Seeking simple, reversible, temporary kitchen floor covering
Nice it looks amazing price of rug. I really like this.
loydwillard
in Flooring 11 years and 1 month ago
11
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11 replies
citizenjane | 11 years and 3 months ago
Hi y’all, Our quandry: Gotta cover a kitchen floor which currently has pine subflooring (of not the highest grade). The solution should last 3 years, be reasonably attractive, and removable so when we get a full concept together for this entire area of the house, we can realize it. In the meantime, we need to put something down for renters on May 1. Options: – linoleum – will it ruin the pine subfloors for later finishing? marmoleum is out of scope due to cost and installation challenge; also having difficulties find cool linoleum (vintage style would be fab!) – paint – not good bc later super hard to refinish it – poly – prefer light wood or light brown, but the red/orange really comes out with clear poly and I don’t like the look. I’m stumped at every turn. Even considering a rug at this point!! Any brilliant ideas out there? Thanks a million!!!!
ventilated | 11 years and 3 months ago
Consider an Ikea laminate floor with floor liner. We have it in a rental kitchen after parquet damaged by a flood. Certainly durable for at least three years (10 year warranty). Looks decent, floats above existing floor (no nails or glue), price is right. Curiously, the Ikea link shows the package price as if it’s the square foot price: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/workspaces/14700/
brokelin | 11 years and 3 months ago
Have been reading house blogs about people who use a sheet of rubber flooring, often one called coin that has raised round circles on it for traction. Looks fairly industrial, but rather modern and cool, and if your tenants like, they can throw a rug over it. You’ll see photos if you google ‘rubber flooring kitchen,’ but also google ‘rubber floor’ and ‘manhattan nest’ to read about how one person did it. I like the idea of using one sheet, as then you don’t have any possibility of water penetrating through cracks in interlocking tiles or planks that could cause damage or mold on the subfloor underneath, unbeknownst to you. Just put baseboard molding over it at the edges, and caulk any cracks to keep water from going under the rubber sheet. Also, sanding and covering with not poly, but one of the other oil-baed floor finishes gives pine subfloors a great look, and it doesn’t seem to peel up or crack like poly eventually does. I’m convinced that was what the previous owner put on the gorgeous hundred year old pine subfloors in my last place, as it didn’t seem at all like poly on the floor. It also seemed to be a harder finish than poly, though the pine itself was relatively soft. Covering the subfloor will protect it if you intend to expose it later, though that doesn’t sound like where you are headed.
cate | 11 years and 3 months ago
The Ikea floor sounds like a really good idea, especially for renters. But just FYI on the poly question: If this is the old original pine (or fir) subfloor, it is definitely possible to refinish without getting those crazy horrible colors. It’s not a DIY job. Pay a floor refinisher with lots of experience to seal it, stain it, and coat it with four layers of clear water based poly satin — NOT semi gloss or gloss. (They should test the stain color in an inconspicuous place.) The sealer is crucial to avoiding the crazy uneven color. So is the satin poly — the other ones will turn the wood red and yellow. we redid our stair in this fashion and it looks fantastic. (Alas, in the other areas of the house we put semi gloss on as a third coat and ruined the beautiful stain — we then screened to get rid of it but it didn’t help much.) In general IMHO a wood subfloor is not the greatest solution for a kitchen, which gets a lot of use and scraping from chairs, if it’s big enough for a table. Especially if it’s a rental. Although if it’s a small galley kitchen, I’d do it and put down lots of rugs. Would look really nice.
brokelin | 11 years and 3 months ago
Yeah, my hundred year old pine subfloor was more damaged in my galley kitchen already when I moved in than the same subfloor was throughout the rest of the place. So when I first dropped something on it that dented it (didn’t take much) and saw how I tended to get water on the floor when cooking there, I got a bamboo runner to protect the floor, which also nicely cushioned my bare feet. Of course, some people hate any rugs or mats of any kind on kitchen floors, so it would be hard to order tenants to use them there. Some people hate laminate in the kitchen, as they say it tends to swell at the joints when it gets wet. Another option is interlocking vinyl plank flooring, which floats on top of the subfloor like laminate, but is better with water in a kitchen.
daveinbedstuy | 11 years and 3 months ago
How about a nice looking “coin” rubber mat? I have these in my garage and have used them in kitchen and bath as well http://www.garagefloor.com/Better-Life-Technology-Mats-s/1831.htm
citizenjane | 11 years and 3 months ago
Thank you very much for all this great feedback and the new perspectives. They are all helpful. In fact, while this is a kitchen now, in its next incarnation it may be a bedroom (the lower back room of brownstone), so I’m just trying to keep my options option. (And I forgot the pine is also in the ground floor hallway.) Will def check out the laminate and investigate the rubber. Cate, I’m really interested in what you are saying about how to avoid the reds/oranges. I will go back to the team that is working on this job to verify what we have been using vis a vis your recommendations, because I’ve been told that it is impossible to keep pine from turning red/orange, esp if it is not the best grade. The fact that the wood turns orange-y with just water is said to be damning…. I received a recommendation for whitewashing the floors which is intriguing. Must study up on this too. Thanks to all for your quick feedback. I’ll be back in touch!
cate | 11 years and 3 months ago
I am not certain which Minwax stain color we used. Might have been Golden Oak or Early American. FYI, whatever you come up with, if you seal it first, the satin water based polymer will not change the way it looks when stained one bit. It will look exactly the same, as if there is no poly on it. Good luck!
ParkSlopePS | 11 years and 3 months ago
using a green dye stain on red hued wood, or a blue dye stain on orange hued wood , will bring the wood to a more “brown” color
ventilated | 11 years and 3 months ago
Brokelin makes a good point about the seams between planks on the laminate floors. Fortunately, the current tenant keeps a throw rug near the sink and is a meticulous housekeeper. Like OP, our decision was driven by cost and short-term solution. We used Ikea’s now discontinued black-and-white speckled flooring, purchased during their 1x- or 2x-a-year flooring sale. I like the idea of industrial or garage flooring, assuming it feels right for the space. BTW, though not appealing to us, FLOR carpet tiles are another possibility. OP, the whitewashing you’re talking about is also called pickling. When done well it’s very beautiful, but be aware that it will permanently change the wood’s color.
Lurker | 11 years and 3 months ago
Laminate flooring or vinyl plank all the way. We have ikea high gloss (white, now discontinued) laminate flooring in kitchen that has been amazing for 4-plus years now. We wet mop frequently and haven’t had swelling at all. We’ve dropped stuff and had minor chips but that will happen. In laminate flooring elsewhere water that sat soaking did leak and swelled and so there’s a seam now which is annoying. But it’s virtually bullet proof–the only thing that cracked one was dropping a radiator. Vinyl laminate is completely waterproof but have no experience with it. Check out Home Depot’s line for an idea.