May 16, 2016

Lino or Carpet – Carpet or Lino: Floored!

The flooring was in quite a state – so after much discussion about whether we needed carpet or linoleum, we decided lino in the kitchen area, carpet in the bedroom and both in the lounge area.

And so began the hunt. I realise now that I am totally incapable of holding a colour in my head and matching it with something when I get home.

After several disastrous shopping trips we finally found the lovely Dee in DC Floors who let us take his display pieces of carpet and lino home from the showroom to try them in the van – SOLD – we ordered and paid and waited for the carpet fitter to contact us.

He did the following week and told us we would have to lift the vinyl tiles that were already stuck down before he could lay the new lino. Wee buns we thought – no problem – how wrong can you be ?

We started lifting the tiles in the kitchen and hall area which came up pretty easily, then moved to the lounge area where they had obviously been stuck with something like Sikaflex – which is fantastic stuff if you want to stick stuff up or down permanently – not so good when you’re the one coming behind trying to remove it.

We chipped away at it for a couple of hours before frustration got the better of me and I suggested we leave it for the day.

P1040428 — Vinyl tiles lifted in the kitchen area leaving a manky and gummy laminate floor below

New day – new attitude. I decided to tackle the floor again on my own – but it just wasn’t happening fast enough for me.

I’d like to say I had an epiphany but it was more an idea born of desperation.

I wondered if I heated the glue would it ease the tiles off. So trusty hairdryer in hand I started heating the edge of the tile and amazingly it started to lift quite easily using a wallpaper scraper.

Half an hour later and all the floor tiles were lifted – thank you God.

P1040429

Lifting the old vinyl tiles left an extremely sticky residue – so sticky that it pulled Alan’s shoe off when he stepped onto it for a few seconds.

We said a prayer and asked the carpet fitter if we needed to clean the stickiness off completely before he laid the new lino. Hallelujah – he said “no just leave it, it will help secure the new lino”.

I think if he’d said “yes it has to be completely cleaned”, I’d have left the country. It actually took less than two hours for him to fit both the lino and the carpet.

P1040486 — New lino in the kitchen and carpet leading through to the bedroom

The carpet in the living area isn’t stuck down. We had it cut to shape and bound at the edges to create a rug the exact size of the living area, so we can have the wood effect floor down permanently and lay the rug if its cold. So glad we were able to bring the samples home to try – the match is perfect – I love it.