Flooring Finally Decided (I HOPE!!!)

It was nice to get another jump on the weekend by leaving early now that Laurie works from home on Fridays.  We got the car unpacked and the house opened up well before darkness set in.  We were going to bring Matt up for his last weekend before going off to start his new job, but he decided to stay home since we did not have planned work activities.  Since he was staying home, we left our dog with him.  This allowed us to bring up the convertible (such a fun ride) and leave it in Payson while we take the Jeep back to Gilbert so that we can use it to help Matt move into his new place south of Tucson.

We were not sure if we would do any work this weekend, but after planning out all we had to do prior to our permit expiration in April, we (make that I) thought we should try to accomplish at least one thing.  However, as the day progressed, it became too late for work.  There were some things we needed in town and after a late morning start, we did not finish with our run to town until later.

We were invited by Bob (our handyman) to attend a Celtic festival in town that night to hear his girlfriend, Denise, play the violin.  She is part of the local Celtic organization and they organize this event once a quarter.  She was part of a duet and she played guitar for part of it and then violin for the rest.  She did a great job and was happy to have friends come to see her.  The rest of the evening was an interesting mix of songs and stories by various people.

On Sunday we were invited by Bob to look at some laminate flooring he had installed at another house in town.  The couple who lived there was very nice and quite happy to show off their new flooring.  They also has a solar system installed last year and took some time to share their experience and findings with us.  We were more interested for our home in the Valley since we do not use a lot of electricity in Payson.  Earlier we had noticed that we needed to add some screws to the fascia board on the front porch as it seemed to be pulling away from the decking planks.  So we added some screws, but found we needed longer ones for some spots.  After a quick run to Home Depot, we were able to finish the job.  Now the boards have a much smaller gap.

We spent quite a bit of the weekend discussing our future flooring plans.  We keep waffling between doing tile throughout the house or laminate.  Having tile installed is the most expensive option, but the one choice that should outlast other options and work while the house is a vacation home.  However, Laurie is concerned that the tile will be too noisy (doesn't absorb sound) and also too cold in the winter.  We really like the idea of using laminate and have found many styles we like, but all of them require a climate controlled setting (usually between 65-85 degrees) and during the winter we only keep the house at 45 when we are gone.  Also, we have not found any laminate that has received good reviews in the long run.  All of it looks great right after installation, but as time goes on, people find issues start to crop up.  We received an email response from one vinyl manufacturer that suggested we use a fiberglass backed vinyl (not one they sell) for our situation.  We started to look into this on our way home (our broadband connection works almost the whole trip) and found this would be a great option, esp. for our kitchen, laundry room and pantry.  It is installed as a free-floating floor and we can do the install ourselves.  It will also be easy to replace once we start living there full-time and have other flooring options available.  We may still tile the bathrooms (have decided to replace the master bath tile) and even though we were against it at first, we will do carpet in the rest of the house.  It is cheaper and warmer and will withstand the non-climate controlled winters.  We will definitely look at other options once we are living there all the time.  Hopefully this will be the last decision on this subject, but I am not holding my breath.

Stats: 2 Home Depot trips; 2 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 1/16/12-1/29/12: $10
Remodeling expense to date: $39,121