wood floors on a budget

[PatMcDuck]

If you have a contemporary looking home, a darker hardwood may be nicer. I'd go to a flooring store and take some large samples home to check out. We actually had to go darker because our first few picks were too light.

As for steps, yes we are doing this right now. See it is a vicious cycle. First you do the floor and see that the steps look awful compared to. Get steps refinished to natural wood. Attempt to put on original balusters, handrails and newels and realize they look like crap compared to new floor. Strip, stain and repaint. Attempt to do again and realize they still look like crap.

Get catalogs from stair parts stores and Home Depot to see what you like and what. Order new.

Depending on the wood on your handrail, it may be a pain in the #$$ to strip and restain. If it is pine, it will be blotchy no matter what- even if you use preconditioner, sand, redo and sand again. (Ask me how I know this).

I really wouldn't attempt it -even though it sounds easy.

I will go medium-dark, I think. As for the banisters, I have to do something. I think we DO have to strip them and re-stain. The DOGS chewed some of the ballisters (?). I think will repair them but will then paint them white..... so we only have to re-stain the top and bottom. I know, "only!" LOL. DH will be freaking out.

 

[sherry7]

We've been thinking about getting hardwood also, since our carpet needs replaced. How much is installation typically? We'd be doing about 1300 square feet.

 

[Cindy B]

I will go medium-dark, I think. As for the banisters, I have to do something. I think we DO have to strip them and re-stain. The DOGS chewed some of the ballisters (?). I think will repair them but will then paint them white..... so we only have to re-stain the top and bottom. I know, "only!" LOL. DH will be freaking out.

Then you will have some that look painted and some that don't. Home Depot and Lowe's have nice stair parts. Lowe's are just a bit nicer. The wooden slats (balusters) are pretty inexpensive. The newell- the big handrail that goes first can range from $30-80. The actual long handrail is sold by the linear foot, so it depends on the price.

We have pine steps and refinished the floor in red oak. We decided to get red oak stair parts. It looks beautiful against the floor. There is a contrast with the steps but that is fine.

I figure its is a one time expense- we won't ever do it again. Hubby will do the labor so its just material expenses.

Restaining is tough. We tried it first. It sounds easy in theory, but with time and hassle getting new and putting it up just looks nicer.

 

[Cindy B]

We've been thinking about getting hardwood also, since our carpet needs replaced. How much is installation typically? We'd be doing about 1300 square feet.

It all depends. Some may charge more depending on the material, and type of rooms. Stairs cost a lot more- we found that out! If you require glue or staples it also changes price.

If it helps, we got charged about $900 (including some materials) for 310 square feet. That was one of the lower quotes. I do live in a more expensive area. I'm sure I could have called an independent place and got it done cheaper, but at that point I just wanted it done.

We could have done it ourself, but we had so many other projects to do it was easier to complete them all at once.

 

[Cibahwewah]

We did most of the downstairs (1250 sq ft) this year in cherry laminate click-together pad-attached planks, Harmonics Brand, from Costco. Bought it on sale for $1.60/sq ft and had it installed for another $1.50/sq ft. We have 2 kids and a Scottish Terrier. It's holding up just fine so far. There were 3 other stains available as well as bamboo.

 

[sherry7]

We did most of the downstairs (1250 sq ft) this year in cherry laminate click-together pad-attached planks, Harmonics Brand, from Costco. Bought it on sale for $1.60/sq ft and had it installed for another $1.50/sq ft. We have 2 kids and a Scottish Terrier. It's holding up just fine so far. There were 3 other stains available as well as bamboo.

That sounds very reasonable for installation. Was the installation through Costco, or a contractor?

 

[DawnM]

We have a medium oak and love it. We did about 1000 sq. feet of our home a few years ago and it still looks great.

We got the pre-finished solid oak Bruce brand at Lowe's and Dh put it in himself.

Dawn

 

[dizkids]

We are looking now too and really like Lumber Liquidators, too.

 

[Fly4free]

Lumber Liquidators is having a huge clearance sale right now until 3/31. I would like to check it out myself. Don't know if dh is ready to take on another project right now though.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

I am leaning towards natural oak myself after considering maple.i like certain brands but others i dont like. Do some searching about lumber liquadators. You have to order tons extra because typically there r many bad pieces in a box. They get very mixed reviews.

 

[mom2threecuties]

We've been thinking about getting hardwood also, since our carpet needs replaced. How much is installation typically? We'd be doing about 1300 square feet.

We paid $2 per square foot for installation, including the glue, furniture removal, old floor removal, and replacing the shoe mold. I think we got a really good price. Some of the quotes I got were almost double that. Including the wood (Anderson engineered hickory), we were at $5/sf.

 

[Cindy B]

We paid $2 per square foot for installation, including the glue, furniture removal, old floor removal, and replacing the shoe mold. I think we got a really good price. Some of the quotes I got were almost double that. Including the wood (Anderson engineered hickory), we were at $5/sf.

That is a really good price per sq. foot.

We got a lower quote for $2.89 per sf. We had already taken the old carpet and moldings off ourselves. They did molding and the flooring in three rooms.

 

[Cindy B]

I am leaning towards natural oak myself after considering maple.i like certain brands but others i dont like. Do some searching about lumber liquadators. You have to order tons extra because typically there r many bad pieces in a box. They get very mixed reviews.

We had no problems with a lot extra. In fact I returned a whole box of molding that the installers didn't use and I got it credited back.

We didn't have a lot of extra wood either. I guess it goes down the the type of wood you use, the skills of the installer and the type you pick.

We had nothing but a good experience.

 

[neatokimmo]

Here, with oak, you can buy unfinished flooring and the installers will stain it for you and seal it. It might be less expensive.

 

[Cindy B]

Here, with oak, you can buy unfinished flooring and the installers will stain it for you and seal it. It might be less expensive.

Prefinished was cheaper for us. With the unfinished you couldn't walk on it for a set amount of days (I think 2 or 3). Since we were going to do this on our entire downstairs, it didn't work out for us. But if the home is vacant, that might work out.