Yikes! Hardwood Floors

[stichy]

Over the weekend DH and I went browsing for flooring ideas. Not really planning on doing anything right now. We are waiting til the beginning of next year to see what DH's bonus is and to make sure we put enough money away for taxes. DH nixed laminate and really wasn't interested in engineered flooring. So that left us with hardwood. We really like a natural tigerwood option. For approx 950 square feet installation alone is going to be over 3k. The floor is going to cost about 5.5k to 6k in addition. Ouchy!

 

[Lori2202]

I feel your pain. We are shopping for flooring right now and, so far, I can't find any 'budget' way around it.

 

[Soon2B4]

We did hardwood in our 120 sq ft office last month. We went to Lumber Liquidators and installed it ourselves. I think it cost us around $500 plus tax. They wanted just about the same money per sq ft to install it as they wanted for the floor itself. (Around $3.69 sq ft) We are thinking about doing our bedroom next which is about 500 sq ft. It was easy once you got started, just make sure your first few rows are straight is my only suggestion.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

Why no laminate? We went looking the other day, we have 850 sqf, the guy at the store suggested laminate since we have kids.. he said the new stuff is vastly improved and the cost is about half.

 

[stichy]

Since we have 6 or 7 months to go before we do it we're going to see what route our neighbors go. The next door neighbor is talking about doing the same type of floor himself. His wife thinks he's insane. Maybe DH will help him out and see how it goes. Maybe the neighbor will also help us if we help him. My only concern is that DH works like 80 hours a week so that doesn't leave much time for home improvement. I'm afraid that he'd start it and take 3 months to finish it. He also has a grand plan for in 3-4 years. He wants to tear down the deck and make it 2 levels with a pool on the bottom level. Trust me that will be done by professionals.

 

[stichy]

Why no laminate? We went looking the other day, we have 850 sqf, the guy at the store suggested laminate since we have kids.. he said the new stuff is vastly improved and the cost is about half.

We made the mistake of straying into the hardwood section and fell in love. DH doesn't want laminate because we have 2 large dogs that will be in one of the rooms we are redoing. We're afraid their nails and playing will damage the floor. With the laminate you would only be able to refinish the floors once. With the hardwoods we could refinish it a million times (slight exaggeration).

 

[minnie1928]

We made the mistake of straying into the hardwood section and fell in love. DH doesn't want laminate because we have 2 large dogs that will be in one of the rooms we are redoing. We're afraid their nails and playing will damage the floor. With the laminate you would only be able to refinish the floors once. With the hardwoods we could refinish it a million times (slight exaggeration).

I had laminate in a previous house and I'd be surprised if your dogs damaged the floor at all. But, FWIW a friend of mine had big dogs and hardwood and they destroyed the floor with their nails. I'd go laminate in a heartbeat!

 

[Octoberbride03]

I have a dog and laminate. Can't tell except for the paw prints which are easily dust mopped away. His nails haven't been a problem at all and he only gets them trimmed at the groomer's about every 6-7weeks. I love it, and no one can tell the difference between my laminate and real hardwood cause it looks that good.

 

[Octoberbride03]

As for refinishing the hardwoods, keep in mind that it is an expensive proposition. Most companies sand the floor first and do the refinishing, it takes several days normally and my info is there is soo much dust you should consider a motel while its being done. And then you get to come home and clean!!

NO THANK YOU!!

 

[bumbershoot]

We made the mistake of straying into the hardwood section and fell in love. DH doesn't want laminate because we have 2 large dogs that will be in one of the rooms we are redoing. We're afraid their nails and playing will damage the floor. With the laminate you would only be able to refinish the floors once. With the hardwoods we could refinish it a million times (slight exaggeration).

We rent, and the landlady put in real wood floors. She says the exact opposite.

I *wish* we had cheapie laminate, because we wouldn't have all these chunks out of the floor from dropping cans in the kitchen and so on!

 

[Octoberbride03]

OH and i will say this about dogs and Laminate. It is VERY entertaining to watch my Onlsow slide across the floor when he is chasing or tossing 1 of his chewies( he prefers these over toys). We always get a laugh.

 

[TLuvsD]

My sister has had laminate for years with two very, very active boys and a HUGE dog. She damp mops it and it looks great. We just had it installed in the entry, guest bath and kitchen in my dad's house...large area (old house, farm style kitchen). Those floors look great--even next to the hardwood floors in adjacent rooms.

 

[uk_wildcat]

We had hardwood put in our kitchen when our house was built and I so wish we would have waited. We have small kids and a dog and after only 4 years, the wood is destroyed. There are big nicks out of it where things have been dropped and scratches where toys have been dragged across it. It is also a darker color, so these things are very visible. If I could go back, I would have just gone with laminate until the kids are a bit older and not as destructive!

 

[savannahcat]

I have real hardwood on my entire first floor and laminate in my basement. I really dislike the laminate, but LOVE my hardwood.

My hardwood was finished in place as opposed to pre-finished. We put on a satin finish instead of gloss, so dirt/scratches/etc do not show as much. After almost 10 years, sure it has some scratches and imperfections, but I think they give it character. (I actually wanted to beat it with a hammer and chains before it was finished to make it look aged, but DH nixed that idea! )

My laminate shows any dirt so easily. I know I don't have the popular opinion, but I would choose the hardwood over laminate any day.

 

[stichy]

We're planning on doing the living room and dining room which will hardly ever get any use. The hallway will have some traffic but not heavy wear. The family room is mainly furniture some throw rugs and then will be exposed wood. Mainly the reason we're not going to do laminates is because of our unintended wander into the hardwood section. If I could snuggle with the tigerwood I would.

 

[Colleen27]

I have real hardwood on my entire first floor and laminate in my basement. I really dislike the laminate, but LOVE my hardwood.

My hardwood was finished in place as opposed to pre-finished. We put on a satin finish instead of gloss, so dirt/scratches/etc do not show as much. After almost 10 years, sure it has some scratches and imperfections, but I think they give it character. (I actually wanted to beat it with a hammer and chains before it was finished to make it look aged, but DH nixed that idea! )

My laminate shows any dirt so easily. I know I don't have the popular opinion, but I would choose the hardwood over laminate any day.

I'm with you. We installed both at our old house, laminate in the kids' rooms and hardwood in the living room. The laminate was harder to install, didn't look as good, and didn't hold up as well. I loved the hardwood, and it installed a lot easier than I'd thought it would.

In this house, we have very, very old oak flooring on most of the main floor - original to the house (130 years old, but covered by carpet for more than half that time). I wouldn't trade it for anything! It needs refinishing in the dining room where the finish faded unevenly around an area rug, but it is so smooth underfoot after so many years of traffic and it is holding up to our dog beautifully.

 

[terrier72]

We put down unfinished hardwood 2 years ago when we moved into our house. The guy who finished it put the first three coats of gloss and finished with a fourth coat of satin and it looks great even with two dogs chasing balls on it all day. When we first bought the house there were laminate floors down and we just didnt like the way they looked or sounded when you walked on them.

 

[madelyn]

We self-installed Wilsonart laminate in our kitchen about 10 years ago and a few years later had a water leak while we were out of town and had to replace the entire downstairs flooring. We replaced the kitchen and family room with a floating engineered wood and the formal living/dining with nailed down solid wood. We are in the slow process of installing solid nailed down wood in all the upstairs bedrooms and hallway. The stairs are carpeted now and we hope to do them in wood someday as well. I do prefer the hardwood over the engineered wood and the laminate that we previously had. It feels nicer walking over the hardwood. But I can't say that the wood has held up that much better than the laminate or engineered wood. We even tend to be more protective of the solid wood. We don't have pets but do have 3 kids. It is nice to have the option to be able to sand down and refinish the wood but it probably isn't something you can do all the time due to cost and inconvenience. Depending on the price point of your home and whether you plan to sell it anytime soon, some buyers may have a bias against laminate. But some also may not like wood. We purchased all our product from Lumber Liquidators. If we had not purchased from Lumber Liquidators and installed ourself we would not have been able to afford solid wood. I think the finish/color of the wood can influence how much it shows dirt and smudges, etc. A former neighbor commented how her new home (darker and glossier laminate) shows alot of smudges. I would think a lighter and less shiny finish would be easier to keep looking clean.

 

[daisyduck123]

Great choice!

We just had Tigerwood installed in our foyer, sunroom, & living room.

Love it!!!

 

[mrsklamc]

I don't know if this is everywhere, but we just got a postcard yesterday that the Lumber Liquidators here is having a big sale- I want to say thursday thru tuesday?

We also went through upromise and got a small percentage back.