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Floor Project


Zealot

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Nice work?  What brand / style / thickness did you go with?

Did you get to buy new tools?  If so, what did you get?  

Morningstar Clickstrand Handscraped Hazel, 1/2".

I bought a Kobalt 10" compound sliding, mitering chopsaw. Works like a dream!

That looks beautiful.

Thanks. Mrs Z and I are pretty stoked!

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So Lumber Liquidators.  Hope it holds up better than the crap of theirs I put down.

What did you install?

Why, you devil you! I'm surprised those photos showed as much progress on the floor as they did.

;)

In that context, laid all over the house... ;)

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What did you install?

I installed their laminate.  It went to go well and looked good initially, but within a year, the seems were opening up.

And then the durability is horrible, scratched and chipped easier than anything else I've seen or done not to mention the water resistance, despite their claims.  This stuff just sees water and it starts to swell.

I've got Armstrong in my basement, it flooded and was actually floating.  Got all the water out and dehumidifiers to suck the moisture out and you can't even tell anything ever happened to it.

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Looks good...I have now talked to2 different flooring people....with an approximate of 1000 sq feet...vinyl planking...one pricing actual flooring..the other just a guestimate (from our flooring people)

$6,000 from our flooring people...$7,000 for a local flooring place where I looked at 2 specific flooring products...

Got the name of a 3rd place to check out...

BUT...no stairs to do at my place...floor is concrete..one spot will need some prep work...1 big room, a galley kitchen, an L shaped hall way, a smaller bedroom and larger bedroom...

What do you charge Z ?????????

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Nice job!

As I have read some of the comments and others considering, would strongly suggest consider engineered wood (floating install) with a good top veneer layer over laminate. Did half the house in laminate at wife's insistence...and glad Quick-Step D/C'd the pattern now that looking at the other half. Since they are the bedrooms, may keep them carpet, but is do room by room, wood. The first question above was  "What new tools did you get to buy?" With laminate, the correct answer is "Saw Blades". In the 1500 sq ft, I went through 3 of them! The plastic laminate base melts with the heat of the blade, then cakes on the blade. You can tell the blade is dull with the 'burnt edge' on the cross cut and the final line in the room usually requires you rip the length. Not only was it hard to rip, but at times my table saw wanted to tip on me, requiring a foot on the stand brace. When talking to a local flooring store, he laughed, knowing exactly what I was talking about, stating that they dedicate a specific saw for both laminate and bamboo flooring because of it.

Also, when I was prepping the room, I took out the baseboards and painted the room and ceiling. With the required gap, if I left the baseboards in, would have had to install 1/4 rounds to cover. I simply put new baseboards in, pre-pained outside, covering the flooring gap and providing a clean line against the newly painted walls. It was simply a matter of touchup where recess nailed to install. That is the advantage of doing it yourself as no installer is going to do the extra.

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Hey Tizeye, yes, this install is a floating floor. And the flooring is Bamboo. Like you, I've pulled up the trim and spaced appropriately. So far, I've only used one blade. But I was warned by the guys at the distributer that I'd probably go through a lot of them. I don't have a table saw, so where I need to rip the boards lengthwise, I am using a 7" skilsaw. So far, so good! My hand is pretty steady.  

I will complete the downstairs, the stairwell and the upstairs hallway and catwalk with this flooring. I will spend a good desk of time on the stairs, I want them to be perfect. The bedrooms will most likely get laminate. The kitchen/dining area will eventually get ceramic or quarry tile. 

And as you said, no contractor is going to put into this what we will. 

 

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Same for me.  Carpet is soft and comfy and warm and quiet and paid for.

Yeah, but our carpet was over 20 years old and had survived five cats, eight dogs, two children and all their friends and multiple rodent pets. It was time to go!  (You should see how a well used carpet looks on the underside when you pull it up! Yuck.) And we've wanted the wood floor for a long time. We now have time and resources we didn't while raising our children. And we've been renovating for about 3 years now. 

Its our home. We had so many dreams for it when we bought it all those years ago. 

Its fun. 

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I'm glad my wife doesn't read the forums.  She wants me to tear out the carpet and install laminate flooring.  I like the carpet, mostly because it's already there and it's soft on bare feet.

 

My wife won't get rid of the carpet no matter how nicely I ask...

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Petite, If you buy the materials I only charge room, beer and meals.  :)

It's really not that difficult. If you have a little tool savvy and can measure, you're golden!  

 

Nope. I am golden. But you should make out pretty well regardless.

 

The flooring looks lovely. I love my hand scraped floors and I am sure you will too. With the floor refresh are you doing anything else to the area? Paint, lighting, accessorizing?

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Flooring - just one more area to disagree on for spouses.  :(

Hard flooring looks great but is too cold and noisy for me.

Install heat strips in the flooring. We have it in the bedroom and will install in the bathroom when I redo the master next year. Sounds silly to have heated flooring in Florida but it is so nice in our little winter months. The bathroom will be a dream to do for that as well. Imagine getting out of a luxurious shower and stepping on warm granite/marble? Wunderbar!

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Nope. I am golden. But you should make out pretty well regardless.

 

The flooring looks lovely. I love my hand scraped floors and I am sure you will too. With the floor refresh are you doing anything else to the area? Paint, lighting, accessorizing?

Thanks. Yes, we've actually done a lot of renovation - paint, lighting, etc. the flooring is the last major step for this area. It looks nothing like it did 3 years ago!

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Finished downstairs:

 

image.thumb.jpg.60d707cf0d48b3ac585e4188image.thumb.jpg.47585d01a5c9ad92a0c529c0

So is now the time I supposed to point out that common thought on laying plank flooring is to run them so the long section is ran in the direction of the length of the room.  :P

Second option is the to run them so long sections is with your major source for natural light.

 

 

It looks good.

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So is now the time I supposed to point out that common thought on laying plank flooring is to run them so the long section is ran in the direction of the length of the room.  :P

Second option is the to run them so long sections is with your major source for natural light.

 

 

It looks good.

That's something she and I discussed ad nauseum prior to ever putting any planks down... In the end, we decided this was the way we preferred it.

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So is now the time I supposed to point out that common thought on laying plank flooring is to run them so the long section is ran in the direction of the length of the room.  :P

Second option is the to run them so long sections is with your major source for natural light.

 

 

It looks good.

Technically with "real" hardwood you are supposed to run it perpendicular to the floor joists.

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Technically with "real" hardwood you are supposed to run it perpendicular to the floor joists.

That's true too.  Helps keep the floor laying flatter and reduce a wave effect.  There are so many opinions on what to do, both from a structural standpoint and from a design stand point.  Of course from the picture, I can't tell which way the floor joist are running, so I can't pick on Z for that, so that's no fun.  :D

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That's something she and I discussed ad nauseum prior to ever putting any planks down... In the end, we decided this was the way we preferred it.

Yeah, we I did mine the first time, we over analysis it to no end.  When I do it again, which will probably be soon, will be even more discussion as I'm going to be doing the entire downstairs, so no matter which we I lay it, I will be breaking rules unless I change directions a couple times and that is not happening, plus that would look even dumber.

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I like the carpet, mostly because it's already there and it's soft on bare feet.

I agree.  All this hardwood flooring-look is all the rage right now.  Back when I bought my first house (70's), people were covering their real wood floors with wall-to-wall carpeting.  If you didn't have wall-to-wall back then, you sucked.

In my current house built in 1959, I have real oak hardwood beneath my carpet.  I could rip up the carpet and be in style.  But no thanks, I've had both and I like carpet better.  

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I agree.  All this hardwood flooring-look is all the rage right now.  Back when I bought my first house (70's), people were covering their real wood floors with wall-to-wall carpeting.  If you didn't have wall-to-wall back then, you sucked.

In my current house built in 1959, I have real oak hardwood beneath my carpet.  I could rip up the carpet and be in style.  But no thanks, I've had both and I like carpet better.  

For us, we bought the house 20 years ago next month. When we bought it, one of our initial plans was to take up the carpet and put down hardwood flooring. But with very young kids, lots of pets and less substantial income, we agreed it would wait. 

I seldom care about what 'the rage' is or what's fashionable. I like what I like. 

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For us, we bought the house 20 years ago next month. When we bought it, one of our initial plans was to take up the carpet and put down hardwood flooring. But with very young kids, lots of pets and less substantial income, we agreed it would wait. 

I seldom care about what 'the rage' is or what's fashionable. I like what I like. 

I like carpet, but with all are animals, the house is cleaner with hardwood, or laminate at least in our case.  You don't have everything stuck in the carpet.  I couldn't believe how disgusting our carpet was and in less than 10 years of living there.  Now upstairs where it gets less traffic and less animal access, it will stay carpet.

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I like carpet, but with all are animals, the house is cleaner with hardwood, or laminate at least in our case.  You don't have everything stuck in the carpet.  I couldn't believe how disgusting our carpet was and in less than 10 years of living there.  Now upstairs where it gets less traffic and less animal access, it will stay carpet.

Agreed very much on the cleanliness aspect. 

I have two bedrooms left that have carpet. That'll most likely go in the next year.

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