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Flooring Design Dilemma

Advice Please! Color Matching Laminate Flooring (Transitions)

6 years ago

I recently purchased 1,000 square feet of Toklo (Swiss Krono/ Kronotex) Timeless Oak laminate flooring from Builddirect: https://www.builddirect.com/p/Toklo-by-Swiss-Krono-Laminate-My-Floor-12mm-Villa-Collection--15002142

I fully knew when I bought the flooring that it didn't come with matching moulding (transitions/reducers), but out of literally hundreds of flooring options, it exactly matched what I was looking for, so I went for it. Probably a stupid decision. Since I'll be covering such a large area, I'd like to have the option of adding transitions if they're needed. If any significant un-squareness of the house pops up, I'm thinking it'll be necessary. I'll also need a reducer to go around the fireplace masonry in the living room. Now that I'm searching , I'm starting to regret my flooring decision due to the lack of available moulding.

I contacted Versatrim.com about matching some reducers to go around the fireplace masonry (19" x 19" x 61"). They quoted me $1089.66 and it seems more than a little ridiculous to pay almost as much for a few strips of reducer as I did for all of the flooring. I'm now thinking I might go to a higher end paint store to see if they can color match a stain for application on unstained moulding from Lowes/Home Depot.

Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone else has been in this predicament and what you did for transitions/reducers. I'm already ashamed for getting myself into this situation, so I don't need more shaming. Thanks for any advice or help you can offer!

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Comments (2)

jansgirl
6 years ago
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PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
6 years ago
Find unfinished hardwood and have it stained to match. Should come in around $18/linear foot = all said and done. That's if you go to a door and moulding shop with a sample of your floor and they CUSTOM match the colour for you. Give them two weeks, pay them and then take home your item.

A flooring professional can source this for you (same as above) or you can find a stain that is "close enough" and do it yourself with HD prefab mouldings/trim, etc.

The installation instructions clearly indicate:

T-mouldings required through all doorways. "In field" expansion gaps are required for:

Runs greater than 12m (36ft) across the LONG edge of the plank

Runs greater than 8m (24ft) across the SHORT edge of the plank

https://d18178273alp6b.cloudfront.net/production/bdsellerassets/laminate-flooring/toklo-by-swiss-krono/pdf/toklo-swiss-krono-installation-instructions.pdf

With a purchase of 1000sf, I'm going to guess you will need T-mouldings and some quarter round for the fireplace.

For stains: try looking at Ebony, Jacobean or dark walnut. If in doubt, go a snick darker...which is why the Ebony appeals to me. Use white oak to get the cleanest stain and a clear coat so that you do NOT add orange to the colour.

Good luck. Count up your doorways (3ft each) and see how much quarter round you have. You can DIY this pretty easy for just a little bit more money. This happens all the time...that's why Home Depot has an entire back wall filled with moulding - unfinished and waiting for stain.
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