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3 Affordable Flooring & Remodeling Products (You Don't Want To Miss...)
Updated: Oct 11, 2022
3 Affordable Flooring & Remodeling Products (You Don't Want To Miss...)
So, you have decided to do some remodeling in your home. The floors are old and out of date, and they need to be replaced. How do you start that process? Many times, you are simply looking for affordable products that will last a long time.
Maybe these situations represent your current project:
You have a rental home that needs new flooring
You have a basement that needs new flooring, but you don't want to spend a lot of money.
My house is going on the market to be sold. I just need a low-priced floor in a bedroom.
I have a starter house I will only be living in for a couple of years. I need new floors, but nothing fancy.
We're building a new house, and we need affordable flooring that looks nice.
If any of these situations sound similar, and if you want to learn about three outstanding, very durable, and well-priced flooring products that stores might not tell you about, read on...
3 Affordable Flooring & Remodeling Products (You Don't Want To Miss...)
Product #1: Shaw Floorte, Uptown Now WPC Plus
If you're looking for an affordable luxury vinyl plank flooring product, Shaw Uptown Now might just be the one. This product comes in 12 colors. Each board is 7 inches wide x 48" long. Shaw Uptown Now Plus comes with an attached pad and is a waterproof product. It has a 20 mil wear layer and a click-together installation method.
What Is Wear Layer?
The wear layer of a vinyl plank product is determined between the printed design of the product and the urethane finish. In the flooring world, the level of wear is measured in "mils." A "mil" is considered to be one thousand of an inch.
If you have a thick wear layer on a product, it is more resistant to scratching and denting. Most residential projects will use products that have a 12 mil wear layer or more.
Not only is the Shaw Floorte, Uptown Now Plus Product extremely well-priced, it also has a 20 mil wear layer.
The click-together installation method allows customers to install the product over existing floors, as well as use the product for a DIY installation.
Shaw Uptown Now can be installed below or above grade. It is perfect for entryways, family rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and basements.
If you're looking for a product that has beautiful designs and is very reasonably priced, Uptown Now will be hard to beat. This product is very popular in new home construction, remodels, and with real estate agents.
Product #2: Mohawk, Authentic Escape Carpet
Authentic Escape is a 25-ounce-weight carpet, that has 12 colors. The color line has very neutral colors that make it perfect for mass appeal. It is a great carpet for starter homes, rental home replacement carpets, houses that are going on the market to be sold, or for your existing home that is in need of a durable carpet at an affordable price.
The best part of this carpet gem is the SmartStrand Protection...
Mohawk SmartStrand...
Our recent blog article, "Reviews of SmartStrand Carpet," states: "We think Mohawk SmartStrand is one of the best carpets in the marketplace. One of the great features, besides the stain and crushing protection, is the price point. Mohawk has apartment-grade carpet all of the ways up to custom home carpet that contains the SmartStrand technology. As a consumer, you can pick your price point and still get a fabulous carpet. As we said earlier, Mohawk SmartStrand is one of our favorite carpets to show customers."
When Mohawk SmartStrand was first introduced into the marketplace, to show how durable SmartStrand is, they conducted a fun experiment in a zoo (this is a fun watch...):
Having a carpet that is well-priced, PLUS that offers the SmartStrand Technology is not easy to find. This makes Authentic Escape one of our favorite affordable flooring & remodeling products.
Here are some of the benefits of Mohawk, Authentic Escape Carpet:
A lifetime product stain liability warranty
A lifetime soil warranty
20-year wear warranty
20-year texture retention warranty
Warranty for stairs
20-year fade resistance warranty
Product #3: Mohawk, Weathered Portrait Engineered Hardwood
Sometimes you want to spend a little extra money on some nice hardwood floors. Hardwood flooring can be very expensive. With Mohawk, Weathered Portrait, not only are you getting a beautiful floor at great pricing, but you get a product that can be installed on a wood or cement subfloor.
One of the characteristics of this floor (that we love) is the multiple-width boards. When you order this product, it comes in 3",5", and 7" width planks. It makes for a beautiful installation. It comes in 5 colors and has a 25-year finish warranty.
Weathered Portrait looks great in family rooms, kitchens, den rooms, office areas, and hallways. If you are looking for a very well-priced hardwood, Weathered Portrait is a product to consider.
Most stores will sample this product in a hand-held deck board. More than likely, you will have to ask your flooring salesperson to find it. This product can be used in any size home and comes in a 3/8" thickness.
As with any hardwood floor, you need to make sure you implement maintenance procedures in your home (to protect your investment). We have a blog article, "Easy Ways You Can Damage Your Hardwood Floors," that will give you some great maintenance and cleaning tips.
Conclusion
When finding the best quality product, at an affordable price is important to you, you need to go beyond the samples you see in a flooring store's main showroom. Many times, you can find some great deals with products only sampled in hand deck boards or little chain sets.
Don't forget that stores can always order you larger samples of a product. For example: if you like a color on a Mohawk, Authentic Escape carpet deck board, but don't want to make a buying decision based on a little color swatch, simply have your salesperson order you a bigger sample.
It might take a week or so for the sample to arrive, but they will be happy to order it for you. Samples like this are free to order for a store, so they should not charge you for it.
Bonus Tip #1
Imagine if you could shop from home, rather than go spend hours upon hours at a floor covering store. No more taking your small children around, trying to keep them entertained at a boring flooring store. No more listening to pushy salespeople for hours on end. Do you think that would save you time and frustration?
Well, you're in luck!!!
What Most People Don't Know About - The Room Visualizer!
Most major flooring manufacturer now has a room visualizer on their website. What is it? This program allows you to take a picture of the room in your home that you want to put new floors in, upload it to a website, then you can pick products to put in your picture. Let's take a closer look at how it works.
So...How Do You Use This Tool?
Instead of going into a flooring store blind, you simply call beforehand and ask the store what manufacturers they have displays of in their showroom. You go to those companies' websites, use the room visualizer, right down the names of the styles & colors you like, THEN you go to the store and look at those products first. It will save you all kinds of time and frustration.
Bonus Tip #2
There is a specific strategy that you should use when shopping for flooring. If you just wander around a store, with no plan of action, it will cost you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars...
How To Shop For Flooring
You never want to shop for floor covering unprepared. Keep in mind, store salespeople work on commission. Their job is to sell you those products that will make them the most money. Imagine going into a grocery store to do your week's shopping, without a list. More than likely, you will wander around, and end up buying all kinds of products that you really don't need, or certainly didn't come into the store to originally buy.