Monday, December 16, 2013

laminate, daminate!

Did you notice the sneak peak of my flooring on my earlier post where I showed off my newly-installed upstairs toilet?  No?  Slackers.

If you've been following along a while, you know I've been trying to get as much as possible for the house made in the U.S.A.  Flooring was a big one.

I wanted wood flooring throughout the house, with the exception of tile in the full baths.  (Phil is still sad and pathetic about having no carpet.)  Phil didn't want solid wood...he said it's too thick and raises the floor up too much.  Strike one.  So, engineered flooring it is.  He also wanted click-and-lock so he didn't have to nail or glue.  Strike two.  We both wanted made in the U.S.A.  And a wood that wasn't super-soft.  And in our budget.

Because Baby needs new shoes.

Okay, Baby wants new shoes.  Especially boots.  Baby loves boots.  Boots are my favorite.  It's the only thing about cold weather I really like.  It was so nice of you to bring up the subject of boots!  But please stop getting me off-topic.

That pretty much gave me about 3 to choose from and I didn't like the color or style of any of them.  If you've been following the baseball game, we've just struck out.

I was ready to sell my first-born to come up with some extra cash; then I remembered there aren't many out there in the market for an (almost) 23-year-old dependent.

Those hopes dashed, we bought laminate.  Yep, you heard it here first, folks.  The brand is Quick-Step and it's made in the U.S.A.  The color/style is called Burnished Walnut and it's gorgeous.  

Here's a picture from the manufacturer's website:


source


It sucks that it's not my house, because that would mean my house was finished.  And that I somehow ended up with a green chair.  But check out that dog thing on the mantel!  Andi wants.

Here's how we started.  It was like a bazillion pounds of flooring.


We dragged all the boxes inside and scattered them throughout the house.


Here's the style we bought:



First we put down underlayment.  My ace researcher discovered that Floor Muffler is supposed to be the best for sound dampening, as well as giving your floor the most realistic hardwood sound and feel.



The first pass!


It comes in these giant rolls, and while the outside part of the roll is fairly easy to deal with, once you get to the inside (tightly-rolled) part, the swearing begins.  It doesn't play well.


Then we (as in Phil) started laying flooring.  I told him which piece to put where.  See?  I helped.


See the waves in the underlayment?  Boo.




Eddie is always supervising and checking our work.


Electrical boxes in the floor.  Yay!


 Yep, I still have these shoes.



Now we're heading into the foyer.


Which is now our own personal bowling alley.


Now we're heading into the piano room:



Eddie says we need to clean all this crap off the floor.


Okay.



We haven't done the bedrooms yet, but you get the idea.

And we weren't paid anything by anyone for any of this.  This is just stuff we picked out.  I don't even know how to get on that money-making train.  I haven't figured out how to get free stuff to magically appear on my front porch either.

Unless it's a dead animal left by That Damn Cat.  In case you missed that miraculous story, you can check it out here.


And has anyone heard from Dona?  I miss her.



20 comments:

  1. Wow! The floors are gorgeous. Mine need to be refinished. It will happen eventually. I'm afraid I don't know Dona. Boots. Yeah. Boots. Not sure how many pairs I have, and I'm not going to count. I want that dog thing on the mantel, too. Why don't you give it to me for Christmas and I'll send you a picture of it on my mantel? You can frame the picture and hang it up.

    Love,
    Janie

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  2. I forgot to say that I admire you for buying Made In The USA. My house has all these fancy water fixtures. The realtor told me they are Dutch. Why did the people who lived here before me feel they needed Dutch water fixtures? They couldn't find American fixtures?

    Love again,
    Janie

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  3. love the new floors...much better than carpet when it comes to cleaning

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  4. It's coming together SO BEAUTIFULLY! I am crazy obsessed!! I can't wait for floors! I want to lick yours.

    um..things just got awkward :)

    xo, K

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  5. Super love your floors. I think laminate is a great choice. I love that you're going USA all the way! The husband shaved Ginger's beard and eyebrows off. Eddie will no longer think she's sexy.

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  6. It is looking awesome! Did it go together easy, without swearing, and in a timely manner?

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  7. A lot of work! But well worth it--looks rich and yummy! I love dark wood and this would pass with me, for sure. :)

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  8. A gorgeous floor you have there!! Eddie is a good boss. He seems to know how to handle you guys to get the work done. Maybe we could borrow Eddie???

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  9. Wow! What a huge difference, the floor is gorgeous and I applaud your efforts to try and buy American made!

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  10. What? ME? You miss ME? I'm just a humble nobody, who still follows your every word (and music video). Wow. I'm honored that you actually missed my comments. (oh crap....now I have to think of something witty to say....no pressure here). The floors ARE beautiful (but you know that) and I'll never let a post go by without commenting! Hey....in case you don't post before Christmas.....have a wonderful holiday! Dona

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    1. DONA! I'm glad you're still among us. I was afraid something bad had happened to you, like your home had been engulfed by giant, man-eating ants or something. Merry Christmas!!

      -andi

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  11. Love your new floors! Laminate has come a long way and there are many fabulous looking floors now. It's especially great when you have pets. Eddie makes a wonderful foredog.

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  12. it is looking good! Eddie is doing a great job supervising the work. GC Eddie!

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  13. It looks amazing! I'm on the same journey as you, trying to renovate my cottage, while trying to keep some employment in France. It was very difficult to find windows made in France and now I have the same trouble with the kitchen cabinets!

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  14. Major jealousy going on here! L.O.V.E. those floors. I want to rip all mine out and start over. In fact I'm saving my mula for it. The are all mismatched and some are higher than others, literally. Many toes have been stubbed because of it. Hmmm...maybe my insurance would pay for new floors if I broke my foot. Okay, I'm not that crazy, but if it happens...just sayin. Your floors look fabulous! Enjoy for me k?

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  15. Your floors are gorgeous, and I am seriously jealous of how open that kitchen is!! I am going to give you a warning about laminate floors, whether you want it or not, DO NOT GET THEM WET!! We had Pergo floors when we moved into our house. When we got the new refrigerator, someone didn't hook the water line up correctly and the floor got lots of water on it. We cleaned it up pretty quickly and thought that was the end of it. The next day we had ripples across the kitchen floor where the laminate had buckled :( I now have solid wood floors, just in case. ;) Have a great Christmas!!

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  16. Floors are gorgeous me want! The dog on the mantle is pretty cool too.

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  17. So very pretty! I'm glad to know you have sensible stylin shoes while you are doing all of this! I am terribly jealous that you are getting your floors in. We are still working on the bathroom. (Like the way I said "we"...I mean the plumbers.) I do love your flooring. We went with engineered as well. Aqua-step, which I think is a division of Quick-step. Coastal Cypress. Yummm. I hope to actually see it on my floors some fine day!

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  18. I had a laminate floor installed in my kitchen in 1999. I don't remember brand name specifically but it was an excellent choice. It is so easy to maintain. I just mop it with Murphy's Oil Soap and can always get stuck crap off of it with a typical dish plastic scrapee, even dried drips of latex paint (I will not tell you how many colors I have painted my kitchen since 1999...) Mine gets wet frequently (not flooded, but things like the cats stage a brouhaha near their water bowl and it goes undetected until you step in it first thing the next morning) and I have not had a problem with warping.

    Yours look very glamorous.

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  19. Oh sweet Jesus, no piano, thank God. But now I love your floors. It may not be emotionally healthy for me to continue....

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