Why We Chose Laminate Flooring • Robyn's Southern Nest

Hey friends and welcome back! Last week I shared our basement renovation reveal, but today I want to delve deeper into some of the specific areas that we did. With that being said I want to go over why we chose laminate flooring for our basement renovation.

Farmhouse white kitchen with laminate floors - Robyn's Southern Nest

Before I start, I have to tell you that I will not be recommending the company we used for our floors. We had a really bad experience with their customer service, so I can’t sit here and recommend someone that is not up to par. With that being said, we do love our new floors and love the way they finally turned out. So if you’re looking for recommendations on someone to lay your floors unfortunately I can’t recommend anyone at the moment.

Home Office in basement showing laminate floors - Robyn's Southern Nest

Here’s a look at our floors before we chose to put down laminate. It was a peel and stick vinyl faux cork flooring. The previous owners of our home laid this floor, and while not terrible, we knew that to achieve the look we were wanting it just had to go!

Captain America themed basement and office - Robyn's Southern Nest — Before with the “cork” floors

Man Cave with Marvel theme - Robyn's Southern Nest

Hallway with laminate flooring - Robyn's Southern Nest

Top 3 Reasons Why We Chose Laminate:

#1 It is super durable.

Because this new floor was going in the basement we knew that we didn’t want tile, hello winter and cold feet. We were also taught that wood floor in a basement is a big no no because of the chances of moisture in the environment. The basement is also not climate controlled. We have ceiling fans for the Summer and space heaters for the Winter. Laminate flooring is also very easy to clean and doesn’t get scratched as easily as wood flooring.

#2 Best for basements.

You don’t want to put down hardwood or carpet in a basement in my opinion. The hardwoods would expand and contract and could cause buckling. Carpet is not good either because basements are not typically climate controlled, and you don’t want any moisture in or around carpet. These luxury vinyl planks are 100% waterproof.

#3 Look of wood for less.

Laminate is the next best option to get the look of wood for a lot less money. We chose a cool toned floor that has a tinge of brown in it as well. That way you can use more warm toned woods to tie it in. It also went well with the existing carpeting on our stairs. We also chose one that had some grains in it so it didn’t look like it was just stamped to look like wood. So I highly recommend going with one that has some texture to the touch.

Vinyl Wood plank flooring -Robyn's Southern Nest

Pro Tip!
“Run your flooring vertical for longer spaces. It will give the illusion that the room is larger.” – Robyn Davis

I’m no pro, but I can’t stress this tip enough! Our basement isn’t a square. So I decided to run the boards “long ways” or vertical to really make the space seem larger. It helps to draw your eye down the room when the lines are running the length of the room.

Basement Flooring shot with orange cat in the living room. - Robyn's Southern Nest

Brand and Color

We absolutely love the floors. The manufacturer is Congoleum and the style name is “Timeless Triversa”. I checked to see if they were exclusive to the company we used, and they are not. You can get them elsewhere which is why I wanted to share! The color we chose is Applewood – Frosted Coffee TV082 and the plank size is 9” x 48”. Each carton contains 10 planks. It is described as an “Engineered Luxury Vinyl Plank with Cork Underlayment”. As you can see from the pictures below I shared the back of the planks. This additional cork underlayment on the back offers more insulation so the floors won’t get quite as cold on your tootsies in the winter too!

I tried to get a close up so you could see the texture of it.

Cork underlayment of the vinyl flooring - Robyn's Southern Nest

Storytime

Since I’m not mentioning the name of the company I figured some of you wanted to know what really went down. So the whole process of picking out the floors was fine. Installation day however was NOT GOOD AT ALL! The job took about twice as long as expected, so that really put a wrench in our day. We had plans to go to a housewarming party for a close friend of mine later in the afternoon, but Chris ended up staying behind because it took them almost 7 hours to complete. Unbeknownst to us the foreman also left about halfway through the job without informing us. This is something that is a no no! They are supposed to stay the whole time. So Chris goes down when he hears them wrapping up and sees that all of the doors are still off their hinges and were thrown into the basement. He also saw that the toilet was still off the floor and in the bathtub. He then realizes that the foreman is no where to be found. Chris is left with the other two workers trying to communicate when there is clearly a language barrier. So in short, the foreman left, the doors weren’t hung and they were trying to tell Chris that there might also be something wrong with the screw to the back of the toilet. The foreman also left in such a haste that he didn’t even take the work order. He had never completed the final checklist. He just bolted. Which in the end was actually beneficial to us. After so many calls and complaints we finally got some resolution. At first they said it wasn’t their policy to shave down doors and were outright refusing to do it. We were told that the floors would be fine laid on top of the existing floor. If they had done the measurements properly they would have seen that the new floors were going to be an issue with the existing floors. So because we refused to sign the original copy of the work order they were forced to come back and finish the job. So after about 2 weeks, they finally sent someone out to shave down the doors and to be sure the toilet was securely put back on the wall and floor.

Moral of the story! Always be sure that whoever is measuring your space that they take the door clearance into account. We were told it wouldn’t be a big deal to lay the new floor over the existing floor because it was “only millimeters in difference”. Well that was not the case once the floors were laid. Even though this company is said to have a high reputation, we cannot honestly give a good review since we had such a terrible experience. We can’t complain though about the actual floors themselves y’all! We love them! It just goes to show that customer service is such a huuuuge part of home renovation and when that element is really lacking it puts a damper on the whole process.

Flooring shown with barn door in basement - Robyn's Southern Nest

If you’ve stuck around until the end! Thank you! You’re a true Rockstar in my book! We have learned that with any home renovation project there is always going to be ups and downs. But it’s what we take away from the experience is what I wanted to share with y’all today.

The Takeaways!

Do your homework on companies if you aren’t doing it yourself…which is probably why you’re here.
Measure yourself even if a “pro” is measuring your space. Remember the clearance for your doors.
Be sure the foreman stays on site.
Do not sign a certificate of completion before the job is finished. Even if they try and have you sign before the job starts. Trust me. If they had the completion order they would have never come back to finish the job!