Installing New Flooring

One big decision we had to make was what to do with the kitchen floor. We looked into wood, which would match the rest of the house, or wood laminate that would be cheaper but have the same look... but really neither of those would be good in a kitchen. In the last house, we used peel and stick vinyl squares, dark colored, that looked like stained concrete. I liked the look a lot, but the floor would need to be perfectly smooth to use them again. Before that, we had a ceramic tile, which worked well, but is really hard to stand on, and messy to install.
Eventually, we were at Lowe's, and almost decided on a laminate when I asked a store employee about it. He said absolutely no, that if the laminate got wet, it would come apart. He pointed us toward another product we had briefly considered, vinyl planks that look like wood, and are installed like laminate, are waterproof, and attractive. We decided that was really the best product. We bought what we needed and waited until it was time to install it.

The cabinets were ready to be delivered on Monday, so we needed to get the floor in before then. Rod, our electrician was working on wiring, running wires through the holes in the floor up through Saturday, so Sunday was the day to lay the floor.

But, Sunday was the first birthday party for our youngest grand baby, Nora. We spent the afternoon celebrating this wonderful little blessing.

 

 

When we got home at 9pm, we changed clothes and set to work. The planks click together pretty well, with a little pounding with a rubber mallet. I used my recently acquired skill with the power saw to cut the planks to fit. We did most of the kitchen before going to bed at 1:00 am.