Installing Hardwood Floors on your own?

[godisney14]

Are you talking about real wood floors or the laminate crap out there? Our real, solid hardwood floors are fine, although it's time, after 28 years, to sand and seal the living room (woodstove and burn marks on the floor). The white ceramic tiles in the kitchen are dreadful though, scratched and pitted and cracked. The wall to wall upstairs is the worst, so that's the first thing coming out, and we'll put real hardwood flooring up there.

I've seen lots of that fake-wood ceramic in Florida. It's fine for down there, where it's hot, but in the north, it's too cold for tile floors everywhere, IMO.

Some of that laminate “crap” is more resistant to scratches, dents, and water damage than some real solid wood.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

1. Before you pick your product, you must evaluate which product is right for where it will be installed. You'll often run into salespeople and tradespeople that will tell you we can make that work there. But with all the products they have available these days, there is absolutely no reason to settle for anything in a suboptimal location for it, or worse. Keep in mind if you're on a crawl space, check to make sure your joists can hold some of the heavier products or if you have a thinner product, make sure the spacing isn't too far for it. If you have a wet area such as a kitchen or bath, there is no need to install and pray any more or go with Luxury Vinyl Plank. There are myriad water resistant engineered products that contain real wood and look excellent.

2. You've picked the product and your specific color. Before you purchase, buy one or two boxes, take them home, take it out of the box and look at the pattern Assemble it in various ways and move it around and check it out with your furniture and the like or cabinets as the case may be. See how it looks in the morning daylight and in lower light conditions. The small samples aren't enough. The product we ended up with was way different than the sample, in a good way. If you're going to be spending 3-6 grand on a product don't you think $100 to look it over is a bargain price for will I like it insurance? And you're really only out the 100 if you don't like it. Small price to pay imo rather than having to return a whole order and possibly even pay a restock fee on top of it.

For our house we had to install in some wet areas like the kitchen and bath because we wanted to do all the common areas of the house in the same thing, we needed a product that could do wet areas. So the solid nail down stuff was out. Our joist system could easily handle the weight, (the product was definitely on the heavier side) so we ended up choosing a water resistant from both above and below engineered hardwood with an HDPC core. Ironically, our dishwasher blew the day after it was installed. The floor handled it great. If we'd gone with we can make that work there, we'd have a buckled floor one day after we installed it.

 

[HeatherC]

Some of that laminate “crap” is more resistant to scratches, dents, and water damage than some real solid wood.

Very true. My brother has a beach house that gets a ton of traffic with a big family and four dogs and lots of moisture from the sea. He installed a laminate type plank flooring that has a titanium finish with a 50 year guarantee. The floor looks like it is brand new almost 7years since he put it in. It is virtually indestructible.

 

[HeatherC]

That’s good advice. I remember noting the janka rating for the engineered bamboo was higher than the solid we compared it to. We’ll find out how well it holds up against scratches.

Also, OP, decide what you’re willing to spend. It looked like the average wood flooring costs between $3-$5 per sqft. For us, this is our starter home and plan to move in a couple years, so we kept the budget below $3 per sqft.

Yes we will probably be here for at least 10 years. We put 3/4 inch solid Santos Mahogany (very high Janka rating) in our first floor many years ago. Still looks new. It was very expensive but worth every penny.
Now we are trying to decide what we want upstairs.

 

[DisneyOma]

Some of that laminate “crap” is more resistant to scratches, dents, and water damage than some real solid wood.

Scratches, dents, stains - gives an old floor character, IMO. But I've seen laminate floor chip and peel, and sound hollow. I love old hardwood floors, never sand them down to pristine, and seal them with a few coats of sealer, not a ton to make them too glossy. My favorite floors are at my Inlaws' house - they've had family in that one house for 5 generations, refinished the floors maybe twice in a hundred years? They are gorgeous! But to each their own. That's what makes the world go 'round!