Question re iFloor, laminate & t-molding

—–Original Message—–
From:
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:25 PM
To: steve
Subject: Question re iFloor, laminate & t-molding

Mr. Simonson,

I visited your store in Dalton this morning and have a couple of follow-up
questions before I take the plunge to install laminate (currently looking at
the Westhollow 10.3mm) throughout the first floor of my house. I know you’re
very busy, but I’d feel much better about the plunge I’m about to take with
just a little more information.

First question: Is it imperative that I place t-moldings in the doorways
between rooms? Or, with proper attention to detail (i.e., expansion spacing)
can you safely do without the t-moldings between, say, entrance foyer,
living room and dining room and allow the laminate to extend seamlessly from
room to room? (The first floor off my house is 25’x37′ and is divided into
three rooms and an entrance foyer.) I’d love to have the “new- house” look
where the flooring continues uninterrupted from room to room throughout the
entire first floor. Moreover, I worry that having t-molding in every
doorway/opening (there are five such openings) throughout my first floor
will impart the feeling of premanufactured housing. I don’t want to spend
that much time and effort to end up with a look that is obviously not
hardwood and reminds people of living in a trailer park. I saw on the Pergo
web site where they state unequivocally that you *must* use t-molding in
every doorway. Your thoughts?

Second question: Pergo’s web site says only that you must take off the
quarter round before installing their flooring; the WestHollow instructions
at iFloor.com say to take off the quarter round *and* the floor molding. Is
it really necessary to take off the floor molding? If so, it would seem that
makes the installation considerably more difficult and will require touching
up all the walls when done. Is this requirement unique to WestHollow, or is
it really best to take off all the molding no matter whose flooring you’re
installing?

Last question: Am I losing anything in quality by considering the WestHollow
brand instead of a more well known brand such as Pergo, Mannington, or
Armstrong.

Thanks in advance for your help.

David

HI David.

To answer your question 1: for all floating floors you need T-moldings in
doorways. If you don’t want the moldings you should consider moving to a
glue down or nail down hardwood. Sorry about that, but floating floors move
and doorways will restrict them which will cause the floor to buckle. They
don’t look too bad once you have them installed, btw.

Question 2: you only need to take off enough of your molding to make sure
when you reinstall it the 1/4″ expansion gap will be concealed your molding.
Since you have quarter round(not everybody does) that should be all you need
to remove and reinstall following the flooring installation. You’re right,
it is easier to R&R quarter round!

Question 3: We offer pergo, Mannington, Armstrong, westhollow and many more
brands. All of those brands have different styles some of which are entry
level, some are mid level and some are high end. In general westhollow has
compared in a very favorable way to other brands.

I hope this helps!

ss