Thoughts and opinions on "Trafficmaster Allure" flooring from Home Depot? - Page 3 - DIY Chatroom

dan-abby · 05-03-2008, 09:22 PM

as in the response from WARMSMEALLUP

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan-abby

Thanks for the input on the radiant floor heat. As for now we are back on tile on the bathroom. My husband took one look at the Traffic Master Allure and said "your kidding right??". I loved it, especially in the bathroom (we are doing hardwood flooring thruout the rest of the addition). I still welcome all input as we have a few months to debate (argue!!). As for the question... I am not sure what you're refering to... we have just laid the tubing, and Tues they will pour 1 1/2" concrete over it, then that will be our subfloor. Does that answer your question??
-Abby

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Prowler · 05-13-2008, 11:39 AM

Last fall I laid 400 sq. ft. of the Cherry Allure over cement with in-floor radiant water heat. During the winter months I have frequently noticed an odor that I thought has been coming from my septic system. After exhaustive checking and testing I have all but ruled out the septic system as the source. That leaves only the Allure as the most likely culprit. Has anyone else noticed an odor while using this product over in-floor heat? Could it be the glue or the material itself that emits an odor as it is warmed by the radiant heat? I did not notice any odors last fall until I closed the house up and turned the heat on for the winter.

kristiewiens · 05-22-2008, 11:15 AM

We just had the Allure Flooring installed (the kind that looks like ceramic tiles) and it is beautiful. We had it installed in the kitchen, foyer, hallway, and half bathroom.
i do have a question, we have a few SCUFF marks, (resemble eraser marks) and i can't seem to remove them. Does anyone have any suggestions? I tried the MR CLEAN MAGIC ERASER and had no luck. I have also tried BRUCE's NO WAX FLOOR CLEANER (sold at Home Depot and made fore Pergo adn Allure flooring), again, no luck.
Does anyone know how to contact HALSTEAD (the manufacturer)?
I appreciate any insight!
Thanks
Kristie

allyup · 06-05-2008, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madeyoulook

To start off I work in the flooring department at Home Depot. As I read through all the comments posted I have to put in my two cents. Overall this is a great product. I sell this to a customer almost everyday I work. I have worked there for 1 year. And out of that year I have had 3 complaints. All 3 times it was the edges coming up. So you do the math. Any flooring or product, at that, will have somebody that is dissatisfied. In all actuallity the customer that said they installed it in a dry basement and they had a mold problem because the floor wouldn't breath, the basement obviously wasnt a dry basement to start with. I am not trying to bash on that person but they could have install a pergo that you put a plastic vapor barrier and had the same mold problem. All I am trying to say is that there is a risk with and product you buy but I have had more satisfied customers than dissatisfied ones.

PS. this is not a sales pitch, i hate my job. This is a opinion from a person that has it in there house and has seen this product bring satisfaction to many many people.

We are remodeling our kitchen and I'm now shopping for flooring. I am considering the trafficmaster allure floor. We have discovered that underneath the sheet vinyl on the floor now there is a layer of asphalt.
question-will this asphalt eat at or otherwise damage the allure planks? Any other advise and/or opinions about this product weuld be appreciated. Thanks.

TBailey · 06-06-2008, 10:36 PM

We just came back from Home Depot and pretty much have decided on the cherry Allure flooring for our LR,DR, foyer and hall. It looks very nice and oddly enough I feel confident that I can do the install. I was wondering if anyone could speak to its ability to withstand dog traffic. We have an 85 lb lab. Thanks for your response.

HomeDepot23 · 06-15-2008, 12:42 AM

I just finished my second installation of Allure. The first one was for my parents in a spare bedroom. To be honest I was not looking forward to doing another as I had a hard time with it and I have laid thousands of square feet of commercial vinyl tile in hospitals and other businesses.

This time I had to install 500 square feet in my wife's parents newly purchased manufactured home in 2 bathrooms, laundry room, dining room, kitchen and a quarter of the living room. Lots of cutting and angles, just like the lady said earlier.

This installation went very well and the biggest difference that I could attribute it to was room temperature. The first installation if I put the piece together slightly off it would often tear as I tried to separate them. Also I was getting glue all over my hands and knife as though I was installing those old VCT squares again. Except this was much harder to cut and a blade full of glue did not help.

This weekend my in-laws kept the home around 76-78 degrees, nice as it is in the 90's outside. My parents are lucky if their house gets below 82. The warmest rooms this time were the kitchen and laundry rooms and those rooms the tiles were a little tougher to separate, but much better and I got no glue on my hands or, more importantly, on my knife.

My biggest issues (apart from damaging a PVC pipe causing a leak under the home, but that is another story) were, as I said previously, cutting and meeting up two rooms where one is already down where it looks like you would have to back install right to left instead of left to right so to speak.

The cutting is not easy to me, at least cutting with the grain, my knife would slip or my straight edge, then it took some thumb muscles to snap them. My hats off to the ladies who did this job with no problem. I muddled through, although the base of my thumbs and forefingers are screaming at me.

The second issue is hard to explain. I began in the living room and came out into the dining room and down the hall, finally I had the dining room to the point where it met the kitchen, and also, down the hall I had a bathroom on the left. I would have put in thresholds at each doorway, but you don't know my father in-law. That won't fly.

In the kitchen I ran a line of several pieces to meet up with my dining room. I then screwed down a 1x4 next to the pieces to keep them straight. Then installed from left to right (after measuring and cutting my first piece to make sure it would work) and soon I was putting in the pieces next to my long run. It was maybe 1/32" off, but was just forgiving enough to work.

The bathroom, I made my first cut, which unfortunately was about 1/2" and ran allong the bathtub, I felt like an amatuer about now, I put in my second row and re-measured. It looked like I was still going to be off. I picked up the pieces as one and trimmed off 1/16" with my right handed carpet scissors taking skin off my already aching thumb. It seemed with each row my 6" wide boards seemed to be adding to my woes. Luckily I had made my end cuts a little loose in case I had to rotate a smidge and I left my starting pieces tight.

Sure enough I had to make more adjustments. I cut another 1/6" off my first row, by holding it a few inches off the floor, leaving me a piece that looks impossibly small by the tub and then with my wife watching the seam I got into the tub and pulled the whole piece until the seams lined up.

The job looked spectacular, for the most part it looks like I wouldn't need quarter round or shoe molding. But I know it needs it.

I would recommend this product. The Home Depot associate was exactly right with his comments, although I am sad that he hates his job. I have worked in flooring for my first 7 years there, although now I expedite the flooring and doors and windows department to try to help cut down on issues. I have been doing that almost a year.

I hope this helps somebody. There are so many tricks that can be passed on. For example, I never read the part wher you cut off the glued edge on the one side when you begin a fresh wall. On the first job it looked stupid with the wood suddenly dipping. Luckily my Dad's wallbase was about an inch. Also, I never tried using an old fashioned linoleum knife. I wonder if that would have cut easier?

HomeDepot23 · 06-15-2008, 10:00 AM

Allyup. Is that asphalt as in "ashphalt tiles"? If it is this, then it is fine. Although older tiles may have asbestos, they will not cause any harm untile they are lifted.

allyup · 06-15-2008, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomeDepot23

Allyup. Is that asphalt as in "ashphalt tiles"? If it is this, then it is fine. Although older tiles may have asbestos, they will not cause any harm untile they are lifted.

I should have been more specific. What we're concerned about is that the surface of the asphalt tile came off as my husband was prepping for the cabinet installation and now it's the black tar like adhesive that is exposed. This is the material that we wonder if it will damage the allure flooring.

HomeDepot23 · 06-15-2008, 10:23 AM

Hmm. That is a good question. The cutback adhesive can have reactions with other adhesives. The adhesive on the allure is not likely to touch the cutback, so my gut reaction is that it would be fine.

As I just stated in a previous thread, you might want to try a bonding agent like a floor leveller primer to give the cutback something else to fight.

Or if you have time, place a 3x3 area down on the floor and let it sit for a while (I have no idea what a while is) and see if anything develops.

rockydogg · 06-15-2008, 03:07 PM

I am a bit confused on the cutting for the initial piece. The box said to cut 1/8 inch off but from what I understand from some posts the idea is to cut the adhesive strip off that will be closest to the wall. Can someone clarify this point?

HomeDepot23 · 06-15-2008, 04:33 PM

Cut the 1" adhesive strip off, or the flooring will dip at the wall.

rockydogg · 06-22-2008, 10:47 PM

My respects to the 80+ year old lady who did her kitchen. I just completed mine, I wouldn't say it was hard to do, except for the cutting and the getting up and down. Wife loved it so I guess it was a success.

HomeDepot23 · 06-23-2008, 12:22 AM

Very nice. Get some felt pads for the bottom of those chairs.

jkmcr@hotmail.com · 06-26-2008, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kristiewiens

We just had the Allure Flooring installed (the kind that looks like ceramic tiles) and it is beautiful. We had it installed in the kitchen, foyer, hallway, and half bathroom.
i do have a question, we have a few SCUFF marks, (resemble eraser marks) and i can't seem to remove them. Does anyone have any suggestions? I tried the MR CLEAN MAGIC ERASER and had no luck. I have also tried BRUCE's NO WAX FLOOR CLEANER (sold at Home Depot and made fore Pergo adn Allure flooring), again, no luck.
Does anyone know how to contact HALSTEAD (the manufacturer)?
I appreciate any insight!
Thanks
Kristie

I was recently getting a quote for Allure flooring from Home Depot and the salesman recommended a cleaning product called "Once and Done" which apparently they sell. In fact, he said that was the only product that would be needed.

jkmcr@hotmail.com · 06-26-2008, 01:47 AM

I have two cats and am considering using Allure (the tile-look) in the room where the litter boxes are kept. Occasionally my senior kitty misses the box and wets the floor. Does anyone have any experience with this? Would it damage the appearance of the flooring or seep through the seams?

Secondly, I have my desk and rolling chair in this room. The desk, which contains my computer and a printer, is rather heavy. How would the Allure stand up to this weight? And what kind of protection for the rolling wheels would work???

Thanks for any advice you can give me. JKM