Armstorng Alterna Engineered Tile Review.
31 years ago, my parents designed and built their home after moving to Nova Scotia from our farm in BC 3 years prior. For those 3 years, while they worked on the home I essentially grew up in, we lived in a trailer. It was their first time ever having to choose finishes but they did what they could with the budget and knowledge they had at the time.
During their many decisions that they had to make when it came to choosing the interior fixtures of the home, they went with an Armstrong flooring linoleum throughout the bottom level. For 25 years that classic black-and-white tile linoleum floor lasted. Over the last few years though it was time for a change. Years of sun on the floor had taken it's toll. But, the Armstrong brand held up to its name and we wanted to continue using their flooring for the new floor.
In the beginning of 2020 we started the hunt for what type of flooring my parents would want. Of course, as soon as they began getting samples, the world shut down and everything closed. It took us a good year to get back to choosing not only what product to lay but also the pattern.
After our research into what products Armstrong carries, we decided to go with their awesome Alterna Engineered Tile. My parents have a very large open concept home which tends to be harder to heat in the winter. They wanted a durable floor to stand up to not only dogs claws but also the many toys their six gramdchildren have. The first option you would think about is a classic tile. Unfortunately, with classic tiles you have to think about a few things, the warmth under your feet and if you need to install infloor heating, the ease on your joints as you get older, as well as the durability long term. With my parents in their 60s and not wanting to worry about the floor for the next 25 years, Armstrong's Alterna Engineered Tile take all of those worries of classic tiles away. They are warm to the touch, they are easy on the joints, and durable.
Another massive selling feature of these tiles is that they are grouted just like a classic tile. So, to the naked eye, without touching them, you would think that they were ceramic. They are glued straight down to your subfloor but also can be laid right over top of your current floor if that floor is in OK shape. And, if any damage does occur to the tile, you can easily pop it out by cutting around the grout and relaying a new tile in its place. To us, these facts made this a no brainer.
Because of their wide selection in colors, it took us about three months and ordering samples of our favorites (a must when planning a space) to finally decide on the tile and the pattern. My dad doesn't like a lot of change so he still wanted to have a similar pattern to what they had before but in a larger scale. Their favourite colour is blue and gray so we went with a blue and gray colour tile and put it in a diamond shaped Lay. It's very similar to the classic checkerboard Lay but only every second row has that checkerboard. It allowed the space to still be light and bright because we minimize the darker tiles.
Installation was pretty easy and you can cut these tiles with an X-Acto knife. It took about a day and a half to fully install and grout 800 ft.² of their home. With the tile and installation taken into account, it also was a very budget friendly flooring option.
It has now been two months with their new floor. My mom has washed it numerous times, there has been weeks worth of family weekend dinners with all of the grandkids present and so far the floor looks just as good as the day it was installed. It has cleaned up extremely well which is a bonus as they have a puppy they are housebreaking.
But now I have to ask, What do you think of the floors?
Grout color- Silver Cloud
