Wilsonart Flooring - A Work in Progress

IMG_5456,
originally uploaded by jinlee.

For more pics, see the FlickR set regarding flooring

We needed to get rid of the carpet in the Wong's family room. It was probably the original carpet from the 80's when the home was built and it got some of the most traffic in the home (especially from 3 dogs).

The toughest thing about working on a home with current residents is trying not to disrupt everyday tasks, keeping everything clean, and most importantly, moving everything out of the room we plan on working on.

This home was no different. We had to move everything into the living room. And since they've been here for quite a while, they gathered a lot of junk in the family room. We had to move couches, bookcases, a TV armoire, computer desk, 2 printers and all the other random things that were on the desks, bookcases and the armoire.

When pulling up the old carpet, a lot of dust was kicked up. Thankfully, it wasn't close to meal-time, otherwise that dust would have gone into the kitchen nearby.

The Wilsonart brand laminate flooring (which we picked up for $2.65 per square foot at www.ifloor.com) was BY FAR the easiest laminate floor I have ever had the privelege of working with. Of course it was also the most expensive (locally, it was available at Great Floors for over $4.50 per square foot but we bought it at iFloor and picked it up in Kent, Washington). We didn't really choose it, since we were required to use it to match the Wilsonart that was already in other parts of the home. The color is Golden Oak in case you're wondering.

I have worked with the Costco brand laminate floors, Dream Home brand (from Lumber Liquidators) and the cheaper (non-Pergo) brand from Home Depot (all 3 of these were right around $1.00 per square foot). With Wilsonart, I never wasted any pieces due to them breaking, I could tap as hard as I needed to in order to get the pieces together. With cheaper brands, you always have to be aware of how hard you're tapping.

At the current moment, we're waiting for the base trim to come in. As soon as that is finished, I'll post more pictures.