A Floor on the First Floor
We are finally putting flooring down in our main living area and we are excited about it!
Although we set a goal of flooring down on the first floor by the time JJ turned 6 months, we had a few design changes and timing setbacks that held us up. But now - finally - the floor will be finished in a few days!
One of the design changes that delayed things was switching flooring material. We originally purchased a maple laminate floor on Black Friday of 2016. Unfortunately, when we finally looked at the installation instructions it clearly stated we would need to install a t-molding every 30 feet. WHAT?!
The redesigned first floor layout is open concept, and our longest span is 54 feet. That is almost double what the original flooring material could handle. So that was strike one for the maple flooring.
Strike two came when we continued to read and discovered the flooring was not waterproof. WHAT?! That's why we wanted a product that was not real wood - so that we could seal it around the edges and let our family and friends "have at it" with muddy boots, toys, and anything else. I distinctly remember filtering the Lumber Liquidators search results to be just vinyl (because that's what we have in the upstairs bathroom and we love it), but obviously this one slipped through the cracks. It was an MDF core. Ugh. And yes, we definitely should have investigated that earlier. We were/are kicking ourselves, for sure.
Discovering that MDF core flooring can be very susceptible to changes in humidity was strike three. We only air condition certain rooms in our house. There is no central air, and between winter and summer we experience a decent swing in humidity. So expansion/contraction - no thank you! That floor was out.
We started looking immediately for a substitute vinyl flooring that was waterproof, well-reviewed, and did I mention vinyl? Thankfully we stumbled upon a convenient solution pretty quickly: Lifeproof vinyl flooring from Home Depot. We bought a box with a medium-toned oak finish, but did not love it. So we exchanged it for "Shadow Hickory," which is a dark floor that has a wood look. Unlike some of the other Lifeproof flooring choices, this one was pretty monotonous. We liked that because we are going to have a huge expanse of this floor, and we don't want it to scream, "Look at me! I am vinyl pretending to be wood!"
In the end we bought the version previous to the rebranding as "Lifeproof," called "Allure IsoCore." It is nearly identical except for three things: The texture is less natural looking, the tiles are slightly smaller, and the click-together tongue and groove is closer to the ground than the Lifeproof tiles. Other than that, they seem to be equivalent. Oh yeah, except the Allure IsoCore was 70% of the price of Lifeproof. Woohoo!
So we ordered three pallets of it and picked it up on Friday. Then after JJ's bedtime Josh and Igot a major workout brought all 66 boxes inside. Now we are installing it. While we wish we had gotten this all done sooner, and we also wish we had gotten further with some other projects that might make the floor dirty (installing drywall on the ceiling, staining the big beams throughout the first floor), we are excited to get a real floor down! It will make a big difference in the look and feel of the space. With one material on the floor throughout the whole first floor, it should feel spacious and flow well from one room to the next. And this stuff should be relatively "life proof," or so we hope!
JJ Update
Our kiddo is doing great! He is in the throes of teething, with his front two teeth trying really hard to poke through the gums. Thankfully he is still a sweet kid. His biggest side effect from teething is drool. We are looking forward to seeing both my parents and Josh's mom (3 / 5 grandparents!) in the next month!
Although we set a goal of flooring down on the first floor by the time JJ turned 6 months, we had a few design changes and timing setbacks that held us up. But now - finally - the floor will be finished in a few days!
One of the design changes that delayed things was switching flooring material. We originally purchased a maple laminate floor on Black Friday of 2016. Unfortunately, when we finally looked at the installation instructions it clearly stated we would need to install a t-molding every 30 feet. WHAT?!
The redesigned first floor layout is open concept, and our longest span is 54 feet. That is almost double what the original flooring material could handle. So that was strike one for the maple flooring.
Strike two came when we continued to read and discovered the flooring was not waterproof. WHAT?! That's why we wanted a product that was not real wood - so that we could seal it around the edges and let our family and friends "have at it" with muddy boots, toys, and anything else. I distinctly remember filtering the Lumber Liquidators search results to be just vinyl (because that's what we have in the upstairs bathroom and we love it), but obviously this one slipped through the cracks. It was an MDF core. Ugh. And yes, we definitely should have investigated that earlier. We were/are kicking ourselves, for sure.
Discovering that MDF core flooring can be very susceptible to changes in humidity was strike three. We only air condition certain rooms in our house. There is no central air, and between winter and summer we experience a decent swing in humidity. So expansion/contraction - no thank you! That floor was out.
We started looking immediately for a substitute vinyl flooring that was waterproof, well-reviewed, and did I mention vinyl? Thankfully we stumbled upon a convenient solution pretty quickly: Lifeproof vinyl flooring from Home Depot. We bought a box with a medium-toned oak finish, but did not love it. So we exchanged it for "Shadow Hickory," which is a dark floor that has a wood look. Unlike some of the other Lifeproof flooring choices, this one was pretty monotonous. We liked that because we are going to have a huge expanse of this floor, and we don't want it to scream, "Look at me! I am vinyl pretending to be wood!"
In the end we bought the version previous to the rebranding as "Lifeproof," called "Allure IsoCore." It is nearly identical except for three things: The texture is less natural looking, the tiles are slightly smaller, and the click-together tongue and groove is closer to the ground than the Lifeproof tiles. Other than that, they seem to be equivalent. Oh yeah, except the Allure IsoCore was 70% of the price of Lifeproof. Woohoo!
So we ordered three pallets of it and picked it up on Friday. Then after JJ's bedtime Josh and I
JJ Update
Our kiddo is doing great! He is in the throes of teething, with his front two teeth trying really hard to poke through the gums. Thankfully he is still a sweet kid. His biggest side effect from teething is drool. We are looking forward to seeing both my parents and Josh's mom (3 / 5 grandparents!) in the next month!
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