Being the kind of person who loves the idea of doing a bit of DIY but actually being pretty useless at anything practical I was well impressed with the flooring I got from Homebase recently.
It's called: Westco Timberstyle Self adhesive Plank flooring ( a bit of a mouthful I know!) and, basically is vinyl flooring but with a twist - it looks like laminate!
Details
Price For £9.99 you get 7 strips of vinyl that will cover 1 sq metre of floor.It took me 3 packs to cover my pretty average sized bathroom.
Choice At my store there were 5 different shades of 'laminate style' vinyl. I chose "Sawn Oak Effect" which looks like darker, good quality flooring. It isn't really even and fake looking - rather, until you touch it, you could be forgiven for thinking it was original wood.
Ease of use This is the best bit! My floor was already pretty even (cork tiled)but the manufacturers claim that you can lay it on any floor without needing an underlay. So just prime with some PVA ( although I didn’t bother! So - you can lay it straight on. Just clean the floor of any fluff, peel the backing off the laminate, pace around on it to fix it down and hey presto!
Even fiddly corners and fitting round the loo wasn't too much hassle. Grab yourself a stanleyknife, a metal ruler and you can easily cut through the vinyl. I found the best way was to put a few deep cuts into the laminate and then to actually make the break just use my hands to fold along the cut.
The manufacturer recommends starting at one wall rather than in the middle of the room. Take their advice! It means less cutting of fiddly bits and will make the job even quicker.
Durability
My floor has only been down 2 weeks so hard to say but it’s survived a good few soaking with our misbehaving shower - so far so good. There is also a 5 yr warranty with the product so it should last well.
Finish
What really impressed me about this flooring was how good it looked. I used it in the bathroom , but you can use it in any room in the house. It is tough, waterproof, the pieces of vinyl sit next to each other very evenly and it looks goooood!
Even a complete diy novice like myself can do a pretty good job and I just can't help admiring the results every time I walk in!
Time for me to get a life I think!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Sounds good, im looking for something for my laundry room that will stop the cold coming through and is waterproof. The search continues :)
sjcgreen 26.10.2002 22:05
I was very interested to read your verdict on the Homebase flooring, because I have been thinking of replacing the bathroom carpet with laminate flooring, but was warned off about using it in a bathroom. The product you have used sounds as if it would be ideal for my needs.
Thank you for the advice
May 5th, 2002
very helpful by (97%):
helpful by (3%):
