Vinyl flooring that is kind to the feet
The farmhouse project has a very low maintenance floor solution. The factors that decided the flooring
- it must be easy to clean
- it must be very dog friendly
- it must be comfortable under foot when standing in the kitchen
- it must be bonded to the floor because a floating floor installation is counter productive for radiant floors
- it must fit the budget
There were a lot that fit 2 or 3 of these. The challenge came from being comfortable to my feet and not require rugs to do it. The rugs are a huge PITA when it comes to dog hair and I have a good feeling I’ll be dealing with more dog hair and not less in the next few years.
I ended up with an Armstrong vinyl floor covering called “comfort step”. This stuff has enough give to it that you can stand on it for hours and it doesn’t hurt the feet.
Here is the residence with the concrete clean and ready for install along with the installed flooring – faux cork for the kitchen floor and faux beach for the main living area.
To make the floor install look more natural, I cut a strip of the “beach” flooring and ran it at the seam to the kitchen so it resembles how a hardwood floor would have been installed. Even though the installer said it was “the right way to do it”, it was “not part of the contract”.
I have a lot more to add but … I’m holding off final judgment on the install product until the contractor has a chance to address some prominent issues.
WOW it beginning to look like a house, cant wait to get out there Lo ve mom
VERY cool! I like it. Yet more inspiration for my upcoming remodel.
My recomendation is to go with wood floors if you can. The prefinished flooring is a DIY project. The vinyl “cushion step” comes into play if you are on a concrete slab, have dogs, and/or are not looking at re-sale down the road.
Did you consider cork? If so, what did you learn about installing it over radiant floor heating? I’ve had a mixed set of responses from manufacturers. Haven’t spoken to a flooring contractor….
There are two implementations for cork – tiles and planks. Tiles are typically 3/16″ thick while planks are a similarly thin material bonded to an engineer wood plank and tend to be 7/16 or more. The bigger difference is the installation. Tiles are glued down and thus have a bonded contact with the radiant floor. The cork flooring planks often click together and “float” – eg, are not bonded to the floor. The floating floors are installed with a thin foam sheet and will have a small air gap. The combination of the air gap and the insulating sheet make floating floors much less ideal for radiant floor installation.