by Keith Hamburger

Created on: May 01, 2008   Last Updated: January 06, 2009

When we moved into our house, about 20 years ago, we really loved everything except for the floor coverings. Most of the house was filled with a green, medium shag carpet almost certainly installed in the 1970's when such was all the rage. Being first time homeowners, and not having much money, we ended up living with that for several years.

The one exception to that, which my wife insisted on fixing, was the kitchen. Even there carpet was used. Carpet in a kitchen is just a bad idea. Stained by spills throughout the years, and having absorbed decades of cooking odors, something had to be done. Within a few weeks of moving in we pulled and replaced that carpet.

After laying down a thin underlayment of plywood we installed industrial-grade vinyl tiles on a Saturday. At a total expense of less than two dollars per square foot our kitchen was transformed into a functional and practical workspace. While the appearance was somewhat utilitarian this upgrade worked for many years. With little cost and a bit of work we had a durable and easily maintained floor that easily stood up to the heavy traffic and minor calamities that are inevitable in any kitchen.

After a few years, as our situation improved and our tolerance dwindled, it was finally time to do something about the rest of the carpet in the house. Exploring our options we decided that new carpet was definitely out. Carpet being difficult to maintain, impossible to ever really get clean, and relatively expensive, we decided to look for other options.

At the time laminate flooring was fairly new and much more difficult to install than today. However, we found a really good sale on some high-quality brand-name laminate, and decided to go for it. With a few evenings of preparation; moving furniture, pulling up the old carpet, studying the installation instructions and getting materials and tools together, we tackled the job of installing several hundred square feet of laminate flooring in a weekend. Mistakes were made and lessons learned but we ended up with a durable and even easier to maintain floor than the vynil tiles we had installed previously in the kitchen.

Advances in laminate flooring design since then have made the same job in our newly-married son's house much easier. Unlike the earlier flooring we had installed in our home, today's laminate simply snaps together. No more gluing and tapping with blocks, all you need do is cut to fit and the interlocking designs go right into place. With a bit of preparation

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