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Where is Oceanna?

Haven't seen her for almost a week. I hope she's just off somewhere painting!

Me too! It has been awhile since I've seen any posts from her.

i miss her too! ... oceana, come out, come out, where.ever.you.are....

I hope she visits soon, I'd also like information on how to find this. There is nothing on the Lowe's site about this product. There isn't much on the web at all about how to locate it.

Lafonda - I actually went to Lowe's and brought home a couple of strips and I am pretty darn impressed with how realistic it looks. It looks MORE realistc than most laminates. It doesn't have the noise or moisture factor either and it's 98 cents a sq ft. You don't need underlayment either!! You just have to prep your floors the right way and follow the directions on the box. I brought home the Gunstock color which is WAY too dark for my house and not as realistic looking as the Golden Oak. I really think we might go for this.

We're going to try it out in our bedroom closet first. Too funny, I know. But if we screw it up or don't like the way it looks, it's just a closet. Not an entire house!! I hope Oceanna will come a post her pics and talk about it!!

Citymomof3,

Thank you for the info. I may be able to run by Lowe's after work today. I'm curious about the floor prep. I'm looking at putting this in our basement (concrete floor). There are a few cracks and chunks of sheet rock mud scattered about, but nothing major. I'm hoping that's all I will have to clean up before I can put the floor down. I so want to get that room finished!

Can you tell my how thick it is? We're putting tile in the bathroom and I'm wondering about the transition between the two rooms.

It's pretty thin - as thin as linoleum tiles are. Very flexy and bendy. I think you'd have to just clean up the floor and fill in the big holes if there are any. Otherwise there is a sub floor prep you can get - it pours on like the consistency of whole milk and you spread it out with a shop broom. Then the planks will stick very easily from what I've read!!

We used Novalis planks when we redid our bathroom (compromise between my aesthetic desire for hardwood and the realities of post-shower dripping, LOL). I'll have to see if I can get a picture and post it when I'm home. It's been down about 18 months now, and I'm still really happy with it. There are just two of us (and three cats), but it looks as good as the day we put it down. It's comfortable underfoot, and cleans easily. The bathroom opens into a hallway that later got (engineered, prefinished) Brazilian Cherry hardwood installed, and it doesn't look cheap next to it like I feared it might.

It came from Lowe's, and it really was peel-n-stick. While my husband and I are both pretty experienced DIYers, this project was even easier than I expected. We did the whole bathroom (8x10 with some odd angles) in under 1.5 hours, and we were working at a leisurely pace. The planks can be cut with a basic utility/carpet knife and a straight edge. We kept a rolling pin on hand to help press planks flat, but didn't use it (they went down fine just using our hands to press into place).

As far as surface prep goes... We were applying it over a new plywood subfloor, and therefore just used the prep liquid (very easy to spread with a broom or a paint roller, but plan ahead as you want to let it dry overnight if possible). I would agree with citymomof3's assessment that it's thin/flexy/bendy, so if you have a lot of debris/unevenness (gaps or elevation changes of more than, say, 1/8-1/4"), it might show up in the end result, but it can certainly conceal some imperfections. The box also has further information about recommended surface prep for cement, etc.

Embees - thank you SOOOOO much for your info. Great post and I am glad to hear you are still so happy with it. What color did you end up with?? Our Lowe's had 4 colors to choose from - a very dark color called Gunstock, the Golden Oak, a lighter oak and a really cool, greyish hickory color. The golden oak is what I think we'll end up with, even tho we have some oak pieces in our house. Our trim is white and we have lots of darker furniture, so I think it will look nice!

Yes, embees, thank you for the info! I think I may have a project this weekend :-)

I picked up a piece of this on my way home. I really like it. The only color they had for purchase was country rustic and they didn't have enough to do my entire basement. I will see what dh thinks when he gets home and we'll try another Lowe's the end of the week to see what they carry.

I also got a sink/vanity on clearance for a great price ($148 to $85) for the basement bathroom. There is a small place with damage on it, but won't be noticed when it is all put in place. So, I guess the trip was meant to be???

We used the golden oak. I looked at the lighter one ("natural" or something?), but it didn't have the same richness. The texture was still there, but the color seemed washed out in my room. At $.99, it's worth taking home one of each and looking at them with your paint, lighting, etc. We did later use a color similar to Gunstock from another manufacturer - the name is escaping me - as a "short term" fix (...for the next couple of years) in a storage/utility room and it looked nice, but it's definitely a different effect.

My bathroom has creamy-tan walls and white baseboard/trim, but there is an oak shelf on top of the half-wall that conceals the toilet. I stained that with two coats of Minwax "Golden Pecan", and the color match is uncanny (especially with the shelf being 3' from the floor!). I wouldn't worry about having "real" oak next to it - natural wood has enough variations that you can get away with it.

I'd love to see a photo embees! Hope you can find time to do that! :D

Loved Oceana's floor pics too, very impressed! Was she going to start work on her foyer? Let's hope she's doing something like that and her being MIA is nothing serious. :/

Hi Citymom,

Sorry I didn't see this when you posted it. Been busy -- posted about it over on the Conversations board.

Yes I got it at Lowe's. I got the honey oak. It was super easy to install. Just peel and stick. Trimming them was easy too. I just used my old utility knife and didn't even need a new blade. Even when I just barely scored them and didn't think I'd done it deep enough they snapped off perfectly over the edge of my kitchen breadboard. Simple.

Tips:

Don't add any other adhesive; the package says don't and I didn't. Make very sure that when aligning the "boards" end to end you get them perfectly aligned, or you'll get gaps. Before you place a "board" take a look at it for pattern and make sure it doesn't look identical to the one next to it. If it does, either turn it end-on-end or grab a different one.

I want to see more pics of this too!!! Anyone?

Just digging up an old thread to see if oceanna was around to see it! Or anyone else who had any experience with the novalis. Any pics to share??

Count me in as someone who is highly interested as well. I've tried to find info about this and even my Lowe's doesn't list it online. Will have to check it out tomorrow. I want a quick fix for my MBR which has dark taupe CARPET in it, ewww. How many planks are in a box and how many square feet does a box cover? Yes, if anybody has any more pics of this, please do show!

I'd LOVE to see pictures of those who have done it wall to wall in their whole house.

I just checked Lowe's and they used to have it on the web but I don't see it there any more. Strange.

All I can suggest is go to Lowe's and look at it. Toss a few planks on the floor in the store and see how you feel about them. Then try it in a room and see how you like it.

Here is a link to a thread from the flooring forum that has some pictures and comments.

Here is a link that might be useful: Novalis Discussion

I believe that one box covers something like 30 or 34 sq feet and it works out to being 98 cents a sq ft. I have the golden oak home and I think that's what we're going with as it looks very real and warm.

I will def. post pics when we're done! I think we're starting upstairs first. We are pretty sure the subfloor is particle board, which I don't think they recommend laying this over top of. So I don't know if that means we need to lay plywood down or what.

Got some samples of this today.....like the golden oak, but it may be too orangey for my house and the gunstock may be way too dark. It's sooo hard to really know. DH picked up the rustic country and said he wants it in his bathroom because it looks like barn wood. Well his bathroom is dark taupe walls and white crown, doubt the "rustic" look would go, but oh well, it is HIS bathroom I guess. I never go in there anyway because I don't own a HAZMAT suit, ha!

Thought I should mention that you can stand a wet mop on this floor without blinking, and there is no trace to show you did it. Try that with real wood and you'll be sorry.

I have a couple of questions. Are you supposed to go crosswise or lengthwise in hallways? How would you do a vinyl plank flooring at the top of stairs?

I found this on the 'net for those who are considering this floor...

Here is a link that might be useful: Novalis floors

Oceanna, I think you would go length-wise in a hallway. Crosswise would look strange IMO.

Thanks, Cookin'. I thought so too, but then I started seeing pictures of it crossways.

I called the hardware store and they said the only way they had to put this onto the top step was a metal edging. Ugh. There has to be a better way.

I have the same problem as "therealmrsdoodlepunk." I bought Novalis for the entire house which has sub-floors. Surely there must be a product to put over a sub-floor so you don't have to put ply wood every where. What a job. What about the felt under layment mentiond above? If you can use it over concrete could you not also use it over a sub-floor. Did every one who wrote in lay it over concrete? Dosen't anyone have wood floors any more?