wood floors(HELP PLEASE) (hardwood floors, how much, engineered, Home Depot)
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would love to hear suggestions,even see photos of wood floors-what wood is the best,where you got them(lowes,home depot,local,etc)-how much it costs,who installed it.
Im in miami for now,so i know very little about what wood is looks,works,best in nc.
THANKS
Forget Lowe's or Homer.
There are many great woods worth considering, without getting hung up on "the Best."
Oak is a classic.
Cherry is beautiful.
Hickory is dramatic.
Ash is great.
Different woods take stain and varnish differently, and your taste will lead you to a particular species.
Also, different grades are available. "Rustic" is just that. Often you throw out enough flooring that you may as well have bought top end and would have broken even by using more of your purchased wood.
Bamboo is currently trendy, but varies widely in quality. I would avoid it.
Engineered wood is plywood or particlebobard, or MDF based with a veneer on top. It is used on cement slab floors, but is a definite compromise compared to "real wood."
Wood flooring may be prefinished in a factory, or may be unfinished.
Prefinished wood doesn't match as well as a sanded floor, which may be so well done that you can hardly see the transition from one board to the next.
Prefinished wood will likely have an "eased edge," which is a beveled or rounded edge so you won't feel the nearly imperceptible offset from one board to the next. It can be a very good floor, but doesn't have the classic appearance of a sanded, finished on-site floor. You can see the edges of every board.
Prefinished wood is done when nailed into place. Installation is easy, and there is no dust in the house from sanding. This is a huge plus if you want to live in a home while floors are being done.
Prefinished wood has better quality control than on-site, and great finish application.
BUT, if I was doing a historic home, or wanted a classic look.... it would be sanded and finished on site.
I bought top end, quarter sawn oak from Lumber Liquidators. http://www.lumberliquidators.com/
The Lumber Liquidator web site, and their on-line, telephone, and store representatives are a true information trove on wood flooring, purchcasing and installation, with many photos of different species installed in rooms.
Quarter sawn is a slightly more expensive milling process. It produces wood that is less likely to warp, as the grain is oriented across the board and on less of an angle. It is a little more costly because quarter sawing yields less product per log.
The flooring has 10 coats of polyurethane and they gave me a warranty against wear from traffic for 50 years. Four years later, it truly looks great!
The finish is impregnated with aluminum oxide to resist fading from sunlight. If you go into a vacant home with cheap floors, you can see signs of fading where the furniture, rugs, etc have kept the finish shaded.
Not my floor...
Wow, great info. Now, what is pergo? My friend says that her two dogs go wild on it and it never gets scratched. Is that true? Would you recommend pergo?
Pergo was a good product at one time.
They have reduced the quality, and there are so many knockoff cheapo floors, that often laminate flooring screams:
"Cheap"
and
"Rental house."
I would not think laminate flooring would be appropriate for anything in the $250,000 and up price range.
Except...for a home with dogs, it might be good, and you won't have doggy issues that come with carpet.
Good info Mike! I completely agree with your assessment of engineered floors. In my opinion they should only be considered when you live on a slab and don't have the option of solid hardwoods. I am curious though; in your case Mike did you install the floor yourself or hire a local floor guy to do the job? I was under the impression that Lumber Liquidators only provided with materials. I unfortunately had a poor experience with a local floor installer (Not Lowes or HD) and I am looking for referrals for a good installer should I ever need additional flooring work done in the future. Feel free to PM me if you prefer.
Thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeJaquish
Forget Lowe's or Homer.
There are many great woods worth considering, without getting hung up on "the Best."
Oak is a classic.
Cherry is beautiful.
Hickory is dramatic.
Ash is great.
Different woods take stain and varnish differently, and your taste will lead you to a particular species.
Also, different grades are available. "Rustic" is just that. Often you throw out enough flooring that you may as well have bought top end and would have broken even by using more of your purchased wood.
Bamboo is currently trendy, but varies widely in quality. I would avoid it.
Engineered wood is plywood or particlebobard, or MDF based with a veneer on top. It is used on cement slab floors, but is a definite compromise compared to "real wood."
Wood flooring may be prefinished in a factory, or may be unfinished.
Prefinished wood doesn't match as well as a sanded floor, which may be so well done that you can hardly see the transition from one board to the next.
Prefinished wood will likely have an "eased edge," which is a beveled or rounded edge so you won't feel the nearly imperceptible offset from one board to the next. It can be a very good floor, but doesn't have the classic appearance of a sanded, finished on-site floor. You can see the edges of every board.
Prefinished wood is done when nailed into place. Installation is easy, and there is no dust in the house from sanding. This is a huge plus if you want to live in a home while floors are being done.
Prefinished wood has better quality control than on-site, and great finish application.
BUT, if I was doing a historic home, or wanted a classic look.... it would be sanded and finished on site.
I bought top end, quarter sawn oak from Lumber Liquidators. http://www.lumberliquidators.com/
The Lumber Liquidator web site, and their on-line, telephone, and store representatives are a true information trove on wood flooring, purchcasing and installation, with many photos of different species installed in rooms.
Quarter sawn is a slightly more expensive milling process. It produces wood that is less likely to warp, as the grain is oriented across the board and on less of an angle. It is a little more costly because quarter sawing yields less product per log.
The flooring has 10 coats of polyurethane and they gave me a warranty against wear from traffic for 50 years. Four years later, it truly looks great!
The finish is impregnated with aluminum oxide to resist fading from sunlight. If you go into a vacant home with cheap floors, you can see signs of fading where the furniture, rugs, etc have kept the finish shaded.
Not my floor...
Wow, great info. Now, what is pergo? My friend says that her two dogs go wild on it and it never gets scratched. Is that true? Would you recommend pergo?
We have Wilsonart laminate floors in our current home and we LOVE them! They do not look or feel cheap at all and they are so easy to keep clean.
For our new home we're considering hardwood although I'm really struggling with that decision. The new home is much bigger and it just seems like we shouldn't put laminate in such a large house, but everytime my 7 year old drops something heavy on the floor or pushes a metal chair across the floor I just cringe thinking about what that will do to hardwood. Our laminate, on the other hand, has not a scratch after 5 years, 3 kids and many playdates. I do love the feel of real hardwood but I think it's a matter of practicality.
I think it depends on your lifestyle and needs and also the quality of the floors. I would take high quality hardwood laminates over cheap wood floors any day. I have hardwood laminates (I think they were called American Dream?) downstairs and I love them. They look gorgeous, not cheap at all. They are also water and scratch resistant with a 30 year warrantee. I have 3 dogs and a cat so I needed some really heavy duty stuff. I really can't imagine what these dogs would do to real wood floors so for us that was the best alternative. We got them from Empire Today (because they had 15 months same as cash financing at the time). It thought they were a little pricey but worth every penny. We paid $4200 for 600 sq feet of flooring installed.
If you know someone that can install them, you may want to check out lumber liquidators as well. They have great prices.
I take it from the name that there is a dog(s) involved in this decision, or you are a dog that can type, or that you maybe have an extreme dental problem. ..ok, I'll stop.
As the owner of dogs that had essentially destroyed my good carpet, I decided that there were only a couple of floorings that could tolerate indoor dogs. Those are ceramic tile(ugh, fine for the kitchen though) and laminate flooring. From everything that I had read, real wood would not hold up to doggie accidents(MikeJaquish might want to comment on this). In addition, I live in a neighborhood in which you normally would not see laminate flooring, but lots of engineered wood. So my approach was that I would put down click type laminate flooring that could be easily removed and replaced with carpet or other flooring. And this could be done at the cost of new carpet. I, also, would tranistion it between rooms so that it could be retained in the den or hallways or kids room, but replaced in the living room/dining room with carpet, etc. Therefore, it would be a buyer's decision as to how to change or accept the house when sold.
So I installed Witex laminate flooring over the slab and I have been totally satisfied with it since. The dogs have peed on it and there have been no stains or leaks between boards that might damage or warp it below...it has been great. I was concerned about the click type compared to the glued type, at first, but it has been very durable. Of course, I still have the house so my resell stragegy is yet to be tested. I don't necessarily recommend any particular laminate since the products are changing rapidly, but I have seen some of the newer, beveled types that provide a more "real wood" appearance. You can see the Dupont version at Homer. No doubt, however, there's nothing like real wood if it's appropriate for your application. If I were redoing something like a historic home, I would only use real wood as Mike suggested and sell the dogs. .... Yeah, sure!
I'm not yet in NC, but have experienced hardwood floors-both in my parents' 50-odd year old ranch house and my current rental, also a 50's ranch. My folks did have them refinished about 5 years ago (they had the origional shellac finish still) but the floors themselves were in great shape. Now refinished, they will probably look great for another 50 years! My house has never been refinished but other than needing a sanding and poly, the floors are in great shape, no gouges or big dings-both homes have typical classic oak floors.
My experience leads me to believe that traditional hardwoods, with modern poly finish, is the most durable wood choice. I plan to have them in our next purchased home, if at all possible.
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I do love the feel of real hardwood but I think it's a matter of practicality.
Laminate Flooring for Pets
..ok, I'll stop.
.... Yeah, sure!
