Consumer Reports – September 2019

CRInsights

Don’t Delay on

Buying Your

Thanksgiving

Plane Tickets

IF YOU’RE PLANNING

to travel over the

Thanksgiving holiday,

you might save yourself

some cash by purchasing

your ticket soon, advise

our money editors.

You’ll get the lowest

holiday airfares if

you book your travel

before early September.

And even later

September prices tend

to be better than October

or November prices.

In the past, the analysts

at Google Flights have

seen that prices rise in

the month of October,

then spike a week

before your November

departure date.

If you’re having

trouble finding

inexpensive fares,

also keep in mind

that your departure

flight date may

not be as important

in determining the

ticket price as when

you plan to return.

If your travel dates

are flexible, planning

to return after the

post-Thanksgiving

weekend ends (say, the

Tuesday or Wednesday)

could help you score

a cheaper ticket.

CR Money-Saver

RESISTANCE TO ...

WEAR

SLIPPING

STAINING

SURFACE DAMAGE

02

05

02

02

Bare Decor

EZ-Floor in

Solid Teak

$

per sq. ft.

THESE OUTDOOR FLOORING

products market themselves

as an inexpensive, easy DIY

way to upgrade your cement

patio or porch into a chic-

looking deck. The products

we tested are indeed simple

to install, says lead decking

tester Joseph Pacella. These

interlocking 1-square-foot tiles

(sold in sets or as single tiles)

have grooved edges, so all a

consumer needs to do is line

up the corresponding tabs,

then press down until the

tabs click into place.

The options we tested

were pretty budget-friendly.

To cover a small area, say,

144 square feet of patio, using

the Ikea tiles (shown above),

for example, you’ll spend a

total of about $320. Though,

if you want real wood tiles,

such as the Archatrak or Bare

Decor tiles listed below, that

same square footage will

cost you substantially more,

between $980 and $1,650.

In our labs, we also

evaluate how these materials

hold up against typical wear

from foot traffic, stains, and

dents, as well as how slippery

they are—all tests that we

also put traditional decking

materials through. We repeat

some of these tests at one-year

increments for three years, as

well as track each tile model’s

resistance to color change and

weathering over time.

So far, after one year,

Ikea’s inexpensive plastic

deck tiles have done the

best overall in our initial

tests, though the teak

tiles from Bare Decor offered

good slip resistance.

Product Spotlight

Snap-

Together

Patio

Tiles

Archatrak

SwiftDeck IPE

Wood Tile

$11.

per sq. ft.

2

04

02

02

Ikea

Runnen

in Dark Gray

$2.

per sq. ft.

2

40

50

50

16 CR.ORG SEPTEMBER 2019