Slate Floors...what do you think???

[sajetto]

Thanks so much for the help! You get more feedback from objective opinions this way and I really appreciate it

 

[tar heel]

I think the slate is cold for a family room, but I love the mohogany. That's a lot of house for the $!

I had no idea that's where you lived! I would think that soon Wilkes will become more of a magnet for part-timers and retirees, which should make this house a great investment. I'm from Ashe County, and real estate prices have gone way up in the past few years as more people started moving in. With Ashe and Watauga both booming in that respect, it would seem Wilkes might be the next location even though it's not quite in the mountains. We're an hour and a half away and know someone with a weekend home there and someone with one under construction.

It's really sad about Wilkes' economy. First the chickens, then the racetrack and then Lowes.

 

[sajetto]

Good Lord!!! We're moving there because my fiance just took a job in Ashe county. Its a small world after all huh?

It truly is sad about Wilkes, I'm not sure that they are going to recover though. We've been pretty disappointed with the real estate in the area and this is the only thing decent we've seen. The MLS has the specs on the house listed incorrectly, the house isn't exactly where it says and the square footage is wrong, I told the realtor but I guess we'll see if she fixes it or not. (ETA: Nevermind...I checked my email and she said the side building doesn't count toward square footage)

 

[MareQ]

Could you give me more of your opinion? This room is a den and all of that wood work is solid Mahogony. The home is 5,000 square feet not including the basement and has a study, library, florida room, den, living room, dining room, and 5 bedrooms. The whole house has the dark wood on the lower half of the wall. Does all of the dark wood turn you off, regardless of whether or not we removed the wallpaper on the upper half of the wall and painted it with a light color? (My view of this house is screwy because I grew up in one with wall to wall dark woods, it was a really large home like this one, and since I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me like it might some other people)

I'm asking because I really want to know if this house could be made into something others would like or if its beyond help. I don't want us to make a huge mistake. Thanks!

I LOVE dark wood - I say go for it - the floors can be handled with a few well placed area rugs for now. When you have the time - you can look into taking out that flooring or just flat out going over it with a new subfloor and then getting hardwoods or carpet etc. Don't let the cosmetics throw you off - look at the size, locatioon, layout etc as that's the most important part of the home

 

[Papa Deuce]

I like slate floors but I don't like those in the picture. I was thinking of 12in squares or something. I don't find the ones in the picture attractive at all. They look like they belong on a patio with that pattern.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[BillSears]

The first thought I had when I saw those floors was WOW!!!! I love them and the wood decor!!! It's kind of odd but looking at the rest of the pictures I really didn't like the house. Bright green carpeting?!?!?! Anyway let me have that slate floor room and you can keep the rest of the house. Just have it delivered, I could use an addition to my house.

 

[zalansky]

Just being veru curious! Did you and your DH buy this home? I thought it had a lot of potential as well.

 

[sajetto]

No we didn't. That thing was nothing but a giant money pit. Once we had someone come to look at it and give his professional opinion and a quote, we said heck no and walked away. He said that it was the best possible thing to do and we agreed. What it was going to cost to remodel and repair damages from it sitting empty for so long was over what the asking price of the house was.

 

[claudia]

didn't read through the thread completely before I responded.....you did what I has thought...good decision

 

[sajetto]

Thanks, we really thought it was a good decision. I don't want to live my life for a house.

 

[PeterPanette]

Oh, and the floors. I don't think the slate is hideous. I think it's the grout. It's much too light in color for slate that dark. I've never had to re-grout a floor before, so I can't tell you what a pain it would be...but the cost of grout is low, and grouting is easy.

I'd buy this house.

ETA: Well darn! I typed out this whole thing before realizing I was responding to an old thread and you had already made a decision! I'm leaving my response as is, though. Good luck in your house hunting Sajetto!

Exactly what I was thinking. Why'd they put white grout between charcoal colored slate?

I'd jump on this home, as well. It has great "bones" as they say. Remove some wallpaper, do some painting, update kitchen appliances, update bathroom sinks/millwork and you've got a fantastic home there! These are all things that can be done in phases, at a relatively reasonable cost.

It looks as if the slate was installed nicely level. You should be able to install hardwood over that, as long as the slate flooring doesn't abut any "slide-out" appliances or fixtures, because installing hardwood over it will raise your floor level by an inch (possibly a tiny bit more). How much clearance do you have on the bottoms of the doors that close over the existing slate? That could be an issue as well. Door bottoms can always be planed / shaved off, but that'd be a pain.

Carpeting over the slate would be less of a floor height change, but I'm concerned about carpet wear patterns over time, with that jagged slate pattern telegraphing through. Maybe they make a really heavy duty carpet padding that would eliminate that problem?

Worst case scenario would be removing the slate. A huge, and I would imagine, very costly job, that would probably damage your other existing finishes.

Oh - and love the dark woods. They're rolling back in vogue in residential designs, big time.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

It is really an usual old house, but the slate flooring is in 4 different rooms and has brick flooring in another. Around these parts people just don't have the money to buy that kind of house or to sink the money into updates.

Are you kidding me? No way would I even consider this!
The only way I would buy this house is to get quotes for removal of the flooring and redoing it and then subtract that from the purchase price of the home.
You could be looking at 50,000 in remodel!!!! Maybe more....

OH CRUD...old thread....