I Luv LUV Luv EC Lock Grip Strip Flooring!!

In my kitchen I used EC LOCK floors it is a grip strip vinyl plank  and everyone who has seen it thinks the floor is wood.  It looks so good and for the kitchen (110 sq ft) it only cost $70 but that’s because I got my two boxes from a surplus warehouse.    If you remember…this is what it looks like

 

The vinyl has a grain pattern it it, which is why I think it looks natural.  It also feels good when I walk barefoot on it.  In  Homedepot they sell the Allure brand but it costs a little more.  I had a sample of the floor I used with me and it looked exactly the same.. (I have the Chestnut like the one on the right)

They have several different colors.  I like the two-tone floor in the top right corner but I think it might be hard to decorate the room with a bold floor like that.  I also like the black floor and that’s when I realized that all the floors in the display are NOT grip strip floors.  Some of them are interlocking like the laminate floors.  That to me complicates things a little and I say go for the grip strip and pass on the interlocking… but that’s just my opinion.

In Homedepot they have a close out on the pine colored strips and it is about $9 cheaper per box.  That is close to what I paid for my Chestnut colored floor from the outlet…

In watching the guy put it down I could have totally done this because it cuts with a box cuter and it seemed easy to handle.  If I tried it I am sure it would have taken me a little bit longer than it did for him to do though and as you heard me say a hundred times already I was so over the kitchen.

Now I want the floor in my living room but I am not sure if that is wasting money or not.  I will have to get some throw rugs to go with my designs to pull off the look I am going after.  Do I use the throw rugs on the carpet that I have or do I go ahead and get the vinyl floor and then throw the rugs on it?  If I get the vinyl floor will I mess it up by the stop slip stuff I have to put under the rugs?  I need 5 boxes for my living room and while it is not all that expensive I do have to add the price of the sub-floor (Luann) to ensure a smooth surface under it and the labor to put it down ($10 hr) cause I ain’t doing it. LOL  I stick to the cheaper projects.

I really like that floor though…and putting it down when I have no furniture in the living room will be the perfect time to get it…I want so much but my money is not long enough to do everything I want when I want it no matter if I do it myself, get cheap labor or what I do.  I do have to think about the fact that I have to replace the furniture in the living room.   Okay writing it out I see now that although it would be REALLY nice to have a new floor, I just can’t afford it right now and I need to keep my priorities in order.  BUT on the other hand the floor will be cheaper than the rugs because they are expensive. LOL  We will see how it goes…

Update on my EC Lock Floors 3 years later:  My floors are holding up well.  Especially considering they went through hell with all the construction going on in here.  The thing I like about them is that they are very good looking, people still mistake them for wood floors and find it hard to believe they are vinyl, and they are easy to care for.  I had one plank where the glue was not good and it kept gaping.  After a year I finally put some super glue in there and now it is fine.  The shine did not hold up that well and I am thinking of calling the manuf and asking what I can do about that but even though they are not glossy anymore they are still pretty as heck.  Oh and I recently had some work done and it is easy to cut out planks and replace them.  I was hemming and hawing on what to put down on my new room and I am glad I put the price in the original posting because now I know how much it is going to cost I have to ask myself why I even hesitated.  EC Lock floors it is!!