New Flooring

[AC7179]

We have decided to rip out our carpet and put down laminate flooring in our den and in our hallway.

We considered real hard wood, but found that we would be more concerned about kids, pets, and furniture messing it up because of the expense. I don't hate the look of laminate, but know some look down upon it. However, we don't plan on selling our home any time soon, and most of our crowd that would come over to visit are laminate people as well.

We also considered bamboo but never found much information about it. If you have any and would like to share, please do.

After we decided to go with laminate, I'm a little stuck. We can save about $1,000 if we install ourselves, but I'm not all that handy and don't want it to look badly. My husband is handy, but idk if it's something he can direct me to do and that I can do well with little skill. Also, are there different quality laminates? Do I gain anything by getting the more expensive? I'm looking at these from Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficM...34089/204135461?N=5yc1vZbejk#customer_reviews

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pergo-XP...q-ft-case-LF000317/202882882?N=5yc1vZare1Z150

I really like the looks and reviews of the top model. My husband feels like if it's cheaper, there must be a reason. I'm not educated enough to really know. Dissers?

 

[db8mommy]

We got our hardwood installed by Home Depot when they had a $299 whole house installation special. I would search around to see when that will be coming around. I want to say it was in April or May if you can wait a little longer.

 

[tvguy]

We have decided to rip out our carpet and put down laminate flooring in our den and in our hallway.

We considered real hard wood, but found that we would be more concerned about kids, pets, and furniture messing it up because of the expense. I don't hate the look of laminate, but know some look down upon it. However, we don't plan on selling our home any time soon, and most of our crowd that would come over to visit are laminate people as well.

We also considered bamboo but never found much information about it. If you have any and would like to share, please do.

After we decided to go with laminate, I'm a little stuck. We can save about $1,000 if we install ourselves, but I'm not all that handy and don't want it to look badly. My husband is handy, but idk if it's something he can direct me to do and that I can do well with little skill. Also, are there different quality laminates? Do I gain anything by getting the more expensive? I'm looking at these from Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficM...34089/204135461?N=5yc1vZbejk#customer_reviews

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pergo-XP...q-ft-case-LF000317/202882882?N=5yc1vZare1Z150

I really like the looks and reviews of the top model. My husband feels like if it's cheaper, there must be a reason. I'm not educated enough to really know. Dissers?

We got bids and are getting ready to put laminate in. I can not even imagine putting it in myself. Sooooooo many issues to resolve. Is your subfloor level? What direction do the boards need to go? I have a barrel shaped fire place,and heat/ac vents in the floor this needs to be installed around. I'm doing about 1700 square feet, kitchen, family room living room, entry way, hall and 3 bedrooms. And all the installers estimate 5 days to do the work, no way I have that kind of time.

 

[laceyinwonderland]

We got our flooring from Lumber Liquidators (not sure if they are national, or just in the south east?) and had a carpenter friend install for us. I believe you can judge the quality by the thickness of the laminate. For ex, 6-7mm laminate is not as good as 12mm. I can tell you from experience, we chose a laminate that was sorta glossy. It was beautiful in the store, but 1 year of wear and tear with kids and dogs has left it not so shiny. I wish now I had chosen one of the woods with a textured look. YMMV!! Best of luck!

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We bought hardwood bamboo from lumber liquidators and installed it ourselves. It does take a significant amount of time. I think $299 for a whole house install is a steal (assuming their flooring prices are OK).

 

[tvguy]

We bought hardwood bamboo from lumber liquidators and installed it ourselves. It does take a significant amount of time. I think $299 for a whole house install is a steal (assuming their flooring prices are OK).

Yeah, not knowing the square footage it's hard to tell, but all the estimating websites seem to put installation at about $1 a square foot.

 

[supergoofy]

I know this is not what you asked for there is different types of flooring

Laminate, engineered and real hard wood.


I understand your worry about hurting real wood floors and while yes it can happen it can also happen with laminate or engineered wood.

Down side to those is they cannot be refinished.