New Studio Flooring

I’ve written before about the studio above my garage, you can see the entire space featured in this post from last year. Presently, my stepdaughter lives in the studio, she is headed to nursing school in January, but right now she is working to save money for her continuing education.

Once she moves out, my plan is to rent this space out as a weekend AirBnB. One of the things that needed to happen first was to replace the flooring since the old carpet was stained and rippling in places. Also I wasn’t a fan of the dated linoleum floor in the bathroom and kitchen.

For this project I partnered with Floor & Decor which I’ve done several times before, they have a fantastic selection of in stock tile and flooring products. I’m a big fan of luxury vinyl plank flooring because it looks like wood but it is waterproof so you can use it in spaces that are exposed to water like laundry rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens.

Here’s a peek at the space with the new floors before I moved the furniture back inside. I love them!

 

The product I chose was NuCore vinyl plank in Driftwood Oak, I loved the mid tone taupe color, not too brown and neutral enough to complement any decor I rotate in and out of here. Also it comes with a residential lifetime warranty, that’s huge for me.

Demo started with good old fashioned elbow grease, the carpet came out first. We probably should have removed the baseboard first, but we did that after, see below. The tedious part was removing the tack strips and sticky little padding remnants which took a few hours.

We removed the baseboard first using a blade to cut through the caulking, next a screwdriver (or chisel) and hammer to wedge down inside and pop it off. We ended up damaging the baseboard so instead of reusing it, we replaced it with new baseboard. If you’re careful you can repurpose it but it takes more patience!

Since this is a floating floor, (no glue, nails, or adhesive, yay!) it requires expansion gaps around the perimeter. These adjustable spacers against the wall were the starting point. You can also see the texture of the planks in these more up close shot.

 

Because this studio is an upstairs unit with a plywood floor, you can hear people walking on it so we decided to add an extra underlayment. This product already has a natural cork backing so note the underlayment isn’t necessary and is totally optional but for added sound control we did use underlayment this time.

 

This floating floor installed pretty easily. We hired a helper to assist us getting this done since the studio is 650 square feet, but this is a project you can do yourself with the right tools. The pieces snap into place using a tongue and groove style click together system. The two main tools used were a tapping block and a mallet, used together they guarantee tight seams between planks.

 

 

The tapping block helps get your seams tighter when you use the mallet to connect planks together.

 

There are various cutting tools you can use, a sharp utility blade will score it and you can break it in two pieces that way. We used a jigsaw to notch areas around door frames and a skilsaw to rip the long way when necessary. Find another helpful NuCore flooring installation video here.

My favorite feature with this product is that it is waterproof!! This allowed us to continue into the bathroom. This was really important to me because I love consistent flooring in connected community spaces, it creates really nice flow. Since this is a studio with an open bedroom and living space, when not in use the bathroom door is open to allow more light into the studio.

 

Because this is a waterproof product, it could continue into the kitchen as well. Before there was carpet in the living room space and old linoleum in the kitchen but now there is a seamless transition, this makes me happy!!!

 

 

Yesterday I was able to bring some furniture back into the space, this is the view of the living area looking at the bookcases, the kitchen you can see is on the left.

 

The bedroom furniture goes on this other side of the space, you can see more of it in this studio tour from last year.

 What does it feel like? When I walk on it with bare feet, it doesn’t feel exactly like real wood, it feels like a textured vinyl product. I wouldn’t label it plasticky like some of the older vinyl products but it’s not uncomfortable at all. It’s warmer to the touch than tile but not as warm as real wood. It does clean up easily, I used a broom to clear off debris, and you can get it extra clean with any easy mop product like a Swiffer. I love that is looks great, is guaranteed by a lifetime warranty, and is waterproof!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Floor & Decor. The opinions and text are all mine.