I hate our wood floors!

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Call me crazy, but I hate the wood floor on the main level of our house. It is not durable at ALL! (disclaimer: it is the builder's special cherry floor that the original owners had installed.) there are warped and cracked boards everywhere from kids and pets and people going in and out of the house. I really want to replace it with a durable, easy to clean tile. WWYD?

 

[usnuzuloose]

If it were me, I would replace it with more expensive wood. May be more but in the long run it will last. But I prefer carpet myself.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

If it were me, I would replace it with more expensive wood. May be more but in the long run it will last. But I prefer carpet myself.

This is in the kitchen, bathroom and hallways, including all entrances to the house.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Call me crazy, but I hate the wood floor on the main level of our house. It is not durable at ALL! (disclaimer: it is the builder's special cherry floor that the original owners had installed.) there are warped and cracked boards everywhere from kids and pets and people going in and out of the house. I really want to replace it with a durable, easy to clean tile. WWYD?

Hey... I have the same thing at this house, lol.

My dream floor would be the wood floors that are installed tongue and groove, sanded, and polyurethaned in-house. It is very expensive. You have to remove furniture for the sanding and then have to clean the entire house of all the wood dust and then move back in.

The thing about tile is that it is sooo cold and harder on the feet. I had it in my last house. It is VERY durable for sure. However grout cleaning is not a fun thing to do either. That being said, we wear shoes in the house so it is probably a must for us in the kitchen.

Yea...it's an issue.

 

[tcufrog]

What about the wood look tile? If installed well it looks like real wood and it's very durable.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We've got Yellow Oak Floors on our main living area. I love them. We had them installed them 2 years ago.

I wouldn't go for tile at all - too hard on my knees and cleaning the grout would be horrible.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We've got Yellow Oak Floors on our main living area. I love them. We had them installed them 2 years ago.

I wouldn't go for tile at all - too hard on my knees and cleaning the grout would be horrible.

Do you have kids, dogs, and wear shoes in the house?

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

We have 1 kid and one on the way, and plan on getting a dog in the next 2 years. We live in the Midwest and get lots of rain and snow. The previous owners had 3 kids and a dog and the floor was pretty beat up when we moved in. We just installed laminate in the living areas and I like it, but I don't think it is sturdy enough to handle wet shoes, dropped silver wear and muddy dog feet. Wood-look tile might be an option. But I think a light tile would really help brighten the house and stand up to our family.

 

[DisReno]

We just spent $11,000 replacing our Wood Laminate that the dog ruined. If I were you, with one kid and one one they way, I would get what we got, which is as I put it, "very expensive fake stuff". It's scratch and stain proof, even urine. It's low maintenance and looks awesome. I got stuff that looks like tile in the kitchen and stuff that looks like hardwood throughout the rest of the house. I refuse to have real tile or wood...I am an empty nester and no longer want to be a slave to my floors. I want something I can clean and have look great. This does it. We had installed in time for Christmas and people raved about it. All I do is damp mop it, and we are good to go.

If you are going to be raising kids and having dogs, you are going to be busy and dealing with messes. Get something that is easy to clean and keep up but still looks great. There are a lot of great new 'fake' products out there that do this now.

 

[dizzy daisy]

I think cherry is a fairly 'soft' wood and not great for floors unless it's a home where folks live gently, lol (no kids, pets, snow, etc). I've had oak floors refinished before we moved in and they held up great to 4 kids. I hated my laminate because of the watermarks left on it so I had to hands and knees wipe it and that grew old. It's been 15 years+ since I had laminate so the laminate products may be better these days, but I don't know.

There is some beautiful tile out there including some great wood-look tiles. When it comes time for us to look at flooring I'll explore the tiles out there and if we go that route I'll invest in a good steamer to clean it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We have engineered hard wood. It has a rustic-ish ripple to it. It's very very durable. We have a cat with all of his claws still and can't see a scratch yet even after over 2 years (aside from a hairline sratch by his spot he tends to slide most on when chasing his toys). We have that in our kitchen, eat-in kitchen bumpout, mud-room part (entry to garage/main level bathroom, coat closet, built-in hook with cubby spot, and to the 5th bedroom currently used as an office) and entry into house from the front door and the walkway to the kitchen . Only down side is engineered hard wood can't handle the wet floor cleaners like solid hardwood can.

 

[dotfurio]

We have wood look tile with dark grout to match. I've never had to scrub the grout (beyond regular floor cleaning). I don't mind that they are cold because we live in a very warm climate. Our temps right now are in the 60s and we never get snow. I don't have an issue with the hardness, but DH usually wears shoes or slippers.

I recently went flooring shopping with a friend and they had planks that look like wood but had no wood in them - some sort of plastic or something. I can't remember what they were called. They were very durable as far as kids, pets, and liquids. If it was available when we got our tile I might have gone this route instead.

 

[dminnie]

My first thought was that cherry, while a "hardwood", is kind of soft for floors. DH does a lot of woodworking and cherry is great for furniture but not floors. We have oak and it's holding up well, with 2 kids and a dog. I do use a towel to dry around the dog's dish a couple times a day and near the entrances on rainy days. No matter what kind of wood, I would do that...moisture is rough on wood.

 

[RedAngie]

If you want to replace the wood floors with tile, go for it.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

If you want to replace the wood floors with tile, go for it.

I guess my concern is that if we were to sell, people prefer hardwood. But I guess people would rather have nice tile than crappy hardwood. And we don't plan on selling until we are empty-nesters.

 

[piccolopat]

You might consider installing a warm floor under the tile. We did this in our bathroom and love it.

 

[piccolopat]

I guess my concern is that if we were to sell, people prefer hardwood. But I guess people would rather have nice tile than crappy hardwood. And we don't plan on selling until we are empty-nesters.

We're struggling with the same concern. I like the look of wood but really prefer carpet. We need to replace our flooring and I think we will just get new carpet. When we sell in a few years, the new owners can put in what they want. Who knows if today's wide plank, dark wood floor will still be in style then anyway.

 

[RedAngie]

I guess my concern is that if we were to sell, people prefer hardwood. But I guess people would rather have nice tile than crappy hardwood. And we don't plan on selling until we are empty-nesters.

Eh, I was never one to worry about resale value and hate when people say to take this into consideration. Get what YOU want to live with, especially if you're planning to stay a long time. Why live with something you hate because some stranger in the future MIGHT prefer wood.

I have tile in the foyer and kitchen. Rest of the downstairs and staircase is hardwood. I like that combination.

 

[monsterkitty]

We have the tile that looks like wood in the living/dining room. DH wanted hardwood and with two large dogs and 2 cats I said no way. We sealed the grout so it's a lot easier to clean than one would think.

 

[penn19]

Hey... I have the same thing at this house, lol.

My dream floor would be the wood floors that are installed tongue and groove, sanded, and polyurethaned in-house. It is very expensive. You have to remove furniture for the sanding and then have to clean the entire house of all the wood dust and then move back in.

The thing about tile is that it is sooo cold and harder on the feet. I had it in my last house. It is VERY durable for sure. However grout cleaning is not a fun thing to do either. That being said, we wear shoes in the house so it is probably a must for us in the kitchen.

Yea...it's an issue.

We have hand scraped wood floors. Had to leave the house for 4 days while they did them. I love them. Very durable. But I can always see cat fur on them!