expensive vinyl (20-25 yr warranty) may have a clause that says they will void your warranty if you don't use such and such underlayment. But if you are paying $30 a yard for your vinyl, you don't mind springing for the underlayment. But for a 12x12 bedroom, you are paying less than $100 for the vinyl at $6 per SY. Really don't need a warranty for that. Warranty does not pay for labor to remove and reinstall vinyl, just new vinyl material.

You would need to "float" the seams and nail holes in the subfloor. I use a product called Feather-Finish. Real nice to work with, but any floor compound will do the job. The smoother and flatter the floor is, the better the vinyl will work.

A square room is pretty easy to lay with sheet goods, and would cost under $150 for vinyl, compound and flooring adhesive. Viyl tile like Yanita mentioned is also a good option. You will need to install shoe base over the cut edges at the walls, but you would want that with whatever you use. The laminate molding is expensive if you buy the stuff made for your laminate.

JD

[Guest]

One word of caution about laminate - it needs a pretty flat floor. Any dips or bulges may cause serious issues. (I put laminate over a relatively small section of concrete floor, and had to pull it all out and use several bags of self leveling cement to fill in the low spots...)

[momof8]

Thanks one and all for your imput. I had read many of the posts on this site and had found most to be very helpful, practical and down to earth. I just couldn't help but think there had to be a more practical way to redo the floor in the bedroom. I will check out the suggestions given and will let you know what we decide on and how it goes. thanks again everyone for the information.

[Maureen]

Hi momof8,

Most everything hinges on the integrity of your sub floors. If they are particle board in good condition, then you shouldn't have a problem with laminate. The Norvalis or any other peel and stick tile will require something better to stick down the tile to.

Since this room is going to be an office, work area of sorts, I think I'd opt for glued down full sheet vinyl over the particle board. Almost any place that sells flooring, will sell remnants that will most likely fit the area.

Maureen

[Sylvia]

another note about the floor being level. Pre basement we tried to buy some laminate for the kitchen. Brought some samples home to look at the colors and found there was no possible way it would work. We'll look at it again now that the house is level when we have more money.

[PennylessZ28]

High, I'm back now. I just got my FiOS installed today! Hurah!

Yes, I got some nice Laminate from Step Master that was on sale at Home Depot, 88 cents a sq foot, or 26 a box I think it was. I don't have pictures of the finished floors yet, but will soon.

I think it is a nice alternative to carpet in our homes. But heres a little consideration, the part that cost the most is quarter round and the strips that go from one room to another. They charge an arm and a leg for just one strip.

[busybee1952]

I hope you don't have the same trouble I had when removing the carpet. The carpet was laid and then the walls built on top of it. Sure, everyone says just take a carpet knife and cut it around the walls but I'm telling you that is a HUGE chore! I couldn't afford any flooring so I got some deck paint and after removing all of the staples and what not, I painted the floor which was just particle board with about 4 coats of deck paint. I think it looks okay. Got some throw rugs and it seems to work okay for a really cheap way to get rid of that dirt catching carpet.

I did the green in the sewing room (old bedroom) and the bronze in the living room.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t243 ... color2.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t243 ... rdone3.jpg

[Yanita]

Hi,

I have seen that done by many folks. It seems to hold up well, just be sure to keep the floor as dry as possible.

I agree a good quality laminate does not come cheap. Yes, there are many discounted items out there, but if you compare thickness you will see a big difference. The cheap laminate will deteriorate if heavily used. The edges will peel, and not uncommon for the tongue and grooves to break.

Busybee, it is also very common for the carpeting to be laid and the walls built on top of them. I know this home was built that way, but my home is pre HUD. And, yes, it is a chore to get that carpet out of there....I know, "they" say use a sharp utility knife etc...but it still is not that easy.

You have a good day.

~Yanita~

[PennylessZ28]

Hi,

I have seen that done by many folks. It seems to hold up well, just be sure to keep the floor as dry as possible.

I agree a good quality laminate does not come cheap. Yes, there are many discounted items out there, but if you compare thickness you will see a big difference. The cheap laminate will deteriorate if heavily used. The edges will peel, and not uncommon for the tongue and grooves to break.

Busybee, it is also very common for the carpeting to be laid and the walls built on top of them. I know this home was built that way, but my home is pre HUD. And, yes, it is a chore to get that carpet out of there....I know, "they" say use a sharp utility knife etc...but it still is not that easy.

You have a good day.

~Yanita~

Thats true. Only thing I think though, is that DuPoint sells 3 dollar a sq ft laminate, and at that price you might as well be considering real hardwood, which starts around 3 a sq foot. I guess it depends on what you can afford. Some stuff is on sale becuase it's cheap, other stuff is on sale, cause no one wants that color.

My brother just bought a pallet of some Dupoint stuff for a lot cheaper than its normal price becuase it was some funky red color, and the guy at Lumber Liquidators said it wasn't selling.

I've seen this stuff in heavy traffic homes where it is beat up. It won't hold as well as perhaps more expensive stuff.

Also, watch dropping things with corners on the flooring. If you have dogs, their toe nails can scratch it up faster than a real hood floor.

[Yanita]

PLEASE...stop putting every post you answer in quotes, not necessary!

Thank you

~Yanita~

[JD]

That is what I like about you, Pat. You are always innovative. You have the true spirit of the budget minded DIY. And your work looks very nice.

Being budget minded on floor coverings also requires the willingness to put in the time to shop around and maybe be flexible with the choices. It also has a bit of the "right place at the right time" requirement.

JD

[PennylessZ28]

Yanita, it makes it easier to refer to the original thread. It is also makes for better SEO as they tend to index the individual posts.

Especially when there is two separate tracks of discussion going on in one thread. But if you insist, sorry. I'm used to that being encourage. And I'd recommend using the Private Messaging system, rather than thread jacking.