Re: Need advice and suggestions --- want to get ri... - Page 2

kaydee50 · ‎02-07-2011

I like having carpeting in the bedrooms. Otherwise, we had laminate in our kitchen in our previous house and liked it a lot. Easy to maintain, looked like hardwood to me. I didn't want tile in the kitchen because I think it's too hard. There are a lot of options for flooring.

Meowingkitty · ‎06-19-2010

We haven’t had carpet for probably 25 years. We have hardwood floors in all the rooms except kitchen, bath and laundry rooms which we have ceramic tile. Wouldn’t have it any other way. You can run a vacuum over it, sweep it or mop it (not the hardwood of course). It’s cleaner and easier to clean. I live in Arizona so cold floors feel good on the feet a majority of the year. Yea there are dust bunnies, so what. It’s still better than carpet.

Abrowneyegirl · ‎03-15-2010

As someone who has selected many floors for our own homes and commercial settings................

I have to admit we have real HW Brazilian Cherry one home and it beautiful and extremely durable. It is quiet to walk on and looks brand new 10 years later, BUT I doubt I would EVER spend that kind of money on a floor again!

Laminates are loud to walk on, many now have lots of chemical off gas problems and the durability is so-so at best.

Engineered HW- for a high quality you will usually pay the same or MORE than natural HW per sq ft. But install is cheaper and it does not shrink and contract like real HW. HOWEVER everyone we know who has Eng HW floors regrets it. Unfortunetly floors take a beating and once something falls on the floor and dings an Eng HW floor you can see the ugly not pretty layer.

If I was going to build another home or replace my natural HW I would go with a very high end vinyl planking. The ease of care, noise control, durability and tolerate to wet/water is great. The better brands vary the length of the planks. And it is beautiful!!! There is NOTHING worse than a HW style floor with lots of seams due to short boards. It looks cheap and fake.

Good luck and enjoy your new flooring!!!!

henderson · ‎03-18-2010

Vinyl plank flooring. It looks like wood and is completely waterproof. We just had it installed in one of our bathrooms. We have carpeting in two guest bedrooms and the rest of the house is laminated flooring.

CJC · ‎03-11-2010

@Mom2Dogs wrote:
@JeanLouiseFinch Yes!! The wood or tile flooring looks nice, but I do not think it is always practical, depending on where you live and I have never understood the dislike of carpet....(the op did not say that) but when watching house hunter shows people act like carpet is the worst thing ever. There are also the dust bunnines that I find to be an issue, as I have hardwood in my dining room.

Hasn't been that many years since people avoided wood floors in their homes. My parents and grandparents, as well as myself in the 70's-90's, lived in large homes with hardwood floors throughout. All of us covered those "cold wood floors" with carpeting. What goes around, comes around. Carpet will be back in fashion one day. I like my wood floors, but I miss the warmth and comfort of carpeting. I also like ceramic tile in certain areas as long as grout is not an issue. Do not care for the look of any faux wood flooring like laminate or porcelain tile, but those materials suit contemporary decor styles well. I am just ultra traditional.

Hoovermom · ‎03-19-2010

I have hardwood floors throughout my home including the kitchen. They are red oak and still look beautiful 20 years down the road. I don't find them cold to stand on even though I have very large area rugs in each room. Now I will admit that I live in the South so cold is relative LOL. My DS just bought a home with the flooring that looks like hardwoods but is tile. When he first looked at the house, I could not tell they were tile. The only drawback I see is that they are very hard on the feet after a while. I am not sure of the price anymore of HW but love the look of my floors.

Eileen in Virginia · ‎08-25-2010

We’ve had wall-to-wall carpeting and hardwood floors (original to the house) and I prefer the hardwoods. After the first year or so, there was no way to get rid of the traffic patterns that got worn into the carpeting, even though we had high quality padding and carpeting. We haven’t had any problems with water marks on the hardwood floors, but the dust bunnies just keep popping up.

While you've got the floors torn out, you might also consider installing radiant heating under the floors in rooms that are on a slab or over an unheated room (like a porch or crawl space). I wish we had this in our master bedroom and in our sunroom, but I don’t want to tear up the floors in those rooms now.

jackthebear · ‎03-11-2010

i ripped carpet out of 2 bedrooms but we have a 50's ranch with the original wood in wonderful condition. would love to do same in our room but the little addition doesn't have wood

jackthebear · ‎03-11-2010

@AngelPuppy1 wrote:
DH and I were talking yesterday and I was surprised to learn that he feels the same way that I do --- he would like to get rid of the existing carpeting which is in the living room and bedrooms! I was shocked. He is more old school than me and I never dreamed that he wanted this done. I figured that he would just say --- either have the stuff cleaned -- again --- or even replaced with new carpeting.

However, as we talked, I started saying that I think it would be a better option to have the carpeting removed entirely and replaced with some type of faux wood flooring. I thought it would be easier to maintain and more healthy for us as we both have health issues regarding lung and allergies. He was in agreement!

Also, we need to have the flooring replaced in the kitchen. There is currently this ugly old tile of some type which keeps coming loose and is worn. I would like some type of easy care inexpensive tyle look alike in there.

I would like to ask for your suggestions. We do not want to go into a huge expense of getting real hardwood floors for the living room and bedrooms, but would like something which looks like wood but would be healthy, wear well and be easy to clean. What type of flooring would be a good choice?

For the kitchen, what would you suggest? I, personally, don't think I want any more tiles as they seems to be more problematic and lift, etc. I think I'd rather have something that is one piece. Of course, durability and easy care is important in a kitchen since we spend so much time in there and a lot of --- oooops --- happen!

Thanks for your suggestions. I am not knowledgable about flooring at all, and DH is not either and said he would leave the choices up to me!

do the same type of flooring in the first floor whatever it is,

there are many different kinds that are not wood but look like mr jtb put some in his office,

haddon9 · ‎03-09-2010

Well I can tell you what we did. Since DH is retired and loves to work on household projects, he replaced the wood floor in the living room, dining room, foyer & family room a couple of years ago.

First he did the family room which is on a slab and it had to be engineered hardwood....something to do with the slab. The rest of the first floor isn't on a slab but I wanted it all to be the same hardwood.

It came out great so the following year he did the foyer, dining room & living room. The foyer already had a hardwood that was installed when we moved in 25 years ago so I insisted that it be ripped up & replaced so the flooring would run together smoothly. Looks great & is easy to take care of too!

We just painted & replaced my son's old room (which is now really a guest room) with the same hardwood. The dilemma we have now are the steps. I would like to replace the old carpet with the same hardwood (with white risers) but DH doesn't feel up to it and wants carpet on the steps which would go into the upstairs hallway. ...it's something that I have to wait to do for a while though...more time to think about it.