LESLIE: Babette in Texas is calling in with a flooring question. What can we do for you?
BABETTE: I wanted to find out what information you have on Allure flooring and the durability and cost-effectiveness of doing it yourself.
LESLIE: OK.
TOM: Well, the cost-effectiveness of doing it yourself is the easy part because, certainly, it is a do-it-yourself project – product. If you don’t have – it doesn’t require a whole lot of skill. Some of it cuts, basically, with a razor knife, so it’s not a hard project to install.
LESLIE: Now, Allure manufactures a couple of different kinds of flooring: one is like a planking style that would be almost similar to a laminate that floats and the other is – it’s called TrafficMaster, I think, and it’s a stick-down vinyl. Which one were you looking at?
BABETTE: Ooh, the first one.
LESLIE: Not the stick-down vinyl.
BABETTE: No.
LESLIE: OK.
BABETTE: The one that we saw with a display that – of the kind that just – going to slide together and then float.
TOM: Right. And a lot of floors do that today. Laminate floors do it; have done it for quite a while now and it’s a fine way to install a floor. You need to leave a bit of a gap around the outside of the room, which you cover with molding, but it works quite well.
The reviews online, though, are mixed. There’s people that love it and there’s people that hate it. It’s a very affordably-priced product so …
LESLIE: Yeah, I think it ranges from like a dollar to 3.60 a square.
TOM: So I think it’s probably a good value for the money.
LESLIE: OK, especially we’re going to eventually make the house a rental home.
TOM: Yeah.
LESLIE: We weren’t real thrilled about investing the money on carpet, because things happen with carpet you can’t fix.
TOM: Yeah. Right.
LESLIE: Of course.
TOM: Well, I’ve got to tell you, if it’s a rental home and you want something that’s really going to be durable, I would probably lean towards laminate.
BABETTE: OK.
TOM: I think a laminate floor is going to be a lot more durable, especially if you get a commercial-grade laminate. I’d spend a little bit more money now and have something that’s super-durable, that can really take the spills and the scuffs and the furniture being dragged across it without tearing. Lumber Liquidators is a really good place to shop for that. They’ve got a big selection.
LESLIE: A huge variety of price points, as well.
TOM: And very good quality product, as well.
BABETTE: Lumber Liquidators?
TOM: Yes. And you can even shop online or you can find a store near you; LumberLiquidators.com. They’ve been a sponsor of ours now for about a year and we’ve had their expert president on, Tom Sullivan, a number of times. Very knowledgeable people; I learned a lot about flooring that I didn’t know, by talking with them. So, I’m a fan.
BABETTE: I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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