Whooohoo! Happy birthday to me! I just scored 3 boxes of Traffic Master Allure Ultra in Aegean Travertine at $58 a box, down from the regular $78 per box. I walked into Home Depot (my 2nd home), and there they were…right in the middle of the aisle with a big sign that might as well have said “hey Carmona, buy me”. Then a Home Depot sales person walked by, saw my longing doe-eyed stare, and told me I should buy them because it was a good deal. Well, how could I refute her incredibly convincing logic? *grin* Yeah, they were coming home with me. But seriously, there couldn’t be a better 32nd birthday gift! I’ve wanted to redo the floors in my laundry room for a while but needed something I could lay myself to save some $$.
I have no idea how to lay tile or hardwood flooring (although I intend to learn!)…now, a utility knife I can wield with some skill, so Traffic Master’s resilient vinyl tile flooring is just my speed.
First I have to rip this nasty old carpet up. It is glued down to the concrete, and I’m afraid some patched concrete is breaking up.
To cut tiles to size you simply score with a utility knife, bend and snap. It is really very easy to cut! I may have also cheated a little by using shears to make small cuts and angled cuts, this little trick worked like a charm.
It only took me 2 hours to install all the tiles, compared to the 5 it took to prep the floor. 7 hours later (and quite a few “aah, my back locked up again” breaks), I was ready to add 1/2″ trim around the 1/4″ gap required by these floating floors.
9 exhausting hours later I’m finally done! Despite my very red hands, and aching back, I am head-over-heels in love with this flooring. Exhausted I plunked myself down where I could sit and admire my work for a good 30 minutes.
I wouldn’t want to have to install this particular flooring in a room any larger than this one (or with too many weird corners), but it was well worth the effort in my mostly straight-shot laundry room.
These floors are waterproof, beautiful, and feel great underfoot! It was worth it, wouldn’t you say? These are my floors before, then after.
It looks so bright, so clean! Wonderful job Carmona!!!!!
Gorgeous flooring, Carmona! I love the neutral tones! I can also live at Home Depot! Everytime I go there my to do list of projects gets bigger and bigger!
LOL! Exactly! I have a bad habit of buying project supplies for projects instantly dreamed up by a sale! 😉
Thank you Selene.
Well happy birthday! The floor looks great. You have a lot of stamina! I’m afraid I would have given up after pulling back that one corner of carpet and seeing what was underneath LOL! Your projects always inspire me though!
Thank you, and thank you for the birthday wishes! 😉