Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience with the laminate flooring that Lumber
Liquidators carries? I'm thinking about the line that runs for
$1.69/sqft ("Nirvana"). I've done a bit of googling on it and can't
seem to find out much about the company or whether or not the flooring
is any good or not. Someone did suggest that it was actually made by
Bellawood but I haven't been able to find anything to corroborate that.

Linkage:

Nirvana page: http://tinyurl.com/chl6t
Laminates page: http://tinyurl.com/duckn

Any thoughts? I know a lot of you probably don't like laminate
flooring, but in our case I really think it's our most realistic
option.

Thanks for any feedback!

-Josh

We bought some of this last year, so we haven't owned it long enough to
say anything about durability (though it's held up well to a toddler so
far). Installation is fairly easy with two people, though one could do
it just as easily and maybe take a little longer. It looks pretty
realistic to me, much more so than the $3 per sq ft Pergo stuff you
find in the big box stores. The price is actually quite good when you
consider that the backing is attached. I haven't found any independent
information online either. It looks like they're exclusive to Lumber
Liquidators. So far, I'd recommend this stuff to someone putting in a
laminate floor.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience with the laminate flooring that Lumber
Liquidators carries? I'm thinking about the line that runs for
$1.69/sqft ("Nirvana"). I've done a bit of googling on it and can't
seem to find out much about the company or whether or not the flooring
is any good or not. Someone did suggest that it was actually made by
Bellawood but I haven't been able to find anything to corroborate that.

Linkage:

Nirvana page: http://tinyurl.com/chl6t
Laminates page: http://tinyurl.com/duckn

Any thoughts? I know a lot of you probably don't like laminate
flooring, but in our case I really think it's our most realistic
option.

Thanks for any feedback!

-Josh


Read Sandy's post Buyer Beware Read my reply to sandy.

Hi Dave,

Here's what I found: http://tinyurl.com/dvlnt

Is that the post you're referring to?

It sounds like you and Sandy were talking about hardwood flooring, not
laminate, unless I really misunderstood. You had some good thoughts
though, on preinspecting the wood and so forth. Unfortunately it is
not generally possible to preinspect *all* of the wood, but I will
definitely check several of the boxes to make sure there is not a big
problem.

What rooms did you put it in your house? we have a small house and are
thinking of putting it just about everywhere, except for bathrooms and
the laundry closet.

wrote:
What rooms did you put it in your house? we have a small house and are
thinking of putting it just about everywhere, except for bathrooms and
the laundry closet.

i ripped it out of a condo i bought for in-laws. condo built in 2003.
the floor had gaps, curled a little and sounded like plastic when walked
on. do not know the brand and it was on a slab.
1. make sure there is plenty of gaps on edges and nothing bolted down
like a island. this stuff needs to move.
2. make sure you do not use to much water on it. i think it needs a
special cleaner. they kind that evaporates fairly quickly.

I put down about 500 sq. ft. of the floor in a living room, a dining
room, and a hallway (high traffic area). jdk's comment about leaving a
space at the edges is very true. I left 1/4" to 1/2" of gap at the
walls and any other edge to allow for expansion. This stuff should not
be used in a high-moisture area, and I think any documentation that can
be found will state that spills should be wiped up quickly and not
given a chance to soak in (this doesn't mean you have to walk around
the house with a wiping rag in your pocket all day, but you shouldn't
leave spills any longer than you have to). Wet mopping is most
definitely NOT recommended, I think a "Swiffer" type cleaning pad will
work for most cleaning, sweeping with a broom worked well on dust and
dirt. That reminds me of another note: Keep it clean! If you leave
dirt particles on the floor and walk on it, you could scratch it,
though the surface seems to take quite a lot of abuse (daughter banging
hard plastic blocks around on it). I still stand by my statement that
I like it, but like hardwood floors, there are things you can and can
not do with it, and it needs to be cared for.

joshbeall wrote
Hi All,
Does anyone have any experience with the laminate flooring that Lumber
Liquidators carries? I'm thinking about the line that runs for
$1.69/sqft ("Nirvana"). I've done a bit of googling on it and can't
seem to find out much about the company or whether or not the flooring
is any good or not. Someone did suggest that it was actually made by
Bellawood but I haven't been able to find anything to corroborate that.
Linkage:
Nirvana page: http://tinyurl.com/chl6t
Laminates page: http://tinyurl.com/duckn
Any thoughts? I know a lot of you probably don't like laminate
flooring, but in our case I really think it's our most realistic
option.

I installed about 1600 sf of Armstrong Swiftlock Springfield Maple and we
like it alot.
Don't install it in wet areas, kitchens, bathroom or laundry rooms.
Avoid the stuff that has grooves between the panels as they are big time
dirt collectors.
Use the better grade of underlayment.
Buy a couple extra boxes of the planks, and a roll of the underlayment for
future repairs.
Check the prices on the T-strips and other special items cause they stick
you deep on those things.

joshbeall wrote
What rooms did you put it in your house? we have a small house and are
thinking of putting it just about everywhere, except for bathrooms and
the laundry closet.

Something else I just remembered.
Study the *repeat* in the pattern.
In ours the repeat covered 7 full boxes of planks.
Nothing looks more amatuerish than an installation with obvious repeat
errors.
Dry lay the planks out on the floor and watch the grain, coloration and
knots.

We're planning on installing it in the kitchen and being as careful as
possible with spills and so forth. Have you had a bad experience with
this? I understand the necessity to keep it dry and all; I'm wondering
just what bad stuff will happen if we do have the ocassional spill.
I'm hoping as long as we get things wiped up that it will be ok?

We're still at a decision point. We could put down vinyl instead
(although that is something I know abosolutely nothing about). We have
to put something down, as we have only subflooring in right now.

joshbeall wrote
We're planning on installing it in the kitchen and being as careful as
possible with spills and so forth. Have you had a bad experience with
this?

Yes, a double bad experience.
I'll try to make this short.
Moved into our new home 3 years ago, it is on a well with a water softener.
My wife put a bottle of JetDry in the GE dishwasher, and did a load of
dishes.
The JetDry combined with the soft water caused the DW to fill up with an
over abundence of suds which were forced out around the door seal onto the
laminate floor. 3 hours later (we went somewhere) we noticed this and it was
too late, the damage was done.
The planks in front of the DW swelled and buckled.
Fortunately this areas was toward the *end of the run* in the flooring so
all I had to do was pull up about 8' worth of flooring, replace the swollen
planks with new ones and then relay all the old ones back down. (Thats why I
said previously to have several extra boxes on hand for future repairs) This
took the better part of a saturday to do.
If something similar had happened in the center of my living room, for
example, it would have been a major pain as you have to cut the culprit out
and then *glue* new panels back in.
In our next house I will not put laminate in the kitchen.

All in all we're very pleased with the laminate I installed and will do it
in the next house.
Our dogs fly all over the house and have left nary a scratch.
The surface on this stuff is very hard.

I understand the necessity to keep it dry and all; I'm wondering
just what bad stuff will happen if we do have the ocassional spill.
I'm hoping as long as we get things wiped up that it will be ok?

We have small spills all the time and as long as you wipe it up pretty quick
its no problem.
If the water goes into the seam between the planks it will be quickly
absorbed by the material of the planks.
Take a look at the stuff, it is like a compressed paper product.
A sponge just waiting to happen.

We're still at a decision point. We could put down vinyl instead
(although that is something I know abosolutely nothing about). We have
to put something down, as we have only subflooring in right now.

Consider tile. It is usually more favorable than vinyl and not prone to the
problems inherent to vinyl.
Many people complain how *hard* tile feels when standing on it.
Doesn't bother me, as I keep moving and don't stand still too much. g

Consider tile. It is usually more favorable than vinyl and not prone to the
problems inherent to vinyl.
Many people complain how *hard* tile feels when standing on it.
Doesn't bother me, as I keep moving and don't stand still too much. g

I've never done tile before. I'll do a bit of research. Any sites you
would recommend that would have information on this?

-jb

They make something that looks like tile, but is put down like a
laminate floor now. We have used this laminate floor in the kitchen and
dining room. We used the laminate tile in front of the patio door. Not
much chance of scratching this stuff....but, it is a pain to keep
clean.
The cleaner that you buy...wants you to. "MOP-RINSE-then DRY"!!! It
always looks smeary.
The laminate tile is MUCH easier to take care of than the laminate wood
floor! They both require that padding, tho.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Consider tile. It is usually more favorable than vinyl and not prone to
the
problems inherent to vinyl.
Many people complain how *hard* tile feels when standing on it.
Doesn't bother me, as I keep moving and don't stand still too much. g

I've never done tile before. I'll do a bit of research. Any sites you
would recommend that would have information on this?

Tile installation?
Off the top of my head I'd say to check the www.diynet.com page.
With tile its best to not lay down to much cement at one time.
Lay the tile down dry first to determine how the pattern works out.
Try to avoid a lot of thin cuts along the edges.
In some circumstances its good to start in the center and work out to the
edges.

JasmynJade wrote:
They make something that looks like tile, but is put down like a
laminate floor now. We have used this laminate floor in the kitchen and
dining room. We used the laminate tile in front of the patio door. Not
much chance of scratching this stuff....but, it is a pain to keep
clean.
The cleaner that you buy...wants you to. "MOP-RINSE-then DRY"!!! It
always looks smeary.
The laminate tile is MUCH easier to take care of than the laminate wood
floor! They both require that padding, tho.


The "laminate tile", is that the stuff Lowes sold under the Edge brand?
From what I've read it's a problem child because the hard surface chips
and cracks just from normal traffic. Lots of lawsuits and unhappy people.

This is called "CermaiTile".......it's VERY hard and it seems if it is
installed correctly...there should be no way of any chips... and we
haven't been able to scratch it yet. Don't know what brand people are
having trouble with but ours is doing wonderful....also, a friend of
ours put it down in wife's home beauty salon....it's working
great....we did NOT buy ours at Lowe's...we bought ours at the local
Hardware store.

This is called "CermaiTile".......it's VERY hard and it seems if it is
installed correctly...there should be no way of any chips... and we
haven't been able to scratch it yet. Don't know what brand people are
having trouble with but ours is doing wonderful....also, a friend of
ours put it down in wife's home beauty salon....it's working
great....we did NOT buy ours at Lowe's...we bought ours at the local
Hardware store.

On 5 Dec 2005 06:18:23 -0800, wrote:

Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience with the laminate flooring that Lumber
Liquidators carries? I'm thinking about the line that runs for
$1.69/sqft ("Nirvana"). I've done a bit of googling on it and can't
seem to find out much about the company or whether or not the flooring
is any good or not. Someone did suggest that it was actually made by
Bellawood but I haven't been able to find anything to corroborate that.

Linkage:

Nirvana page: http://tinyurl.com/chl6t
Laminates page: http://tinyurl.com/duckn

Any thoughts? I know a lot of you probably don't like laminate
flooring, but in our case I really think it's our most realistic
option.

Thanks for any feedback!

-Josh


Here is my experience with laminate flooring:

http://www.asberry.net/brand_names.htm

About midway down the page.

"Tim Killian" wrote
JasmynJade wrote:
They make something that looks like tile, but is put down like a
laminate floor now. We have used this laminate floor in the kitchen and
dining room. We used the laminate tile in front of the patio door. Not
much chance of scratching this stuff....but, it is a pain to keep
clean.
The cleaner that you buy...wants you to. "MOP-RINSE-then DRY"!!! It
always looks smeary.
The laminate tile is MUCH easier to take care of than the laminate wood
floor! They both require that padding, tho.


The "laminate tile", is that the stuff Lowes sold under the Edge brand?
From what I've read it's a problem child because the hard surface chips
and cracks just from normal traffic. Lots of lawsuits and unhappy people.

Try the *Can of Peas* test.
Lay a sample tile on the floor and drop a can of peas on it from about 4'
high.
Observe the damage if any.

Don wrote:




Try the *Can of Peas* test.
Lay a sample tile on the floor and drop a can of peas on it from about 4'
high.
Observe the damage if any.


that is a good idea. go to a good store that sells this item. have them,
or they already have, a fairly large area set up. walk on it and bang on
it. see if you like it or not.

I JUST DID THE "CAN OF PEAS" TEST!!! I got an extra piece of laminate
flooring and an extra piece of CermaTile......I used a 15oz can of
peas....dropped it from 4' about 4 times on each....then I went to
5'.....NO DAMAGE....NOT A CHIP....OR SCRATCH!!!

Sounds similar to the test I inadvertently gave my Pergo floor a few days
after I installed it...I dropped a heavy bottomed 12 quart pot about 6 feet
from the pot rack, it hit so hard it bounced back a foot or two. Once I was
able to look I found no dents or chip in the flooring..and felt a lot better
about it's durability. The floor is one year old now, and I still don't see
any noticeable wear or chips, though it is a little hard to keep it looking
clean, it shows every dust speck or lint that finds its way to the floor.

--

Mike S.

"JasmynJade" wrote in message
oups.com...
I JUST DID THE "CAN OF PEAS" TEST!!! I got an extra piece of laminate
flooring and an extra piece of CermaTile......I used a 15oz can of
peas....dropped it from 4' about 4 times on each....then I went to
5'.....NO DAMAGE....NOT A CHIP....OR SCRATCH!!!

Mike S. wrote:
Sounds similar to the test I inadvertently gave my Pergo floor a few days
after I installed it...I dropped a heavy bottomed 12 quart pot about 6 feet
from the pot rack, it hit so hard it bounced back a foot or two. Once I was
able to look I found no dents or chip in the flooring..and felt a lot better
about it's durability. The floor is one year old now, and I still don't see
any noticeable wear or chips, though it is a little hard to keep it looking
clean, it shows every dust speck or lint that finds its way to the floor.


The Pergo and similar laminates with the aluminum oxide finish coat is
extremely durable stuff. We have it in our living room and it shows no
wear after two years. I thought the original poster was asking about the
snap-together tiles that have thin stone (3/16") bonded to a backer
board. I doubt any of those would pass your can-o-peas test.

One couple installed the black granite-faced laminate in their kitchen.
After they finished and spent a few minutes admiring their beautiful new
floor, they rolled the refrigerator back in (the kind with built-in
rollers) and it cracked every tile they passed over. Lowes refunded
their money.

Mike is right... it is VERY hard to keep it looking clean.....and EVERY
bit of dust or dirt shows!!

More so than real hardwood, or than tile?

If so, any thoughts as to why?