| Need floor covering for my rental. Saw some 1 ft square fancy wood tiles in | Home Depot. From $0.79 to $2+ per sq ft. Lower cost ones need plastic | lamination, $0.25 a sq ft. About the same as cheap carpet and padding. But | even cheap ones supposed to last 15 years up. Also, I can bring them in my | car a few boxes at a time, no expensive delivery needed as I need for | carpet. Anyone try these? Comments? Need and additional adhesive for wood | tiles or lamination? I assume a quite clear smooth floor needed to mount | on.
Fancy wood? I've never seen 1'x1' wood tile. could it be vinyl composite with a wood look? A link might help.
Presumably they get put down with mastic or are self-adhesive, which means you'll need to first install a secure underlayment of at least
1/4" plywood over the existing floor.
How fancy is the apt? There really just isn't enough info to decide whether it's a good idea. One other thought: If you want the rental to look nice, have you looked at floating wood floors? They can go right on top of an existing floor, are relatively easy to install, only raise the surface about 3/8"-1/2", and provide a floor of real wood. The downside: They're made of wood veneer laminated to plywood. Once the plastic seal wears down there's no choice but to replace them. By contrast, a real wood floor can be sanded and refinished.
I'd be very wary of the newer laminate tiles, with a plastic surface of color or fake wood grain. They look crappy. They are crappy. Like walnut grain contact paper, psychedelic wall paint, and pink shag carpet, it's a classic case of the emperor's new clothes: Everyone's doing it so it seems to make sense, but at some point the trend fades and you're left with the result: Purple walls and pink shag carpet. :)