Quote:
Originally Posted by mac5
I had konecto installed professionally about a month ago. I do think it is a good product but our install was awful. The flaws were immediately noticeable. The two main reasons it failed is because the floor was not acclimated or rolled. Also the person installing the floor did not stager the planks properly. The flooring company agreed that the entire floor needs to be replaced. This will be the third time this flooring company has replaced this floor. The original floor was a ceramic looking vinyl. It was apparent that they used 3 to 4 different dye lots of this floor during installation. Some parts were light and some were dark. Some were glossy and some were more matte finish. You are probably saying "why have this company install another floor!" We had to according to our builder. The good news is we have decided to reinstall the konecto ourselves. We have installed laminate floors before and after watching the install video and reading thoroughly about this product, we feel we will do a great job. We are not going to give this company another chance to do a bad job. Here is my question. We do not like the metal transition strips between the floor and the carpet. Has anyone found transition strips that look like wood to match or does metrofloors make such a product. I think it would enhance the beauty of this floor. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Again I do like this product and when installed properly I believe it will last a very long time.
|
My fieance and I were just talking again last night about how much we enjoy the 650 sqft of Konecto Prestige we installed; as we were sitting in our living room with candles burning and a fire in the fireplace. The konecto looked so nice in the fire light...
We were discussing in the future installing Konecto in our bedrooms and upstairs (about 1,800 additional sqft). The 2 year old $1.65/sqft laminate in our bed room is showing damage in multiple areas.
We installed it all ourselves, and it just worked out perfectly. There was one tiny 1 inch piece in a corner that we could not roll properly due to where it was, and it came loose right away. I glued it back in place with a poly glue, it will never come loose again.
Make sure you use a hand roller as you go, to roll each seam down. You can buy one at Home Depot for around $35
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...ctId=100012074
Next time, I would buy that roller that I showed the link to above. I used a smaller one that was cheap and made for wall paper or something. It worked and it was strong enough to deal with a lot of pressure, but was much harder to use than I think that one would be from home depot.
You also MUST ROLL with a 100 POUND ROLLER right away after you lay down the floor, as in after you install a couple rows, roll them multiple times.
They tell you to score and snap the konecto to cut it. That is kind of a joke with the prestige due to how thick it is. It is very difficult to score and snap. It can be done if you score multiple times with a sharp blade in a good knife with a non-retractable blade. These are the utility blades you want to use for the work you do with a knife:
http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/...rwinProd100405
You can find them at most home centers. Change the blade fairly often to keep a sharp one in your knife. You will thank me later. These blades compared to cheap utility knife blades are like the difference between a butter knife and a sharp professional chefs knife. I love the irwin blades.
Also buy some Tin Snips / utility snips. MAKE SURE TO GET ONE THAT HAS SERRATED TEETH TO HELP BITE INTO THE MATERIAL. Something like these, Not necessary to get the irwin, I have not used them, but get a good brand:
http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/...rwinProd100402
You will use the snips for any complicated cuts you do, and can even use them for all of the cuts you do on the konecto. They work very very well. There are left hand, right hand blades with curves to them and straight blades. You might need to try a couple to find which one works well for you. When you find a good one, it will cut the Konecto easily, kind of like a scissors cutting paper, not quite that easy, but you get my point that if it is a good pair, it is not difficult to cut.
Make sure you have a work table setup with a disposable plywood top on it for the pieces that you are going to cut with the razor. A T-Square (drywall square) is helpful and fairly inexpensive. A 12 inch speed square is helpful as well and very inexpensive. A pencil and black fine tip sharpie are good as well. A yard stick or small stick ruler is useful, and of course a tape measure.
When starting, make sure to cut off the first edge that buts against the wall. This is easy to forget and they don't really say much about it in the directions.
The glue is very sticky and it is hard to reposition once it touches the other piece of konecto. Try to kind it up the best you can before you let it touch. A trick you can use is to lay the piece of waxed paper stuff (that comes in the konecto boxes to keep the separate) down on the floor on top of the plank that is on the floor, then position the new plank, then pull out the waxed paper stuff. This is very useful if you are working in tight spaces such as closets or hallways.
You should also purchase transition strips if you have a setup that would require a reverse install. Reverse install is a PAIN. Buy the strips and make it easy. If you don't understand what I mean by if you have a reverse install area let me know.
I transitioned to the slate floor in our foyer and to the laminate in the bed room with a metal threshold strip that has a wood look. I found it at Lowes and it is a good match to the Konecto Prestige Original. I used a large amount of clear silicone under the strip to seal up the joint against leaks. We are happy with the way the metal - wood look threshold strip looks. The wood "color" to the set nails in the strip has worn off a little bit. We do heavy cleaning on all of our flooring on a regular basis, due to pets.
I was told metrofloor does not make any threshold strips. Another option for a strip is wood, there are wood strips at home depot, lowes, etc make for transitioning from laminate to carpet. Some of them are pre finished and ready to install, some are unfinished. If there is an prefinished one, you could use that, or get one that is unfinished and just buy a couple small cans of minwax stain and test the stains to find the right color. Once it is stained, I would apply a couple coats of the minwax (or comparable brand) floor polyurethane to the strip to protect it.
Well thats way more information than you asked for, but I am sure you will find it very valuable and helpful. These and the little details I wish I knew before I started the project. A couple people did answer questions for me prior to my install and I came into the project pretty prepared, but I wish I had know a several of the things I told you here.
Best of luck, let me know if you have any other questions. Let me know if you want to see some photos of my Konecto install in my home.
Your going to use the Konecto Prestige right? How much are you going to pay for it? I paid right about $3 a sqft including shipping. I had about 3% to 4% waste, but I was very careful (almost methodical, I only lost about 6sqft due to error or slipping when cutting). They tell you to plan 10% waste.
Jamie
) and we worked very slowly and carefully on it. We installed close to 500 square feet in the most heavily trafficked central core of our house. So far, it has performed really well for us.
Linear Mode
