WNY Handyman

Well, our Trafficmaster Allure floor installation is complete.  If you aren’t familiar with this plank vinyl flooring product you can find it at Home Depot.  The product is a fantastic alternative to a peel and stick vinyl tile.  At the end of the installation, the product acts as a sheet vinyl would rather than free floating pieces that will gap and slide over time. Any movement should be covered by your final molding piece.

We wrote our initial review of the product here: http://www.wnyhandyman.com/trafficmaster-allure-plank-vinyl-floor-review/

There are a number of videos regarding the installation of the TrafficMaster Allure product. Here are a couple that we found useful prior to installation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILuez7u7Mvw (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khXeJ0E8-Do (part 2)

Installation of Allure Trafficmaster Plank Vinyl from HomeDepot.com (PDF file)
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/72/72845250-3948-4c77-824f-50f17da70f63.pdf

Summary of Allure Trafficmaster Plank Vinyl review:

Pros:

1. Price
   At less than $2 per square foot, this is a good value for the money.  In fact, you can run over to Ebay and pick up a Home Depot or Lowe’s coupon to save an extra 10%!
2. Ease of install
   No special tools are needed. Similar install to a peel and stick tile without the slippage and separation. Cuts with a razor knife and detailed cuts can be made with shears. Since this is a floating installation, you don’t adhere to the sub floor making it a much cleaner DIY floor.
3. Durability
   The product has a thickness to it that won’t allow it to show many imperfections through.  With many vinyl flooring products every crack and void in your subfloor will show through. The vinyl planks are about 2x the thickness of an inexpensive sheet vinyl product. This will help with durability and smoothness of surface

Cons:

1. Errors aren’t simple to correct
   If you make a mistake when applying this product, you are not going to be able to pull a single piece out with ease. The adhesion achieved when placing the pieces is nearly impossible to undue. If you make a mistake, you might have to backtrack quite a bit.
2. Instructions don’t fully cover the detailed steps
   As with other laminate installations undercuts should be made at door jambs and molding should cover your outer gap for the best result.  This isn’t covered in the basic instructions that come with the product.  To achieve a professional looking result, this should be done.  If you don’t have one, consider a Factory-Reconditioned Dremel Multi-Max.

I would absolutely use this product again or recommend it to any DIY’er.  Easy and a solid looking end result.

We decided to us a plank vinyl flooring product for the entry at a fixer project.  The product is TrafficMaster Allure and is available at Home Depot.  This is a floating vinyl installation where the vinyl planks adhere to one another.  In theory, this is a better method than your traditional 12×12 vinyl tile installation. With the plank vinyl floor, your product moves as a single unit (similar to a sheet) rather than experiencing the individual movement that an inexpensive self-stick tile will see.

For a wet area, the plank vinyl product from TrafficMaster seems ideally suited. The method that they use for the adhesion is a lapped tongue that is substantial enough (about 1″) so that the adhesion should provide a nice water barrier / seal.  Overall, we are very happy with the product.  It met our needs for this project and was a nice alternative to a sheet product.

As many of you probably know, making flooring choices is always a challenge.  There are a number of factors that will impact your decision.

• Cost
• Time
• Design

Put the factors in your own order, but they are almost always part of the equation.   Our small entry area (70 square feet) has a rather tight door swing.  Because of this, we are unable to do a traditional tile installation. We had to use a vinyl product due to the thickness (or lack of).  Due to a rather complex shape, we wanted to avoid a sheet product and we also wanted to achieve a wood look.  One other factor was that we wanted a fast install that virtually anyone could do.  A product that can be put down by a handyman and not just a skilled flooring contractor was the right choice for this job.

We selected the TrafficMaster Allure, Hickory 6 in. x 36 in. Resilient Vinyl-Plank Flooring.  The price was $1.79 per square foot which was a very fair price for the quality of the product.  Time will tell with regard to the durability and adhesion quality of the glue used for the lapped tongue, but our initial impression of the project makes it a terrific choice for many applications.

Trafficmaster Allure Plank Vinyl

Lancaster, NY revaluation. It stinks!

Well, if you live in Lancaster, NY, you probably received a lovely letter yesterday regarding your property taxes and your property assessment.  There were increases that appear across the board.  The equalization rate is no longer as we have moved to 100% valuation.  The increases are staggering in many cases.

The town of Lancaster continues to spend, and spend, and spend on projects that don’t benefit the town as a whole.

1. There is a pricey new addition to town hall (approximately $985,000).
2. There is a new police and courts facility in the works ($8,000,000 Plus).
3. There is the new use of a former library for an emergency management office (that’s right, Lancaster has one).
4. There is the proposed recreational facility that will certainly add long term costs.
5. etc. etc.

Let’s not forget that use of these properties suddenly pulls them off the tax rolls. And, in the case where a sale is possible, eliminates the funds from a sale (Depew Library is a prime example).

Many will be fighting the new assessment figures.  In a couple of cases, I will be one of them.  If you aren’t familiar with the tools available to you for searching property information here are a couple:

• Lancaster Online Assessment Review System (OARS) http://www.oarsystem.com/ny/lancaster/main.asp
• Erie County Real Property System http://www.erie.gov/ecrpts/webprop.asp
• Erie County Internet Mapping System http://gis1.erie.gov/website/Erie_help/help.htm

I know that there is quite a bit of state and/or federal funding drying up for Towns and Villages. How about cutting costs rather than continuing to spend. If a surplus builds, cut taxes!

Politics suck.

The fastcap 3rd hand is a great tool. I can’t tell you how many times I have been able to use this item. If you work alone, I am sure that you have needed someone to “hold that other end”. You have probably also made your own braces out of a spare 2×4 (or two). The 3rd hand is great because it allows you to jack it up with a single hand. It is great for placing crown molding, or even drywall pieces. When hanging drwall alone you can use your regular t-brace (made from 2×4′s) and then snug the piece against the ceiling with your 3rd hand tool. This allows you to get your screws in nicely without worrying about your drywall shifting.

FastCap 3rd Hand

For about $40, this is a nice tool. You can find it at sites like Rockler or Coastal Tool. The price doesn’t vary too much from one retailer to the next, so check on the cost of shipping, handling, and sales tax.