Nucasa flooring means Canada 1: Sweden 0

(16 days to possession)

‘Vancouver + flooring’ brought Nucasa into our lives. After 3 hours’ flooring research (never having heard of laminate, I made a full list of laminate pros and cons) – we decided it was the perfect floor choice for a big renovation in a small apartment. Then what? Time to compare costs, choose a colour, and pick a supplier. How does one decision spawn three more questions? Damn it.

Before Nucasa: first stop – Sweden

I actually laughed when I first heard that Ikea makes laminate floor. What roll would the ubiquitous allen key play in its installation? Still, we looked at Ikea’s stuff first – the natural first-stop for any pikey’s project.

Was it really that cheap? Was it really that good?

Reviews went both ways – such that we found no compelling reason to add it to nor strike it from our shopping list. We didn’t really like either Ikea laminate option. They looked, far too immediately, just too… Ikea-ey. I’m sure once in place they could look marvelous. But, as it was our first new-home-related-purchase: I wanted to love it. Actual Laura Linney jump-up-and-down love. However – their prices made a good metric:

1. Ikea SLÄTTEN – $0.88/sqft.
2. Ikea TUNDRA - $1.49/sqft.

Nucasa vs Ikea: Sparring with Sweden

Once on Nucasa’s site – instant “Oh sweet baby J, yes!”

• I’m a total sucker for any company with a really good website.
• And I LOVE IT when companies actually list their prices.
• Better still? When they seem to know what the’re talking about!

In Nucasa we found a triple threat – we just hoped they’d have a solution for us at a similar price point to Ikea.

Shopping at Nucasa: True patriot love? 

The best part about finding Nucasa online was arriving on Richmond’s Bridgeport Road with some sense of purpose and direction. It’s a home-reno street of wonder and awe, but it’s totally overwhelming. Nucasa is a little piece of heaven. While they do stock hardwood and cork – our eyes were on a wholly different prize. La-la-laminate. We knew just enough to ask not-entirely-stupid questions:

What’s the difference in quality between $1.50 and $2.50 laminate floor?

None to speak of.

How much extra should we buy?

Between 5-10%.

Can we install this ourselves?

It might be tricky if you’ve never done it, but it’s not at all impossible.

What’s going to be the hardest part to install?

Doorways.

The sign over the till spoke of their pride in serving second- (and third!)  generation customers. This, plus their exceptional friendliness and certain expertise – won us over. Not knowing how to start our renovation budget, we followed Ikea’s price guidelines and aimed low (nothing over $2/sqft).  This made it pretty easy to eliminate half their flooring choices and focus on a decision. We wanted something with wider planks (to my mind, this will look less obviously laminate – we’ll see how that pans out), and in a medium shade (y’know, like, not too dark, not too light… totally specific). Most of all, it had to be warm. We want a happy space; Vancouver’s cold and grey enough without our adding to it. 3 styles struck our fancy.

Could we take home samples?

No problem.

In seconds, we had in our hands three very generously sized samples to take home (and later use to test out how durable are laminate floors?). I was struck by this generosity. I thought, most likely, they’d say no or, otherwise, hand over a 1-square inch paltry offering. We raced home to test the samples against our couch and soon had a clear winner. The next day we returned to Nucasa in the ‘burbs to make it official: we had a floor.

Price tag? More than acceptable. At much less than $2/sqft. we’ve now secured our first line item in the budget and it didn’t make us cringe. Here’s hoping the luck continues.

Man, it’s good to be decisive. Is this what it feels like to be a boy?

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Full photo credit to Aaron Lynette, The National Post