Hardwood Flooring

[Maikeru-sama]

I am shopping for hardwood floor to put in the new house.

There seems to be an endless amount of information about purchasing hardwood flooring.

Anybody have any tips when shopping for wood?

What type of wood is best for weather in Texas?

I would like to stay around $4.00 per sq ft., what is some good wood at that price range?

 

[YosemiteSam]

We used Red Oak flooring with a Golden Oak colored stain (not dark, but not light either) and a satan polyurethane finish. It turned out beautiful. Of course, my house is in Connecticut and not Texas.

There are MANY things to consider when making your choice. Wood type, stain (color), and type of finish (flat, gloss, satan) and then what the finish is made from. (oil, water)

Some people like water, some people like oil based polyurethane. Both have good and bad points. Polyurethane finish, you probably don't want to be in the house for several days while applying it. Usually you will put at least three coats and it smells quite a bit.

When we bought our house, we gutted it inside and out, but we couldn't wait for everything to be done before we moved in as our lease was ending on our other house. We decided to do the floor first even though there was going to be a lot of construction going on in the house after the floors were done. We had too, because we had to move in but we couldn't live there while the polyurethane was being applied. (living two months without a kitchen sucked!)

edit: also, be careful about the quality of wood used too! Sometimes to pay a little more is worth it! You don't want giant knots that have rot in them or wood that is too thin.

 

[WoodysGirl]

I don't know what's best for Texas, especially North Texas, but for cost purposes, my dad recommends Lumber Liquidator. He got most of his house done in hardwood and he bought all the wood from there.

I'm sure they may be able to help you with the right type of wood, as well.

 

[theebs]

I assume you are buying engineered, We all have these hideous concrete slabs here and you cant put solid wood on the slabs, unless you want to raise your floor very high.

so in saying that, Be very picky about who you have put it in, wood floors on concrete is one thing, wood floors on unlevel concrete is another.

We had half of our house done last year and the guy who put in had tiled for us in the past, he did a great job, but still, the concrete slab is so poor we have spots in our master bedroom that are just not perfect and it drives me crazy.

as far as price goes, the quality and style is all over the board. WG reccomended lumber liquidator and they have great stuff. Lots of options.

make sure you bring a bunch of samples home because one strip does not give you a feel for the look....just like tile you have to have a bunch!

good luck man.

 

[Bonecrusher#31]

my dad recommends Lumber Liquidator.

Thats were I bought mine too....But in Phoenix of course

 

[WoodysGirl]

Thats were I bought mine too....But in Phoenix of course

No worries, my dad bought his in Chicago.


It's a national chain, so I think Mike will be able to find one in the DFW area.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Purchased? Why purchase? Thats for the lazy people. I got a saw and a hatchet and cut my own!

 

[AbeBeta]

Get a real wood product. Laminate is cheap but frankly it looks like crap. It is all nice and shiny but the fake wood pattern is really lame. With real wood you get an amazing unique pattern. If you have the time, the old fashioned two inch wide nail down flooring is pretty damn cool.

Don't know what would do well in Texas weather but oak seems a pretty solid bet for most places.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Get a real wood product. Laminate is cheap but frankly it looks like crap. It is all nice and shiny but the fake wood pattern is really lame. With real wood you get an amazing unique pattern. If you have the time, the old fashioned two inch wide nail down flooring is pretty damn cool.

Don't know what would do well in Texas weather but oak seems a pretty solid bet for most places.

Not to mention it is annoying as hell if someone is wearing shoes that clap against it. (slip on sandles or hard soled shoes)

I would never in my life put that garbage in my house!

 

[AbeBeta]

Not to mention it is annoying as hell if someone is where shoes that clap against it. (slip on sandles or hard soled shoes)

I would never in my life put that garbage in my house!

I see folks put that in all the time and then call it "hardwood"

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Thanks for the replies. Over the last week I have compiled quite a bit of data.

The stores I am targeting:

Lumber Liquidators
Surplus and Seconds
Surplus Floor Outlet

I have two scenarios.

1) Through the Job, I was put in contact with several individuals who does hardwood. One person in particular, charges $2 per sqft to do the carpet pullout, the install and the molding. He prefers that the customer buy their own hardwood. You would also pay for the Glue, Towels and Mineral Spirits. I need to price how much the aforementioned 3 are, but I was told 1 bucket of Glue was $200+. If this is the case, the individual loses the advantage.

2) I just talked with Surplus Floor Outlet and they quoted me around $4100 for everything, assuming the Square Footage estimate I gave them is correct.

So we will see.

I know one thing, houses are expensive...

 

[theebs]

Thanks for the replies. Over the last week I have compiled quite a bit of data.

The stores I am targeting:

Lumber Liquidators
Surplus and Seconds
Surplus Floor Outlet

I have two scenarios.

1) Through the Job, I was put in contact with several individuals who does hardwood. One person in particular, charges $2 per sqft to do the carpet pullout, the install and the molding. He prefers that the customer buy their own hardwood. You would also pay for the Glue, Towels and Mineral Spirits. I need to price how much the aforementioned 3 are, but I was told 1 bucket of Glue was $200+. If this is the case, the individual loses the advantage.

2) I just talked with Surplus Floor Outlet and they quoted me around $4100 for everything, assuming the Square Footage estimate I gave them is correct.

So we will see.

I know one thing, houses are expensive...

Before you get set on any prices or anything, I would have an installer come to your house. They need to check your moisture level on the floor. If there is too much or too little your wood floor will not hold up and you will have to put a humidifier in your central air to balance it out.

I would reccomend if you have the time, pull the carpet and tac boards out yourself. It is simple. Get a razor and cut the carpet in sections and pull it up, then get a hammer and a screw driver and pop the tac board up and the nails.

Took me just a couple of hours to get it all out and then vaccum and sweep the whole area.

Save every penny you can.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

do you guys have an Empire Today outlet around the area? they're supposed to be the cheapest rates, but with quality flooring and they install the next day

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Before you get set on any prices or anything, I would have an installer come to your house. They need to check your moisture level on the floor. If there is too much or too little your wood floor will not hold up and you will have to put a humidifier in your central air to balance it out.

I would reccomend if you have the time, pull the carpet and tac boards out yourself. It is simple. Get a razor and cut the carpet in sections and pull it up, then get a hammer and a screw driver and pop the tac board up and the nails.

Took me just a couple of hours to get it all out and then vaccum and sweep the whole area.

Save every penny you can.

Yes, that will all be done. I don't close until July 1st, so I don't have constant access to the house to allow people to take measurements and do all the other checks.

Today, a Foundation Expert is going to the house at 12:30 today and I am using that time to allow one of the potential hardwood installers to come in and do all the neccessary checks.

I have a pretty good idea of the square footage total and I am adding about 15% to that for extra wood, so I can get a good estimate of what I am looking at.

 

[theebs]

Yes, that will all be done. I don't close until July 1st, so I don't have constant access to the house to allow people to take measurements and do all the other checks.

Today, a Foundation Expert is going to the house at 12:30 today and I am using that time to allow one of the potential hardwood installers to come in and do all the neccessary checks.

I have a pretty good idea of the square footage total and I am adding about 15% to that for extra wood, so I can get a good estimate of what I am looking at.

Sounds good!

 

[Maikeru-sama]

do you guys have an Empire Today outlet around the area? they're supposed to be the cheapest rates, but with quality flooring and they install the next day

Yes, we do. I forgot about them.

Good looking out Bob.

 

[AbeBeta]

I would reccomend if you have the time, pull the carpet and tac boards out yourself. It is simple. Get a razor and cut the carpet in sections and pull it up, then get a hammer and a screw driver and pop the tac board up and the nails.

We did ours... really not that hard at all. This part involves about zero skill so it is the last thing you want an installer doing. This part would be really really hard to screw up even for the least skilled person. I would hope that most installers would be up front with you about how you could do that yourself.

 

[AbeBeta]

Oh yeah... one thing you might ask about is how they plan to do the edge. The good way is to lay about 6 inches worth of boards parallel to the two of the walls. This means each wall will have planks parellel to it.. basically you don't want the short part of the boards ever hitting the wall... it looks cheap.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Yes, we do. I forgot about them.

Good looking out Bob.

from one brotha' to anotha'

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Just got back from the house.

The foundation expert said there was absolutely no foundation problem and the crack in the brick is just settlement. Another foundation guy is suppose to come out but honestly, I think it is a waste of time and he keeps cancelling on us anyway.

Had the guy who is going to install the wood out and the total square footage for wood is around 545.5 Square Ft, so I will buy quite a bit more than that to be safe.

I was also able to borrow a piece of tile they had in the house so I can take that with me when shopping for the wood I am going to get.

The people who live there cook with alot of spicy ingredients (curry maybe) and it is going to be very hard to get rid of the smell.