Kitchen Flooring

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Tstormwatcher
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Kitchen Flooring

#1 Postby Tstormwatcher » Tue May 06, 2008 6:44 pm

Our home is now 6 years old and I am really hating our vinyl flooring in our kitchen. We will be going to Lowes to look at florring this coming weekend and I am wondering what type of flooring is out there for kitchens? it must be waterproof, wife an dogs spill alot, and affordable. We also live on a slab so would difficult would putting a new floor in whether it be vinyl again or something else. Thanks.
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#2 Postby CajunMama » Tue May 06, 2008 11:08 pm

I recently put in ceramic tile (from Lowes). No one told how hard it was to mop. I really wanted wood floors in my kitchen but with 3 dogs and a cat i wasn't about to do that.

You'll have to take up your vinyl and glue. I had someone do that for me. I wasn't about to do that myself.
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#3 Postby mf_dolphin » Wed May 07, 2008 9:02 pm

We pulled up vinyl flooring in our kitchen 5 years ago and put down ceramic tile. What an improvemet! The one advantage we had was that we were tearing out the whole kitchen so we were able to go wall to wall with the tile which made the job somewhat easier. As far as the mopping..... that's why I have a wife :-)



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#4 Postby Tstormwatcher » Thu May 08, 2008 5:25 pm

I'm not sure that I want to go ceramic because of the expensive involved. Anyone else?
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Miss Mary

#5 Postby Miss Mary » Thu May 08, 2008 6:39 pm

We had cheap builder grade vinyl in our home 11 years ago. 7 years before that, I wanted a light color so we chose an off white with tan "grout" lines. What a mistake that was - each drop of water was carried on anyone's shoes so our floor was constantly dirty. Near the end, I had to scrub it to keep it looking nice for company.

When it was time to replace it, I wanted wood. Hubby wanted ceramic tile. We also have a hot tub just off our back door, which leads to the kitchen so he didn't want hardwood flooring constantly getting wet. He did have a point. He got his way b/c well I was tired of having to scrub that old floor...LOL Anything new was an improvement.

We chose 13 inch slightly rough tan tile, with darker brown grout. There's a glaze on each tile also (as if you spilled a clear, shiny liquid on each tile and the glazing is random shapes). I loved my new floor from the very beginning. I also had tile pieces added below our cabinets, which lined up with grout lines. The old black vinyl toe/kick area was scuffed up so the tile helped keep that clean look.

I mop with Murphy's Oil Soap. If you go with tile, I highly recommend Murphy's. With each mopping, it helps seal your grout.

I no longer use a broom and dustpan, I just hook up our hose attachment pieces and vacuum before mopping. With a dog now, her hair just keeps blowing all over the place.

Down side to tile is it's cold in winter, but very cool on bare feet in summer but if you drop a dish, it's history. And pieces of broken dishes and glasses, go everywhere. We just had to buy a new DW and there were stray pieces of old drinking glasses way under there.

Hardwood flooring is very popular right now. IMO, you can't go wrong with it. Even if you have a dog, just vacuum up the dog hair and you should be fine. Now if you have a pool or hot tub and your floor is always damp or wet by the door, put down a throw rug.

Finally, one type of flooring I find so cool and if I ever had to build, I'd at least consider it - concrete. Colored. My hair dresser's very trendy salon has a concrete floor and there are random shapes, with each one a different color. This is a modern look but easy to maintain. This concrete flooring is much smoother than a driveway would be, for example. I'm sure there's a specific finish for indoor rooms.
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Re:

#6 Postby Dionne » Fri May 16, 2008 9:26 am

Tstormwatcher wrote:I'm not sure that I want to go ceramic because of the expensive involved. Anyone else?


Since your on a slab you might consider removing your vinyl, cleaning your concrete of all debris/glue and staining the slab.

Ceramic tile itself is not that expensive. It is the labor. For example.....at Lowes or Depot your tile can be as little as $1/sq. ft. while the installation is $3.50 per foot. Which is ridiculous. Your getting a good deal when your materials and labor are at a one to one ratio. Your tile, thinset, admix and grout costs should equal your labor. Labor expenses will increase if you throw in specialty patterns and mosaics.
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#7 Postby Tstormwatcher » Sun May 18, 2008 3:14 pm

Staining the slab? Interesting, anyone ever done this?
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Re:

#8 Postby Dionne » Sun May 18, 2008 4:31 pm

Tstormwatcher wrote:Staining the slab? Interesting, anyone ever done this?



It's done all the time. You can also score lines to accent different colors in patterns. In the ideal situation the stain is applied while the concrete is still green. A scored and stained slab is a lifetime floor. It is important that an adequate vapor barrier is in place between the soil and the concrete.
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