laminate flooring in kitchen

[Teri58]

Hello all- would like your advice.
After being in this old mobile home ( 1972?)for 10 years-- I am so overwhelmed by what still has to be done-- I initially spent a lot of money doing all all the important things like electrial and plumbing - new roof and skitring - replaced the entire underbelly and insulation. But most of the cosmetic things still need to be done.
I used to be able to do things myslef but got hurt ( dont fall off the roof while winter wrapping your swamp cooler!) I need help now and have no problems paying a mobile home repair company to do things.


I was thinking about just purchasing a newer upgraded home in another park- but i love my park.. After looking at many other homes-- some old homes have replaced linoleum flooring in the kitchen with laminate hard wood. Some look like crap and some are lovely and have held up well. I have a kitchen and dining room floor with old lino that needs to be replaced.. It is crazy expensive to have this done-- because of the prep work. Am condsidering the laminate..

I would get good stuff and have it professionally done by a moble home repair person who knows what they are doing..
any troubles with that ? I am not a big dripper so am thinking it would be ok in the kitchen if good product and installed properly.

Here is my concern:

My washer and dryer( dryer is gas) is located in the kitchen-- what would be the problems in putting laminate under there?

Would consider putting vinyl under them if need be.
Teri 58
PS- I used to come here often 10 years ago. Think Greg was here and yanita- but not sure who else- in any case-- glad to be back

[Greg]

Hi & welcome back Teri, Sorry to hear you're hurt. Ya I remember you. Maureen & possibly Tom were both here also.

I have laminate in the kitchen, dining & Back room where the wash/drier are. Like you said, GOOD quality flooring is the key This is not a good place to cheap out. The problem is finding good flooring at a good price. I found our's at Mr seconds and bought enough to do both bathrooms and the front entrance also. The problem with buying at a closeout center is you never know what they will have next week, so buy it when they have it.

Don't be such a stranger, Greg

[michael1982]

Another thing to watch for is damaged boxes, I had pulled the carpet in my living room due to pets kept by previous renters. I purchased enough boxes for the living room with minimal extra. I bought the stuff that was about $15/box I think. Well I couldn't get it to stay locked in place when I would be a few rows on the front row would come un done.

I ended up hiring a couple local guys suggested by my father in law. They spend nearly 3 days struggling with the stuff and ready to leave. They couldn't get it to stay locked either, and they didn't check levelness of the floor and we found after it was installed there was a dip in the floor. They are flooring installers that were experienced and just annoyed with this cheap material. They broke many of the tongue/grooves off.

I ended up letting them nail in a few spots where they had issues. They showed me on the last day when they had all but about 3-4 boxes of the about 15-18 boxes I had purchased they had pieces right out of the box which showed signs of sagging in the center of planks front to back, some even had dents and dings like hammer's had been dropped on them, and then there were damaged grooves. They said I could take the remaining boxes back and get my money back and they could install laminate from their supplier if I would like to choose one. I stuck to my guns and made them install it for what they quoted me at 1st, so I got my money in labor, but not in product.

There are areas where they just couldn't get the joints together and they did put small nails in, only about 10 or so. I know that it will have to be replaced, sometime but we enjoy it for now, and make sure we keep it as dry as possible since we know that the seams are not sealed well enough to handle much if any water. I had taken a few pieces of scrap and poured a glass of water on them along the joints where they would join and it handled water fine, no swelling noted, but if they soak in water for any time they will swell like the door facings of a mobile home.

I purchased my stuff from a home improvement center which specializes in new old stock, or previous year stock, which you won't see at the store again after you purchase it. If anyone is interested I could post some pics for reference and to show how it installed, etc.