SewLibra:
We had this ceramic (I think?) tile put in both upstairs bathrooms about 15 years ago. My first time ever with tile floors and didn't like the cold hard feel on my feet from the get go. Primary bath shown here.
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Tile in guest bath. I did like the light look, just not the feel especially in the winter. Oh, and the cracked grout!
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Both bathrooms got cracked grout in certain places early on. Hubby patched them once but they came back.
SewLibra:
Off to Lowe's to look at Stainmaster carpet, as the primary bedroom, hallway and office needed a replacement. The old carpet was put in at the same time as the tile, about 15 years ago. Lowe's bought Stainmaster.
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Above is my choice of "Snowfall", much lighter than the old carpet shown below. I took in my carpet sample I had saved all those years.
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After choosing the carpet I saw a light oak vinyl plank pretty close to what I had in mind for the bathrooms. Lowe's Smartcore Ultra Chaparral Oak. It's thicker than most at 7.5mm and waterproof.
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Brought a couple of the vinyl plank samples home, wanted to live with it a few days and make sure it would be light enough. I don't like dark floors and never have. Lighter is more contemporary and doesn't show every speck of dust, hair or water droplets
SewLibra:
From online pics I made a collage of my two choices. This is what it will look like at the doorways of the bathrooms. Both have a slight yellow undertone. Good!
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May 26, 2022 three installers arrive to do the carpet. New carpet rolls on the left and old carpet and pad on the right. We bought the best pad they had (not shown). It's really important for comfort and longevity of the carpet.
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After installation. The hall lights are on so the color is not quite true here, but oh what a difference from that old carpet. I love it!
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We again went with what they call "Hollywood style" for the stairs, where they wrap the carpet around each stair nose and nail it in underneath. Nice job here!
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Primary bedroom. This Stainmaster carpet is extremely thick and cushy on our feet. Feels great and makes the room look open and airy.
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But there were two problems we found after the installers left. This is a hole at the corner by my side of the bed. Every time I see it, it reminds me of a black bug in the corner!
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Close up of carpet hole. Obviously they didn't stretch it correctly here. I suspect they'll patch it because we aren't going to pack up all our things again to re-stretch the carpet. That was a LOT of work! Update August: They patched it, looks fine.
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Close-up of drywall damage. I don't know of any dry wall company that would bring in all the equipment for this small job. Probably a clean up, glue down, and a can of spray texturing? We'll see what they say.
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June 3, 2022 the vinyl plank, baseboards and toilet rings were delivered. There was an error and we were charged for 3 toilet rings when we only have 2 toilets. Also the hoses didn't fit so they used the old ones, but they were in good shape.
SewLibra:
I only had a few days before the bathroom install, so had to get the baseboards painted with two coats asap so they would be thoroughly dry and cured in time.
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June 8, 2022 two installers came to install the vinyl planks. Neither spoke English. Lots of confusion, no communication, not good! One guy did a decent job on the guest bathroom except for two issues.
SewLibra:
There should be an even line of caulk at the tub. The planks are not evenly lined up there and it's really obvious in person. Why wouldn't they use a straight edge between tub and planks?!!
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The other issue, and this is on both toilets, they didn't cut the bolts so we can't cover them with the white caps.
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The other installer did the primary bathroom. At a glance it might look nice....but no. Keep reading.
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This guy didn't lay out the planks correctly at all! There are identical planks side by side in three places. Supposed to be staggered by light, dark, and vary the patterns that are in the planks. When I saw this after they left I was really angry.
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It's hard to get a pic, none of them look like it does in real life. Anyway, these guys were rushing to get out of here by 5:00 and it shows.
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Total lack of paying attention to details in several places. This is the corner of the surround at the back of the tub. The plank is cut too narrow so the caulk is wide and crooked. So sloppy!
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Another view of the previous pic. That plank should have been cut to fit the corner. It's just vinyl, not hard to do.
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Hubby cut this nail off for me. I was wiping down all the baseboards to get the dust off and cut my finger. Btw, breaking up all that tile made a ton of dust, which I expected.
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I didn't report this, it's behind the water closet door, but just another example of not paying attention to detail. This is our home and we paid big bucks to have it all done right. Now it's halfway though July and no word from them for repairs.
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Found a flooring guy willing to rearrage planks but he needed a carton. The manufacturer (Shaw) discontinued it and all the Lowe's stores gave leftovers to Homes for Humanity. Glad I got the $ back from my credit card!
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May 2023, almost a year from installation, decided to keep the floors instead of starting all over since this flooring is nowhere to be found. But still two more things to fix!
