Yikes! Hardwood Floors

[kandeebunny]

They make tile now that looks like hardwood...very convincing!

 

[sookie]

i love my hardwoods! we took out the wood laminate that was in the house when we bought it. real hard woods are worth it.i got a deal because i played lowes and home depot against each other. I did about 1000 sq ft for about 4500.... this was almost 5 years ago. oh, and i bought during a promotion where veterans showed their military ID - so we did that and i got that too on top of the original quoted price. just watch, watch watch.... the pounce when you find a good deal!

 

[sookie]

They make tile now that looks like hardwood...very convincing!

i have seen that. i am going to do this in my next home!

 

[Pigeon]

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).

No, with laminate you can't refinish at all. Laminate is actually a photograph of a wood (or tile) pattern on paper bonded under a plastic layer.

You can sometimes refinish engineered hardwood once. It is a thin layer of wood bonded to a substrate.

You can refinish solid hardwood a few times, but each time you're making it thinner, and it is a big mess.

I love hardwood. But we also have some laminate, and it holds up way better to our big dogs than the hardwood does. I like the laminate and it's so easy to keep looking nice.

I'm struggling with what to do with out upstairs floors now. Dh can do the installation, but hardwood is a lot more expensive. It adds value to the house though, in a way laminate does not.

 

[stichy]

Great choice!

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

Love it!!!

So jealous. Do you have a picture you could post? I'd love to see how it looks down.

 

[daisyduck123]

So jealous. Do you have a picture you could post? I'd love to see how it looks down.

I have no idea how to post pictures, but if you give me a day or two....I will ask DH. I will try!!

 

[vsimeone]

I hope this link takes you to pictures of the hardwood floor that we put in over Thanksgiving. Floors It was about 800 sq ft and my husband did it himself. We thought it was a weekend project but it took over 2 weeks. DH said he'd never do it himself again but it really turned out beautiful! My dog has left a few minor scratches but I have a bottle of "scratch cover" and I just go around every few weeks with a q-tip dipped in the scratch cover and fill them in. They're mostly at the bottom of the steps where his claws "dig in" for traction going up the steps.

So far (it hasn't been a year yet) we're thrilled and can't wait to be able to afford to do our 2nd story!!!

 

[2bearsmom]

We put in Brazilian Cherry hardwood, Bellawood from Lumber Liquidators, on our whole first level, taking out kitchen cabinets and everything so we could go right up to the wall and we did it ourselves, something I NEVER will do again. My dh took off a week of work and did it, I helped where I could, it would have gone much quicker had he had a guy help him with the cutting of each board, this wood was so hard that a lot of boards we couldn't use because it kept jamming the nailer. While it looks amazing, the dog fur on it does not! Plus our big dog does not like the non-carpet and freaks out when we walk past her and she jumps up, scratching the floor, she doesn't like that she has no traction anymore I guess. But then again she's a golden retriever and is an emotional wreck...I use the Shark mop on it and it really makes the floors look amazing, until someone takes of their socks and all you see are footprints, not to mention doggie paw prints and drool spots! For 5min after I'm done I'm still in awe of how beautiful they look.

vsimeone, beautiful floors! When we put in ours we added french doors between our living room and dining room (much like your rooms) and love the way it turned out. Where do you get the scratch cover? Does it match real well to your color of wood? My dh bought some sort of crayon-like thing but it doesn't cover well at all. We also thought it would take a week and ended up taking closer to three to be totally done, but it saved a ton of money!

 

[jenedpey]

One thing to keep in mind is that not all hardwood is the same hardness. Even once you get beyond the hardness of the wood, the finish also makes a big difference in how long it will last. A little bit of research is very helpful in picking a floor that will last a long time. We ended up with Brazilian Cherry with an aluminum oxide finish in most of the rooms of the house. It still looks great after 5 years, but the carpet on the stairs is looking worn. If you do look into some of the more exotic woods, make sure you understand if and how much they will darken when exposed to sunlight.

 

[2bearsmom]

jenedpey, you are so right, how could I forget the changing color of the floors? We put ours in in March and there is a lot of darkening already, we love it, but you can definitely tell which parts get the most sunlight, the entry way closet is already much different in color to that in the hallway. Also when we went to Lumber Liquidators the guys said we could have samples to take home but they will look NOTHING like what will come in the boxes or what they will look like 3mo, 6mo even years down the line. And they were so right! The sample we took home is nothing like what came out of the boxes, each board is so totally different in color and grain pattern. I did like being able to look at several boards together and decide if I wanted them next to each other or not while installing it. We could stagger different boards so we didn't end up with a lot of alike boards together, so we opened several boxes and worked like that.

 

[Evi]

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!

Wow I'd hate it if you were my tenants lol j/k kinda. Seriously what are you dropping on those floors?? Maybe she used a softer wood then she should have. I don't know, but I have hardwood throughout including the kitchen and I drop stuff all the time hrmm never had a chunk or serious dent. I guess it could also be the finish chosen. I'm adding matching hardwood to a finished attic room that previous owner had carpeted. I think you may get better pricing going through a hardwood refinishing company then buying the wood and having someone else install it. Just from my experience we were quoted about 1k less from a reputable hardwood floor company then from the retailer and they guaranteed it would match the finish of the rest of the wood in the house. Something retailer was saying they couldn't guarantee.

 

[Anthony1971]

I have hardwood in most parts of my house...
In an entry hall I have laminate and also in 2 of our bedrooms.
The 2 main BR are carpet sorry had HW in the past... cold feet in the winter
HW will always scratch and dent if you can not deal with some blemishes do not get HW...
Laminate in our 2 BR's is older and is OK looking..
In our entry hall it is about 6 months old it was almost 4.00 a SF (installed myslef) but you can not tell it is laminate unless you touch it.. It connects with our real HW.
I would not put real in the entry hall as I change it often I had ceramic tiles before this got tired of fixing the grout every 3 months.
Check out the options...
Whatever you do not buy BRUCE harwood flooring from HD or Lowes you will end up with more useless wood then useful....and also note they measure and add 10% for waste you will pay for the material plus the install costs so if you have 950 look at the price for 1050 and you will be closer to the real cost.

 

[DVCsince02]

We've been in our house 12 years now and it's finally time to replace the flooring. Home Depot is running a special on carpet installation, and we were looking at hardwood or laminate in the kitchen. While browsing, I found a beautiful vinyl from Armstrong that looks like real hardwood. Even has a "feel" of graining to it. While I know it's not nearly the same, I think this would be a good option for us because of the kids and dogs.

Only mentioning it, because it may give you another option. Good luck!

 

[Aggiegrl]

Our house had laminate in the living areas/halls when we moved in 3 years ago. We replaced the carpet in the bedrooms with matching laminate as well.

I really like the laminate. It is easy to clean and takes a beating. Sure, we have scratches, but it doesn't bother me so much. The laminate cost about 1/4 of the price of hardwood. With the money savings, I can replace the floors 3 more times!

 

[tlbwriter]

Anyone else hate the *sound* of laminate? We had hardwoods (100+ yr old, original to the house) in our previous house, and the sound of the dog's nails never bothered me. A friend has laminate floors, and for some reason the sound of her dog's nails on that plastic floor is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me!

 

[pilesoflaundry]

We've been in our house 12 years now and it's finally time to replace the flooring. Home Depot is running a special on carpet installation, and we were looking at hardwood or laminate in the kitchen. While browsing, I found a beautiful vinyl from Armstrong that looks like real hardwood. Even has a "feel" of graining to it. While I know it's not nearly the same, I think this would be a good option for us because of the kids and dogs.

Only mentioning it, because it may give you another option. Good luck!

I had that in a previous house and I hated it! We don't have pets but we do have kids and at the time they were toddlers. I found it hard to keep clean. When we moved a piece of furniture was dropped and it took a huge chunk out of the floor. It cuts and nicks like any vinyl flooring. I would go with laminate or something else over vinyl with kids or pets.

 

[meggybear17]

We've been in our house 12 years now and it's finally time to replace the flooring. Home Depot is running a special on carpet installation, and we were looking at hardwood or laminate in the kitchen. While browsing, I found a beautiful vinyl from Armstrong that looks like real hardwood. Even has a "feel" of graining to it. While I know it's not nearly the same, I think this would be a good option for us because of the kids and dogs.

Only mentioning it, because it may give you another option. Good luck!

We have a similar product in our basement. Yes, if you look closely you can tell its not real wood, but for certain areas its great! We just mop it and go. Holds up, doesn't scratch or dent or anything either.

 

[Green Tea]

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).

You need to talk to a different flooring specialist. Laminate is not a refinishable product. It is a picture of wood (or slate or whatever) on a surface. The overlay is really durable and dogs won't scratch it, but it is plastic, or plastic ish. You don't refinish a laminate, as in Pergo.

Some engineered wood floors might be a single sanding-not sure on that.

Hardwood can be prefinished or not. It is really messy to sand and stain but that gives the best finished look.

 

[tlbwriter]

Some engineered wood floors might be a single sanding-not sure on that.

Yes, I think some engineered woods have enough surface to allow for a single refinishing. As Green Tea said, laminate floors cannot be refinished at all.

Hardwood can be prefinished or not. It is really messy to sand and stain but that gives the best finished look.

Also, stained-in-place hardwood is a better choice for areas that can be exposed to liquids (kitchen, entryway, dining room) because the finish seeps into the joints, making a more water-resistant finish.