Thursday, November 5, 2009

Walking the Plank

OK, clearly I’ve got way too many projects going when I can’t distinguish vinyl plank flooring from vinyl beadboard. Apologies to Kate! What a goof I am.

Here’s the vinyl plank you were looking for.
It’s made by a company called Novalis. It comes in 4x36 strips. While it covers the same square foot of space as a 12x12 square it does it in a different shape.

Words can’t describe how much easier it was to work with this dimension either. I’ve put down more than my share of vinyl flooring and this was one of the easiest jobs ever.

People can talk trash about peel and stick vinyl all they want but I really liked this stuff. Yeah, it can be cheap looking, but I don’t think this stuff is.

I can’t tell you how many times people would stand in the dining room and look in the kitchen and say, “Oh, you put wood down.”
Only after they really looked -- or after I pointed it out -- did they notice it was vinyl. Even then, most people would lean down and touch it! Here it is in our old kitchen so you can see how it looks down.


Wow! I still miss it. That old refrigerator? Not so much! The floor served us well for more than three years. It was comfortable to walk on, very durable and easy to clean. I almost cried when I ripped it up to start prepping for the new porcelain tile. It’s thick but you can cut it with a utility knife. Yet another nice feature.


And I can’t say enough about how much better plank size is to work with than square. It made getting around the awkward edges that cabinetry and doorways create very easy to deal with.
I think both Lowe’s and Home Depot carry it. (And I’m pretty sure it’s Lowe’s because I just saw some of it recently.) It’s something like 98 cents a square foot. They sell in both boxes of 30 and in individual strips which can be pretty convenient.

That’s a little pricey for vinyl, considering you can get some varieties of porcelain at that price and even cheaper, but it’s worth it.


It comes in two shades, this one being the darker of the two. The other is more of a lighter oak color. I still have almost a full box of it and I’m debating whether this might not be a good option for the laundry room floor – when I get around to replacing the crappy tile down there.

6 comments:

Karen Anne said...

Gee, that looks nice in the photo. Is it deceptive enough and sturdy enough to use in "regular" rooms? Visions of saving myself a mint on a hardwood floor upstairs have started dancing in my head.

Kate R said...

OMG - Absolutely NO need to apologize! I can't thank you enough for taking the time to answer my questions!!

And I am so glad to learn it's Novalis. I first learned about it on GardenWeb but it's really nice to hear from someone that's actually LIVED with it for more than a year, AND with pets!

Karen Anne - There are a lot of people on GardenWeb that seem to think so. Numerous people did their whole house with it. This thread has the most info.
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flooring/msg0911023312366.html

Karen Anne said...

Thanks - I read about half way through that enormous thread :-)

Does anyone know if it's true this can't be put down over plywood, as someone posted?

I've ripped up the wall to wall carpet and I have plywood and some scrap wood underneath. It is level (at least visually) except for a very slight slope to the entire floor.

If it goes over plywood, might I have to put something underneath, like the underlayment layer the real wood flooring guy was walking about?

My guess is the sandwich is plywood, "floor leveler", maybe or maybe not an underlayment and then the flooring? Or am I getting too complicated an dI can just slap it on the plywood?

Kate R said...

Nicole, I hope you don't mind me butting in here ...

Keeping reading the post (LOL), I know it's unbelievably long, BUT people HAVE applied it to plywood. Some slapped it right on the plywood, some used floor leveler in the seams when needed, a few used Henry's Floor Leveler/primer to help the planks have a better surface to stick to. Lowes carries it, it's in the same area as the vinyl tiles.

Jayne said...

That does look really nice. Hmmmm....

NV said...

Karen Anne -- There are plenty of people online who think so! And, like I said, lots of people who saw ours in the kitchen didn't recognize it as vinyl.

Kate -- glad this helped. Yes, I would highly recommend it. This stuff was SO easy to take care of. (And you can also throw some Future on it which really makes it shine!)

And you're not butting in. DIALOGUE and INTERACTION are fabulous. Glad we could generate some here!

KarenAnne -- Looks like others have successfully attached to plywood. I can't speak to that. I put mine over existing vinyl and never had trouble keeping it down!

As for the underlayment layer for wood or laminate, DO NOT use that. The vinyl in all likelihood will NOT adhere to it.

Jayne -- Thanks! I always did like how it looked. I DO miss it. Hopefully, I'll love the porcelain as much. :-) Anything will be better than the Hardibacker that is in there right now!