Hey wood floor installing type ****** *******s

[Norm In Norman]

I was thinking about replacing half of my carpet with wood floors, possibly next year. Are wood floors easy to install? I've got a tile in a few places too. How do I transition from wood to the tile?

I've never had wood floors before. I'm also sort of wondering how they hold up to dogs running on them and cat's puking on them and the occasional pee on the floor. My carpet is 6 years old it hasn't held up well.

Please expound upon me your vast knowledge.

[1stTimeCaller]

I was thinking about replacing half of my carpet with wood floors, possibly next year.

Are wood floors easy to install?

Yes. relatively easy.


I've got a tile in a few places too. How do I transition from wood to the tile?

A marble transition strip



see bold

[TopDaugIn2000]

what he said



I was in lowe's the other night and noticed on their little 'announcement' board they are giving hard wood floor installation classes. they had one saturday, not sure when the next one is. I'm sure it wouldn't teach you EVERYTHING you need, but it might give you some idea about getting started and such.

[etouffee]

Our floors are half wood, half carpet. Biggest mistake we made when we built. We're about to pull all the carpet and install wood everywhere.

If you do it, make sure you go with real, solid wood flooring, and not the cheap crap. This is one area where you definitely get what you pay for.

[TopDaugIn2000]

Take a look at Bamboo flooring. I love the stuff, and it's better for the ENVIRONMENT

[etouffee]

Take a look at Bamboo flooring. I love the stuff, and it's better for the ENVIRONMENTDon't know much about it. How does it compare in price and quality?

[KC//CRIMSON]

Unless you really know what you're doing, don't install either one. Have a pro do it. It's a major pain for the most part. As far as going with either the real thing or the fake thing, it depends on what you want. Of course the fake stuff isn't going to raise your house value, but it's a lot more durable than the real wood. For instance, if you were to drop a cue ball on the fake floor, it's just going to bounce and roll away. You drop a cue ball on three quarter inch solid oak, and you've just made a perfect silhouette into the floor that will have to be replaced.

Real wood isn't going to hold up well against dogs running on them and cat's puking on them and the occasional pee on the floor.

On the other hand, real wood can be re-finished, where as most faux floors cannot be re-finished.

[etouffee]

Of course the fake stuff isn't going to raise your house value, but it's a lot more durable than the real wood. For instance, if you were to drop a cue ball on the fake floor, it's just going to bounce and roll away. You drop a cue ball on three quarter inch solid oak, and you've just made a perfect silhouette into the floor that will have to be replaced. Real wood isn't going to hold up well against dogs running on them and cat's puking on them and the occasional pee on the floor.

On the other hand, real wood can be re-finished, where as most faux floors cannot be re-finished.
Fake wood flooring (ie. plastic laminate) makes an annoying, cheap hollow sound when you walk on it, which instantly lets all your guests know that you went cheap. Also, laminates just have a printed wood grain pattern on them, so if you look at your floor, you can pick up the pattern repeating , which IMO looks sort of dumb. And while wood floors may dent (as per your cue ball example), at least you still see real wood if you chip or scratch them. (personally, i think an aged wood floor with some dents and scratches looks awesome, but i suppose it depends what sort of "look" you're going for in your house) With a laminate floor, once you rip through that paper-thin printed pattern, the stuff underneath is ugly and you have to replace the panel.

[KC//CRIMSON]

Fake wood flooring (ie. plastic laminate) makes an annoying, cheap hollow sound when you walk on it, which instantly lets all your guests know that you went cheapFake wood flooring (ie. plastic laminate) Also, laminates just have a printed wood grain pattern on them, so if you look at your floor, you can pick up the pattern repeating , which IMO looks sort of dumb. And while wood floors may dent (as per your cue ball example), at least you still see real wood if you chip or scratch them. (personally, i think an aged wood floor with some dents and scratches looks awesome, but i suppose it depends what sort of "look" you're going for in your house) With a laminate floor, once you rip through that paper-thin printed pattern, the stuff underneath is ugly and you have to replace the panel.

That's only if the person who installed it didn't know what they were doing.

There's also plenty of brands that don't look cheap and have a quality asthetic to them...

Me personally though, I have real solid oak in my house, but I don't have kids or animals. I also heard that real wood has shot up almost 70 percent in the last few years.

[etouffee]

Me personally though, I have real solid oak in my house, but I don't have kids or animals. I also heard that real wood has shot up almost 70 percent in the last few years.I don't know the percentage, but it's gotten a lot more expensive during the "housing boom". Lots of construction materials have. Increased demand, I guess.

[Czar Soonerov]

Take a look at Bamboo flooring. I love the stuff, and it's better for the ENVIRONMENT

http://www.ravenfamily.org/andyg/images/cartmann.gif

[TopDaugIn2000]

http://www.ravenfamily.org/andyg/images/cartmann.gif

as expected. :rolleyes: ;)

[Norm In Norman]

see bold
Marble transition strip?

Here is what I'm worried about: it seems to me like a 3/4" piece of plywood with 3/4" of wood flooring on top is going to be quite a bit taller than my tile floor - by maybe an inch. Will this cover up that much?

I honestly think I can install it myself. If i can't then I'm not doing it because I'm too cheap to pay for labor.

Another thing is I don't know if I should/can match the existing wood in my house. I would think it either has to match exactly or completely contrast what I have (which is oak so I could go lighter or darker).

[1stTimeCaller]

.........---------- <--- transition strip
---------- -------------
wood......... tile

I had to use periods for the spacing format to look right


that's if the wood and tile are the same height. You could maybe get a transition piece that mounts over the tile and has a notch out for the wood to go into so you wouldn't see any unfinished edges.

[HoserSooner]

I installed cheap laminate flooring back in January. It was fairly easy, and I'm not what you would call a handyman by any stretch of the imagination.

A few weeks later we got a puppy, and he ran/slid all over the place, and to this day I have yet to find a scratch mark of any kind.

FWIW.

[etouffee]

Another thing is I don't know if I should/can match the existing wood in my house. I would think it either has to match exactly or completely contrast what I have (which is oak so I could go lighter or darker).unless the existing wood in your house is brand new, it's going to be extremely difficult to match, so I wouldn't try. go with a contrast.

[MamaMia]

Bamboo is how we want to go. The price seems pretty reasonable. Here is some information.

http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com/flooring/bamboo-flooring.html

[mdklatt]

I was in lowe's the other night and noticed on their little 'announcement' board they are giving hard wood installation classes. I'm sure it wouldn't teach you EVERYTHING you need, but it might give you some idea about getting started and such.


:D

[TopDaugIn2000]

:D

yeah, funny


(I sent achmed)

[Norm In Norman]

I'm going to have to look at the bamboo stuff. I thought it was just one color, but I guess there are many different styles.

[frankensooner]

I have done engineered hardwood and laminate. I glued one down (the wood) and floated the other. The wood is much prettier, but if you do glue it, get the good M/D glue and don't use the "Bruce" Brand adhesive.

Both were extremely easy to install, be sure to pull all of your floor molding and use the spacers if you float the floor as it will expand and contract.

[TopDaugIn2000]

yup, a lot of choices.

[OUHOMER]

we installed, I guess the cheap stuff last year. As Hosersooner said not one scratch from the dog or anything else. It was very easy install, we did the dining room and kitchen, Now we are thinking about doing the living room. Once you get going it goes on quick.

[Okla-homey]

Ever seen a new floor made of reclaimed heart pine from an old commercial building demo? I bet its expensive...but man is it beautiful and so durable you can't hurt it short of burning down the house. Plus, termites won't eat it. Too much naturally occuring turpentine in the cells.

I do know this. I wouldn't go with wood laminate. That stuff doesn't hold up.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

consumer reports recommends the laminate. i can scan the whole article if you like...

[GottaHavePride]

Yeah, I saw that article at my parents' house. They were sayin the durability of the laminate stuff (plus the fact that they look a lot better now than even 10 years ago) is way better than real wood. It also warns that the bamboo stuff will discolor pretty easily in sunlight.

[mdklatt]

It also warns that the bamboo stuff will discolor pretty easily in sunlight.

Plus, kiss your floor goodbye if you ever get a pet panda.

[SOONER44EVER]

I've put down 1600 square feet of "real" 2 1/4" X 3/4" oak flooring in our house..........so far. I've also installed or refinished the same type of flooring in 9 or 10 other houses. Its pretty easy, just lots and lots of labor, when you have a conventional floor like we do. Much more difficult and more expensive if you are going over a concrete slab. You'll have to buy 3/4" inch plywood, glue, special nails etc. If you have an existing slab I reccomend one of those snap together floating floor systems. They don't look as good as a "real" wood floor IMO but there is no nailing, no sanding and no staining/varnishing to do. They will also match up evenly with most tile and carpet. I put a floating floor in my parent's old house in a room about 16 X 24. Moving all the furniture was the hardest part. I put in about 10 hours labor mainly because the room was odd shaped with lots of angular cuts. After about 7 tears there were no scratches and the had 2 dogs running on it. I believe they got it at Sam's Club. PM me if you have any specific questions.

[Norm In Norman]

The cheapness and laziness factor that is built into me says I should get laminate. I still want wood though. If I get laminate it is still going to be 100 times better than the carpet I have now. And since I have concrete floors, it will save me lots of work/money.

Good thing I have a long time to decide.

[mrowl]

Intall the wood yourself. The most difficult part is getting started, cutting, and the wear on your knees. The pros charge a fortune psf, when your done, it will look the same as if they did it.

My Bruce engineered wood floors held up well to our lab running all over them. And it has a 25 year finish warranty.

[IB4OU2]

My wood floors are over 100 years old and they still look great.

[1stTimeCaller]

just rip up the carpet and stain the concrete. You'll probably have to sand the concrete a little bit to get rid of bumps and crap on the surface of the concrete. On second thought, Home Creations built your house so you probably don't want to see what your slab looks like ;)

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

This is gonna RULE!

[Norm In Norman]

bsg can't wait until I have another meltdown.

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

KILL, NORM!!!

KILL, KILL, KILLLL!L!LL1l1l1lllllllllll

[etouffee]

stained & scored concrete flooring is all the rage these days, but i don't really care for it

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

KILL, NORM!!!

KILL, KILL, KILLLL!L!LL1l1l1lllllllllll

more like NORM SMASH LITTLE WOODEN TOOTHPICKS!!!

[sooner n houston]

We've had pergo floors through out ou house for the six years we've been in Houston. We have always had 2 or 3 dogs, from Boston Terriers to German Shepards. No damage from the dogs evar!
The pergo was installed by the previous owner and looked great for about two years after we bought the house. However, they did not use spacers on the edges and the pergo has since swollen causing the seams to stick up in places. Do remember these floor need room to swell.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

and wood floors need to sit for a couple of weeks and "acclimate" to the house

[HoserSooner]

The only other advice I can offer, is wear knee pads when installing any kind of flooring. I walked around like an 80-year-old man for days after doing our laminate floors, and even longer after I did our ceramic tile.

For $15, you will save yourself a lot of misery.