So about "real" hardwood floors (dining room, stained, carpeting)
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Where's the best place to start looking for somebody who does this? My husband wants to remove the carpeting and restore, replace if necessary, the hardwood floors. He is a wood snob and Pergo is not even a consideration. May as well be a four letter word in our home. LOL. The house is a 100+ year old colonial and we are looking to have the floors done in the foyer, front living room and dining room (sorry-don't know the square footage. Good size rooms, but not huge). He's entertaining the pre-stained wood floors, but I don't even know where to start looking to find a place that does actual hardwood floors anymore. And he wants to put a parquay (sp?) inlay in as well?? What types of wood should we look at? We have a large dog and a 2 year old with additional children on the way.
Craigslist? Your local paper's classifieds? There's got to be lots of flooring guys. Kudos to your hubby for maintaining the quality in your antique home. find at least 3, ask for references and follow up on them
Since your house is 100+yrs old I'd look for someone who specializes in historic restoration. They can put you in touch with someone who does floors. I wouldn't rely on anyone who "does wood floors".
Your house probably has heart pine wood for flooring- and its not easily obtainable (and not cheap if repairs or lacing is required). And to restore it correctly requires knowledgable craftsmen. Not the typical oak hardwood installer/finisher.
Just for information sake- they were generally finished with linseed oil and wax. Not poly!
Since your house is 100+yrs old I'd look for someone who specializes in historic restoration. They can put you in touch with someone who does floors. I wouldn't rely on anyone who "does wood floors".
Your house probably has heart pine wood for flooring- and its not easily obtainable (and not cheap if repairs or lacing is required). And to restore it correctly requires knowledgable craftsmen. Not the typical oak hardwood installer/finisher.
Just for information sake- they were generally finished with linseed oil and wax. Not poly!
I agree, the age of the house demands historic restoration pros.
I'm not sure that the new wood flooring demands historic restoration pros, but you do need a flooring specialist. What area of the country are we talking about? Plenty of older homes (100 yrs. +) in my area of NC have standard 2 1/4" wide x 3/4" thick oak flooring. If that's the case, a pre-finished oak floor will work just fine for you. It's historically accurate, but the finish is a lot more durable than anything that you can apply in the field. I'm in the flooring / tile business (30 yrs. + experience), so I encounter questions like this all the time.
Let me know where you are located, and I can probably refer you to the right folks.
I'm in Middlesex County in NJ. We don't even know what the condition of the floor is. The previous owner, who was raised in the house and took very good care of it (and who conveniently lives right next door now) doesn't even know what the floors look like as they've had carpeting on them for as long as he remembers. And we don't want to go pulling up carpet until we're ready to do the work. We do know there is a spot between the dining room and living room that needs to be repaired. The house was built in 1901. We don't need to get the exact wood the house was built with, but we want something that is going to compliment the rest of the wood (a really nice banister and great wooden columns between the foyer and living room).
You could pull up the carpet and peak. Ask neighbors if any of them have had their floors done and who they would recommend. The best contractors we had were recommended by neighbors. Jay
Call your insurance agent and ask them what companies they recommend when people need to have work done. They usually have a list of "preferred" companies they use and even though your not making an insurance claim they should be more than happy to give you a few names that their clients have used and been satisfied with.
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