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You should have lead with this.
I love how it says all prices are in US dollars. Apparently someone didn't tell them that the Canuckbuck is worth more. These would be the types of Hardwood I was talking about, cheap no name crap but it will probably look great when it's down.ETA: When I clicked on the link it was advertising opening 3 locations in Toronto just in case anyone wondered why I found the US dollars thing amusing.
Very true but sometimes the prep work for vinyl will cost more than the vinyl itself. Installing a subfloor or some form of underlay can increase the cost quickly.
First off, OP- listen to GTB... this is what he does for a living (IIRC) and is an amazing resource.B: vinyl flooring that's trying to imitate wood DOES look bad and screams "LOOK AT ME, I'M CHEAP". sorry. but yeah, at least it's cheap. if you go vinyl, why not just make it look like tiles of whatever rather than strip wood?
I wasn't gonna knock someone else's advice but since you did ya it looks bad and it is what I do. Some of the cheapest remnants we have at the shop are vinyl wood look, the others are pink or aqua.
Unless the floors are in great shape and are necessary to the look and feel of the house rip it out and put in new(My personal taste). I would charge $1 to remove the old floor and $2 to install new so $3/ft labor plus the price of the floor. I could make it look awesome for 6/ft cash all in.If you must have it refinished then make sure you get someone to do it and make sure you see at least photos of their work or if possible somewhere that they have refinished it. This is definitely one of those things that any donkey thinks they can do but it takes practice and skill to do well. The company that our shop uses charges us $4/ft to do our refinishing so I would assume they charge somewhere between 4 and 5 to the public.So in my part of the world $6/ft brand spanking new or $5 refinished.
Do not buy cheap laminate. Just don't.If you sincerely want to save money on flooring, please do the following:1) Find every Lowe's in the area that you are willing to drive to in order to purchase said flooring.2) Call said stores and ask for the flooring department.3) Ask them if they have any "special order return" flooring. 4) If yes, inquire what it is. If no, or said flooring is not for you, move on to the next store. If you run out of stores, wait a week and try again.5) If yes, and you think it might work for you, go there and take a look at it. It will be labeled. If the price is around 50% of the original price, it's probably been sitting there at least two weeks. If you like it, offer a manager 10-20% less than the current price to take the whole thing. Even if it isn't enough to meet your needs, you can order more of it.You can get some ridiculous deals this way. The best day to do this is Friday.On a budget. Hopefully less than $1.50 a square foot. first time home-owner trying to get the woman off my back about the floors. what are the various options out there?
He was asking for options, not recommendations. I gave him an option. There are people who are happy with that option for some situations like a basement.
I'd have to see the flooring, but my instinct is to say to keep the original flooring (assuming it's original). Screen it if you have to and refinish- but I'm guessing it's going to show a lot of character and age that might feel more true to an old Vic.
Thanks for the help. few more things, off the top of my head...We are only planning on living here for only 3-4 more years. We will be re-flooring the kitchen (currently outdated crappy tile laminate) and joining dining room (currently carpet). Is going w/ real wood still recommended if we aren't staying here long term? Can prices be negotiated at a place like lumber liquidators?All of the flooring will be installed by my buddy and i, if that matters.
Okay here we go in order:In my part of the world you will get most of your money back out of real HW when you sell so yes get HW if you can.Prices can be negotiated everywhere.If you're handy knock yourself out but it better look great because if you go to sell the house Johnny Homeowner jobs cost you money on resale.If you do go with Laminate go Torly's they are the cats ### when it comes to Laminate(I put it in my kitchen) website is torlys.com.
thought you gave up on this place?
so many hours in the day, so little things to do.
Engineered sub-material with a thin layer of real wood on top (thickness of real wood depends on price). Some of these can even be refinished, or so the manufacturers claim.Some of these are 'click-lock' or floating flooring that snaps together. This is an option on concrete subfloors. But it will never feel solid like a nail or staple down floor.
gotta be on a concrete floor?
No. And they can be nailed down or glued too.Just that when you have a concrete subfloor, in order to nail down you need to build out a wood subfloor, or seal the concrete before you glue it, otherwise moisture can wick into the wood. Often, the 'floating' floors (like Pergo can be, or engineered hardwood) are used for concrete subfloors like a slab-on-grade construction.
Checked that site out myself, since I'm about to get into some on grade flooring over concrete--what's your take on cork? It seems to offer what I'm looking for--insulation against the concrete, low profile, and they advertise durability but that seems counterintuitive to me--I'm not sure it's even been on the market long enough to make that claim. Any experience with it?
Okay for 385 ft you should be assuming 10% waste due to being a rookie so tag on 38.5 ft and round it to the closest case. I would need to know what product exactly you are putting down to tell you other costs.
NO DO NOT GET THE STUFF WITH THE PAD ATTACHED. Any of the stuff that I have worked with that has pad attached is garbage, the pad isn't adhered perfectly in place so you spend much of the time cutting and trimming the pad off the back of the product.
Laminate if you are flipping and Hardwood if you are keeping the place for any length of time. I have to talk in terms of what happens in Toronto but if you aren't spending $2.50/ft RETAIL PRICE on laminate you didn't spend enough and you can get decent Hardwood for $3/ft. I only say get laminate if you are flipping the house because then you can buy the cheap cheap crap and in 6 months when if falls apart it's someone else's problem.
This is the HW I would suggest it doesn't expand and contract(read gapping and swelling)like 3/4" solid hardwood. QUICK LESSON:Solid Hardwood aka 3/4" aka Hardwood Flooring is a solid single piece of whatever wood milled, stained and finished to the pieces you see in the box.Engineered Hardwood is multiple layers of different types of wood sandwiched together to make the finished product. The top layer aka the wear layer is whatever wood you chose then the middle layers can be 3 to 11(IIRC) most I deal with are 5ish layers. Each of the different types of wood will want to expand and contract at a different humidity level hence less gapping or movement. Anyone who says they can tell the difference from looking at a finished floor is lying(Even a FBG). I would definitely recommend Eng HW and I will be putting it in my house when I get around to it.
Depending on the thickness of the wear layer these can be refinished. You can also nail down ENG HW. Just because it is ENG doesn't mean that it is also a click floor. You could also glue down HW directly to the concrete or do a double glue cork install: Cork glued to the concrete and then Wood glued to the cork. Floating floors like you are referring to can have that hollow feel to them if the subfloor is very uneven. The key is to have a smooth subfloor, good underlay and lots of furniture in the room.
In most cases this is correct but check with the glue that you will be using as some of it will want a specific sealant or none at all.
If you would be so kind since it's been a while since I've read the the thread if you are going to ask anymore questions please add what product you are looking at and the rooms you will be putting it in and the type of subfloor.
we finally went to lumber liquidators. she liked these 3 sampleslaminate w/ pad
Yeah i saw tthat after we got samples.
I got engineered HW installed in my family room, that is built over a crawl space.We are real happy with it.
