“Vern, Vern, Vern when will you learn?”
Years ago I
closed in a porch on the back of our house to make a mud room (porches are like
swimming pools in western Maine – can only be used a short time.) We had linoleum on the floor and both my
wife and I were tired of looking at it.
A visit to
Home Depot’s flooring section down in Augusta showed us options. After bringing home samples and watching
videos on YouTube we decided on Allure Resillent Flooring. This is a vinyl product that comes in board
length and width with a wood finish and it carries a 25 year warranty.
The videos
show an ease of installing that looked simple and quick. Lay down the strips and they glue themselves together.
A 14x8 room:
a piece of cake – a two hour installation – three max. My wife laughed when I told her that, but
what does she know about DYI?
Eight hours
later I finished the installation – somewhat.
I still have one more strip to lay in the closet and quarter-round trim
to install; but I just flat ran out of steam: I was tired after three hours and
exhausted after six: my knees hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurts – easier to
list what doesn’t hurt; but hell I am on the down side of seventies – that’s my
excuse and I am sticking to it.
I have got
to say the actual installation wasn’t difficult. Of course I measured twice and cut the first
piece wrong. The time consuming part was
cutting the pieces to fit. The tiring
part was working on my hands and knees for eight hours.
The
installation, I must say, looks good.
However, there is a strong smell from either the vinyl or the glue
strips – hopefully this will dissipate in a day or so.
So far, I
will say I am pleased with the results.
The Ol’Buzzard
