Q: We are looking to replace most of our carpet downstairs with laminate. While doing research I saw the Congoleum forum plank product. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to be a better choice when you have 2 kids and a dog.
The salesperson we spoke with said that if we choose to go with the forum plank we will not be able to do our stairs. My wife really wants to replace the carpet on the stairs with a laminate.
Is there a way to do stairs with Congoleum, or similar product, the same way you can with a laminate product?
Thanks,
Tony
A: Congoleum makes great products especially when considering kids and pets, but like the sales rep mentioned, you can not do stairs with the Congoleum (Kudos to the sales person for setting your expectations on this). The reason why is because Congoleum does not have a nosing built for stairs like other hard surface floors. The Congoleum Forum Plank product is a thinner vinyl plank with a self-adhesive backing.
There may be a way to use the Congoleum to make your own nosing over some plywood, but I wouldn’t suggest it.
One thing to keep in mind is that some of the better laminates can take some serious abuse (such as we mentioned in the case with Ryan W.’s dog Jin and his South American Walnut floor). I would suggest going with a laminate in this case so you can keep the stairs matching to your floor. Just ensure you find a floor that has coordinating nosings built for it it. Again, stick to AC4 and AC5 laminates like Westhollow, Pergo Select, Quick Step’s Perspective and similar products.
I would also suggest looking into a good underlayment to get a better feel under foot and remove some of the hollow sound when you walk on laminate. Look into using Cork or Sound 6 for a more solid sounding floor.
Follow-Up: Tony and I have had quite the conversation through email in regards to his flooring project. From everything to which laminates to look at, to the best locking mechanisms in laminate (Quick Step’s Uni-clic is arguably the best on the market). We even discussed his wife’s concerns about dust collecting in the bevels.
We also got into a bit of talk on Tony’s process of talking to various floor companies to get quotes for his floor with installation. Tony mentioned:
We are getting several bids. One from a local Carpet One, one from Empire Today, and some form independent contractors.
I’ve not yet determined what a good price is. Empire measured 912 sq ft for laminate. Their quotes were about $8,500 – $10,300 for the quickstep 15 year and 30 year warranty products. This quote includes everything from start to finish. Labor, materials, leveling, furniture moving, etc.
I’ve read many mixed posts about Empire. Some say they are great and others say they do bad work and are overpriced. I don’t want to cut corners on the quality of the product chosen, but $10,000 seemed high to me.
After finding out Tony was near one of our great installers in the Dallas area (Tony is in Arlington, TX), I shot him over a quick quote which included 3mm cork underlayment, Quick Step’s Perspective (the more expensive of the two lines we’ve been discussing) and the best install package we have, our Premium Install which came out to $7500 (that’s almost $3000 less than Empire!) After that Tony had this to say:
I kinda figured they were a bit overpriced, or at least I was hoping so.I was kinda surprised at a few things tho. He recommended NOT doing the stairs. He said this type of floor doesn’t work well on stairs. That’s fine by me, stairs are expensive anyway. Also, he didn’t apply much pressure when were done, meaning he didn’t repeatedly push to close the deal right then. BTW, we haven’t received any other quotes yet. The Carpet One guy doesn’t seem that motivated to make a 10k sale… go figure.
I mentioned there is some argument to the application of floating floors on stairs, but if done properly there should be no issues. I personally prefer solid treads when I can get them, which means no laminate. Tony is looking into carpet for his stairs as an alternative and a 160sf section of his home. His wife is looking at Frieze, which is very popular.
My Kudos to Tony as he has been doing some great research, using Laminate Brand Wars II by our very own Steve as a guide and then finding various other consumer reports on laminate to help narrow down his search. Also, polling various floor companies to get an idea of what a professional install would cost versus installing it himself.
I do encourage anyone who is working on their own flooring project to take time to research products and information that will help make your new floor last and install without issues, and of course, don’t be afraid to ask questions of experts like yours truly.
