Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Cheapest Flooring

I suppose I already have the cheapest flooring, it's painted particle board. Doesn't stand up well to dog nails though and potty accidents...well...I need something better. After dropping my foster dog at the vet this morning I stopped by the only store open at 8am on a Saturday, Home Depot. Last weekend the guy at the other Home Depot told me that they only sell vinyl flooring on a roll at the central store. I suppose there is more demand for it there. I went to that store and they had quite a selection. Most were 66 cents a square foot, the cheapest was 44 cents. It comes in 12 foot length. My mobile home is 13 feet wide. If I want to cover my 13x18 foot space then I need to either cut some pieces and buy the connection piece for the middle or live with a 6" gap on each side. Since most of the edges of the room will have furniture, I think I can live with a 6" gap.



I didn't buy it yet. $95 is still a lot of money and I want to shop around. Also, I haven't quite figured out if I can get a 12 foot roll of vinyl home in my truck. Maybe tie it to the roof? I might have to live with smaller pieces after all.

The cheapest option of all was the peel and stick vinyl tile. There was an ugly fake wood pattern for only 34 cents a sq. ft. tile. The problem with that is my floor is not even and the tiles wouldn't stick. And all of those seams wouldn't do much to help clean up wet spills. It would be a lot easier to transport though.

Too bad I don't want carpet. People give away their old carpet everyday on craig's list. Vinyl doesn't survive a remodel since it is glued down. Nothing left to give away. I haven't looked at Lowe's yet, they might have a better price. I think I had better concentrate on finishing the projects that I already paid for instead of moving on to this next step...even though it would make this place look so much better.

8 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

Sounds like a good plan. If the 6-inch edge ever becomes an issue, you could always buy enough of the stick on tiles to make a border of some kind.

Daizy said...

I was thinking that because I do have a leftover box of them from the house. I probably have around 20 tiles left in that box. Too bad the side of the room with the least water damage is also the hallway side so they would be highly visible.

Lizzie @ her homeworld said...

Hi Daizy
Make sure you have one that is strong enough for your needs or you will be covering again in no time. We fitted vinyl in the conservatory about 18 months ago and its already go really kind of baggy when my sons computer chair is & has a few holes from sharp things being dropped. Might be a false economy to save too much here. Next time we are having wood laminate or ceramic.
Lizzie

Daizy said...

Lizzie, I would love to do tile or laminate. Leveling the floor would cost a lot though. I have one piece of vinyl and it did rip when the fridge was moved. Not very strong stuff.

Milehimama @ Mama Says said...

One of our landlords put cheap vinyl down when we moved in. It didn't do well- it tore when the installers moved the fridge back into place, and had several worn through spots by the time we left, a year later!

Peel and stick tile was wonderful - you butt them right up together so nothing gets through the seams.

You could always just use a heavy floor paint and then wax it like crazy, too!

Daizy said...

Milehimama, wow, worn through spots! You are hard on floors. I would use those tiles if I could but the floor is so uneven from water damage, I don't think they would lie flat. Maybe I should buy the 66 cent vinyl because it is thicker. I have one piece of vinyl that I bought many years ago. It has held up ok...except for under the fridge but I am not sure if it was the thinnest stuff or not.

Big Sis said...

If you try other flooring places you can sometimes get remnants for less. I used a remnant for our bathroom because it was a small space.

Daizy said...

Hello Sis, I had planned to stop by a floor place last weekend but as usual, I had a dog in the car. I'm surprised Home Depot doesn't have remnants. They call their 6x8 and 8x12 pieces 'remnants' but they are the same price as the big roll.