Hardwood Floors

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BalancedJCB19
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Hardwood Floors

Post by BalancedJCB19 »

I'm thinking about putting in Hardwood Floors in my home. The house is approx. 2,000 sq. ft. Would anyone have a guesstimate on how much materials and install would cost. I would like to put in a good product, but does not have to be the best out there, but certainly don't want the low end. Middle of the road would work.

Thanks for any help or advice you care to share.
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Sandtrap
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by Sandtrap »

BalancedJCB19 wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:37 pm I'm thinking about putting in Hardwood Floors in my home. The house is approx. 2,000 sq. ft. Would anyone have a guesstimate on how much materials and install would cost. I would like to put in a good product, but does not have to be the best out there, but certainly don't want the low end. Middle of the road would work.

Thanks for any help or advice you care to share.
Price is highly dependent on going prices and costs in your area, job complexity, logistics around and in your home and lot and street, nature of materials used, etc.

The variations between flooring contractors installing the same laminate floor that you select in make and model, will be in labor costs, materials markup, operating costs, and profit margin.

Get 3 Estimates with in person site inspection, from reputable licensed and insured flooring contractors in your area. Check with local contractor's lic center that insurance and license is up to date. Get a list of past projects completed as far as flooring work and perhaps go look at them or check.

Do not use a handyman or questionable tradesman or so forth for 2000 sf of quality installation. Why? Warranty of work.
OTOH: there are excellent skilled flooring tradesman that could also do the work. Look carefully.

Solid oak or other hardwood. Get a price?
Laminate Flooring of various qualities? (good thread to post on the forum as an inquiry on laminate flooring) :D :D

2 Prices for each: Time and Materials? Lump Sum?

To include any corrections needed to subfloor or substrate including leveling as needed, nail pops, squeaks and squawks, wall trim and/or baseboards to protect and repair any damage by the installation, or removal and replacement if needed and refinishing.
To include trimming of interior doors as needed, and refinishing of recut doors as needed.

A quality floor installed professionally and to high standard will be a thing of beauty and a joy to behold for a long time and will help a home retain its value.

*Search the forum archives for "hardwood floors".
j :D
Last edited by Sandtrap on Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Lalamimi
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by Lalamimi »

we got ours in 2013 from BuildDirect.com, they helped with measurements. Found a retired guy who installed for $1 a ft. Just ask on your local FB/neighbor hood sites for recommendations.
OffGridder
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by OffGridder »

1600 sq. ft for $12,600

Install, sand and finish 2.25 inch select maple flooring with 2 coats of natural Swedish finish. Includes base boads.Includes removal of carpet..

Turn key materials and install by licensed independent contractor. He does top notch work and did a previous house for us.

Eastern Washington state
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jbuzolich
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by jbuzolich »

As others have said, the cost will be highly variable depending where you live. I've had a few flooring jobs done and the price has not varied all that much based on cheap or expensive materials. The install and finish is the largest share of the cost. Laminate or vinyl was the cheapest, then tile or engineered hardwood, then solid hardwood the highest. I'd plan for $20k minimum on your 2000 sq ft in my area, and then hope to maybe come in closer to $17k when you get multiple quotes from licensed contractors. Keep any savings close at hand for plumbing or electrical or subfloor things you might discover.
DrGoguma
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by DrGoguma »

Mine were quite expensive. But, the installer did a great job and while my realtor doesn't value them highly -- I think they were worth every penny. Get a great installer -- don't save 1-2k on a 20k job. That's my advice. If you're in New Mexico, use Select Floors, and figure that you will want 10% more than they estimate on custom stuff once they get going. They 'd have met the estimate if I asked them too (and we did complain about some things the didn't estimate but were needed -- in retrospect, neither party's fault -- but at the time I wanted to play hardball ... later I realized they were craftsmen and not out to pad the budget in any way), but we tacked on 100% more work as custom and I'm glad we did.
Last edited by DrGoguma on Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
WealthConstructor
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by WealthConstructor »

A few questions for you -

- do you expect the installer to remove and move your furniture back?
- is there existing flooring to be removed by the flooring installer?
- what type of baseboards do you have, do they need to be replaced along with the floor?
- what is the existing substrate (plywood, 1x4, concrete)?
- is the substrate flat and in good condition?
- are you looking for solid material or an engineered product?
- do you mind if material is prefinished or do you want it finished on site?
- width of material?
- where are you located?
Ferdinand2014
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by Ferdinand2014 »

BalancedJCB19 wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:37 pm I'm thinking about putting in Hardwood Floors in my home. The house is approx. 2,000 sq. ft. Would anyone have a guesstimate on how much materials and install would cost. I would like to put in a good product, but does not have to be the best out there, but certainly don't want the low end. Middle of the road would work.

Thanks for any help or advice you care to share.
930 square feet. Solid oak flooring. Supplies. Sanded raw wood after acclimating in house for 1 month in stacks. 3 coats oil based product. lightly sanded between first 2 coats. Baseboard removed and reinstalled. I did paint touch up and moved furniture. $5,100. The oak was locally produced from local source wood (northern New England) and put in by local flooring installer. Took 3 days. Love it. Totally changed character of our house.
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dmcmahon
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by dmcmahon »

$12-15k without knowing anything else. JMHO.
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by Pandemic Bangs »

Would defer any optional home repairs 'til after pandemic. I don't know about your area but quotes are insane now. Truly insane. Especially for anything made of wood.
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oldcomputerguy
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by oldcomputerguy »

This topic is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum.
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silverlitegs
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by silverlitegs »

In Northeast for the product, low quality, home improvement store is about $3-$4 a square. Great quality can start from $8 and go up depending on species. Installation is depending on area. Nice DIY project if you have time and in no rush
2Scoops
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by 2Scoops »

We've had the first floor hardwoods replaced in our house twice due to water pipe bursts. Each time we selected a different type of flooring. In our experience it was $7-$11 per sq foot depending on the hardwood choice.

Edited to mention that we did not consider products from the big box retailers or the discount stores. Both times we went with local companies.
pshonore
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by pshonore »

WealthConstructor wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:16 pm A few questions for you -

- do you expect the installer to remove and move your furniture back?
- is there existing flooring to be removed by the flooring installer?
- what type of baseboards do you have, do they need to be replaced along with the floor?
- what is the existing substrate (plywood, 1x4, concrete)?
- is the substrate flat and in good condition?
- are you looking for solid material or an engineered product?
- do you mind if material is prefinished or do you want it finished on site?
- width of material?
- where are you located?
A great list of the factors involved all of which effect cost. I'd say $8-10 per sq ft in round numbers. In my opinion going with prefinished is preferable because you get a superior finish (applied under factory conditions) but some may disagree.
BIGal
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by BIGal »

THE most important factor has to be selecting the best flooring contractor you can find. We had an absolutely terrible experience with our first install. The contractor has been in business for 25+ years and my assumption was that made him good. Wrong. What I recommend is to talk to recent customers and find out if they were satisfied. Employees change over time and with that comes a lack of experience. There is nothing more maddening than seeing an expensive hardwood installed poorly and having to live with it. I learned a hard lesson. For your sake, do check with current customers and don't make the mistake that I made.
Nebraska_Drought
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by Nebraska_Drought »

We did 3/4 " hickory flooring on about 775 square feet of our main floor. I moved all the furniture and carpet myself. The contractor removed existing hardwood flooring where needed. Sanded and leveled the entire area, removed baseboard trim and reinstalled when it was done. When it was all said and done, we were in it for just over $10K but we are happy with the results and they look good.
carolinaman
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by carolinaman »

There are a lot of different types of hardwood flooring today. Take your time researching products to determine what is best for you. Most of our house has solid hardwood flooring (3/4 " oak). I chose pre finished hardwood because if someone finishes them onsite, that odor lasts a long time. The good part of solid hardwood is it can be refinished multiple times. It is a truly a lifetime floor.

Installing hardwood is not rocket science but do not go cheap on installation to make sure you get a quality job.

We bought ours from Lumber liquidators but shop around to find your best deal. Get quotes from at least 3 stores.
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lthenderson
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by lthenderson »

BalancedJCB19 wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:37 pm I'm thinking about putting in Hardwood Floors in my home. The house is approx. 2,000 sq. ft. Would anyone have a guesstimate on how much materials and install would cost. I would like to put in a good product, but does not have to be the best out there, but certainly don't want the low end. Middle of the road would work.

Thanks for any help or advice you care to share.
As others said, it is highly dependent on your area but having said that, installing hardwood floors is about the easiest remodeling project to get a really accurate quote with minimal amount of work. Any place you go to shop for hardwood will have it priced out per square foot and most of the places we looked had it broken down further as material cost and material cost with installation labor. It really was as simple as taking that price and multiplying it by the number of square feet of flooring to do and adding tax.
anon3838
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by anon3838 »

In the SF Bay Area ~$10-14/sq foot is about the going rate (this includes labor and materials). Of course, this is based on a lot of factors but based on my criteria, most quotes came back in that range.

As others said, it's best to get quotes based on rates in your area.
rebellovw
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by rebellovw »

I've dealt with 3 varieties - most beautiful - from 1932 wide plank hardwood OAK (can't get any better) 2100 sq foot house - cost us 10K to have it re-surfaced using "green" methods - which was in 2010 when we sold the house.

Current house has the low cost Home Depot hardwood flooring - I don't love it - but I also don't hate it. It isn't fake - it is a veneer of real wood on top of pressed wood. Can't be resurfaced. Came with the house and looks OK. What I don't like about it is a waviness it has - kinda a plasticy look. It can be done as a do-it-yourself as all the floorboards click into place just like Pergo - which I have done my self at a previous residence. What is nice about this low-end cheap type (along with the pergo "fake" that I used) is it is thick - almost a 1/4 inch - which means it will not flap on the floor like vinyl - and with a mitre saw and table saw you can do the work yourself. Drawback? The company that manufactures it - no longer makes this color - so I cannot replace it where it is damaged - I would have to completely redo the floors to replace it. So cheap isn't really super cheap in that sense.

Last Condo I sold - I had luxury vinyl waterproof installed - cost 4K for a 900 sq ft two bedroom condo out the door. I'm glad I went with a large dealer/installer - because when they were finished - it had a large hump in the floor - and the vinyl flapped and felt very cheap - though I bought the most expensive form of this stuff. They had to rip out a large section and completely redo it- to get the floor flatter. In the end it looked really nice and the condo sold in 1 week.

when I do it again - which will be soon as I have two carpeted bedrooms that need wood - I might do it myself with a real wood click together type - if I can find something nicer than I currently have. Or I might splurge and have the whole house done in something higher end by a pro. Just too many projects...
rebellovw
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by rebellovw »

anon3838 wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:24 am In the SF Bay Area ~$10-14/sq foot is about the going rate (this includes labor and materials). Of course, this is based on a lot of factors but based on my criteria, most quotes came back in that range.

As others said, it's best to get quotes based on rates in your area.
Does that include dealing with moving furniture etc? I may go this route - just have it done by a pro - let them deal with all the dressers, beds, couches etc.
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BalancedJCB19
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by BalancedJCB19 »

Thank you all so much!! This is what I was thinking. Carpet will have to be ripped up and furniture will have to be moved. Not to throw a monkey wrench in this discussion but a friend of mine said he put Vinyl Plank Flooring in his house and loves it. He said it will be a lot less expensive then real wood. He also said he used a product called NuCore. Does anyone have any experience with that also.

Thanks again!
rebellovw
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by rebellovw »

I'd really avoid vinyl - it is crazy thin - which means it will flap and be very noisy and cheap feeling. You can literally pick it up on the ends - or push on it - and it will move/flap between the floor underneath and the trim board holding it in place.

When I invest in my home - I try to stay with fairly high end solutions - vinyl is an easy way out to get a nice looking floor at a cheap price - it will do nothing to help with the value of your home.

I think vinyl is perfect for a rumpus room or finished basement that is used for gym etc - but the main part of the house should really be hardwood.
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by pshonore »

BalancedJCB19 wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:00 am Thank you all so much!! This is what I was thinking. Carpet will have to be ripped up and furniture will have to be moved. Not to throw a monkey wrench in this discussion but a friend of mine said he put Vinyl Plank Flooring in his house and loves it. He said it will be a lot less expensive then real wood. He also said he used a product called NuCore. Does anyone have any experience with that also.

Thanks again!
We just had vinyl plank installed yesterday. Not inexpensive though. Of course there are all grades of planks (based on thickness of the wear layer) from $1.99 and up not including labor. Our total was about $10 sq foot installed but that includes everything. Lots of incidentals (some optional) including new vinyl moldings, charge to remove and reinstall toilet in a bathroom, charge to move appliances, charges for thresholds/transitions if required. We did it through Costco (using Shaw Flooring product) who contracts with local floorings companies to do the work. Benefit is a Costco Cash Card for 5% of total and any normal rewards for a Costco purchase.

Also got a quote from another local company that was about the same but without the Costco Cash card.
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BalancedJCB19
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by BalancedJCB19 »

pshonore wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:32 am
BalancedJCB19 wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:00 am Thank you all so much!! This is what I was thinking. Carpet will have to be ripped up and furniture will have to be moved. Not to throw a monkey wrench in this discussion but a friend of mine said he put Vinyl Plank Flooring in his house and loves it. He said it will be a lot less expensive then real wood. He also said he used a product called NuCore. Does anyone have any experience with that also.

Thanks again!
We just had vinyl plank installed yesterday. Not inexpensive though. Of course there are all grades of planks (based on thickness of the wear layer) from $1.99 and up not including labor. Our total was about $10 sq foot installed but that includes everything. Lots of incidentals (some optional) including new vinyl moldings, charge to remove and reinstall toilet in a bathroom, charge to move appliances, charges for thresholds/transitions if required. We did it through Costco (using Shaw Flooring product) who contracts with local floorings companies to do the work. Benefit is a Costco Cash Card for 5% of total and any normal rewards for a Costco purchase.

Also got a quote from another local company that was about the same but without the Costco Cash card.
Thanks! How do you like it so far? Some people say it feels cheap but the NuCore comes with a lifetime guaranty. That is the brand from Floor and Decor. I'm sure it's not cheap either but I heard it will be around half the price of hardwood. Thx
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BalancedJCB19
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by BalancedJCB19 »

rebellovw wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:18 am I'd really avoid vinyl - it is crazy thin - which means it will flap and be very noisy and cheap feeling. You can literally pick it up on the ends - or push on it - and it will move/flap between the floor underneath and the trim board holding it in place.

When I invest in my home - I try to stay with fairly high end solutions - vinyl is an easy way out to get a nice looking floor at a cheap price - it will do nothing to help with the value of your home.

I think vinyl is perfect for a rumpus room or finished basement that is used for gym etc - but the main part of the house should really be hardwood.
Thanks. I hear what you are saying! Wood is the ultimate and definitely will add value to a home whereas Vinyl will not. I don't plan on ever leaving my home, so that really isn't a consideration on my part. But again, nothing beats wood, I'm just looking for the look without the expense. lol
Sgnoweht
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by Sgnoweht »

Definitely hire a flooring installer not just a contractor who also does floors.

We had about 1000 ft^2 put into a new construction house. It was originally spec'ed to have luxury vinyl plank. It cost the material and labor budget of the LVP to cover just the raw install of the hardwood. I think $5k or so.
I provided the wood that I milled myself, I also did the sanding and finish after closing on the new home.
The finish can be a large part of the total cost. There are water based finishes on the market that are over $100 a gallon. Only a good flooring installer will be aware of these products. There are a lot of people who prefer "old" oil based finishes or don't trust water based, but they are top quality and give the option of natural or "invisible" finish. They also aren't nearly as odorous, and won't leave your house smelling like polyurethane for months.
Our floors add so much character to our home. It was worth the money.
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by abuss368 »

This is an interesting post as we too have to do something with the floors. Original wood on 20 year old home. I think I may simply hire someone to clean and refinish. There are some marks.

Thanks.
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by IMO »

BalancedJCB19 wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:37 pm I'm thinking about putting in Hardwood Floors in my home. The house is approx. 2,000 sq. ft. Would anyone have a guesstimate on how much materials and install would cost. I would like to put in a good product, but does not have to be the best out there, but certainly don't want the low end. Middle of the road would work.

Thanks for any help or advice you care to share.
There isn't always a simple perfect answer. For example, I was once wondering about wood flooring with radiant in-floor (concrete subfloor) and what specific product(s) would or wouldn't work. Found out that the product that I had chosen wouldn't be a good option.

A good place to start for information would be a local Lumbar Liquidators if you have one. The sales people seem to know the products well with the various pro's and con's of the different products. Additionally, for a reasonable fee, they will come out and do a measurement and provide you an install quote. Now what's nice about this is that from my experience, they are NOT pushy salesman and you won't feel obligated or bad if you want to use their quote as a starting point to shop further. Just try to go at a less busy time. Nothing worse than feeling pressured by a salesman at a higher cost flooring place. Not saying per se that is bad to go to such a place, but it's nice to go in with a better understanding of a baseline cost/estimate and after being able to get educated and ask questions from a place like Lumbar Liquidators 1st before you go to a high end place. Personally while also low sales pressure to get a baseline quote, HD/Lowes did not seem to have the employees that had the small level of product knowledge. YMMV of course.
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BalancedJCB19
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by BalancedJCB19 »

Update:

I did not do the Hardwood but put in NuCore Luxury Vinyl Plan Flooring. I know some said it was not the way to go, but I have to say living with them now, I love them and glad I made this move.

P.S. My wife loves them to which is a big win.

Thanks again for all your input.
rebellovw
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by rebellovw »

BalancedJCB19 wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 12:14 pm Update:

I did not do the Hardwood but put in NuCore Luxury Vinyl Plan Flooring. I know some said it was not the way to go, but I have to say living with them now, I love them and glad I made this move.

P.S. My wife loves them to which is a big win.

Thanks again for all your input.
That is great to hear - congrats.
squirm
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by squirm »

Put on solid or good quality engineered. I installed engineered glued directly onto slab throughout the whole house, did it myself, took months. The floor look awesome and no T molds, one solid floor. My wife loves it. $20k. If doing engineered get a good wear layer so you can sand it multiple times. Stay away from laminate crap.
Edit,
Looks like I was late to the party.
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by Broken Man 1999 »

BalancedJCB19 wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 12:14 pm Update:

I did not do the Hardwood but put in NuCore Luxury Vinyl Plan Flooring. I know some said it was not the way to go, but I have to say living with them now, I love them and glad I made this move.

P.S. My wife loves them to which is a big win.

Thanks again for all your input.
Yeah, both of us love our floors as well.

If one is going to use LVP, it is extremely important to have a level floor. The installers we used did a great job, two years old now, no issues.

If there are any issues like mentioned in an earlier post about movement, then the installers did not properly level the floor. There should be ZERO movement. The installers we used took far more time to level our floors than to actually install the new floors.

Broken Man 1999
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kgressler
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by kgressler »

We sold our home a year ago right after installing hardwood flooring. As we were house shopping we knew we wanted hardwood flooring or needed to adjust our price to include it after purchase. After looking after looking at 20+ homes the things we noticed is that engineered flooring and real hardwood wears and looks like crap pretty quickly if you have dogs or children. We noticed many of the newer homes had LVP installed and we saw no wear and tear. Started to price the ones we liked and prices on the higher end of LVP was much less than engineered and hardwood and the easy of installation was so easy that a typical homeowner should be able to do this their selves.
Purchased our new home in April of last year and it took about 2 weekends to finish the job. Stuff has been great. Our fridge did scuff it moving it around but all that was needed was the sole of a rubber show and it scrubbed right off. We had a fire in the fireplace over the winter and a few coals got accidently thrown onto the flooring and it did show a few black marks from hot amber after I stomped on it to put it out. Just took a wet rag and wiped it right up with no sign of damage.We love the stuff so much we just bought more to put in both of the bathrooms after ripping out perfectly good ceramic tile.
I am not sure how well the resale value would be on higher end homes we have a pretty modest 2000sq ranch in middle America so perhaps this may not be a good options for million dollar homes but man this stuff is durable and easy to clean.
seppatown
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by seppatown »

Glad you are happy with the outcome, and would agree that you made the right decision.

Our experience with hardwood, engineered hardwood, and LVP:

-Solid Hardwood: Would not recommend in any circumstance for renovation and new builds. Quality and appearance are no longer competitive with price. The whole concept of "refinishing" is outdated, as the factory poly finish on both engineered and LVP products are far superior to anything that can be performed on site. 3 coats of a high-quality oil-based poly applied during a professional refinish wouldn't get you anywhere near the durability of a factory finish. Small hardwood planks also look dated, and traditional finishing methods create an unappealing flat glossy look by contemporary standards.

-Engineered hardwood: With the right product, I find the appearance to be unmatched. By right, I mean wood that still retains some interesting characteristics and defects. I actually find the most expensive, defect-free rift-sawn products to look "too clean" and boring. The mid-range products with some knots and defects (filled in) are more appealing to me. The downside to all engineered products are A. requiring perfect subfloor prep during installation and B. having to baby the floor against spills due to the use of wood-based cores. You see tons of complaints against contractors in every geographical market due to poor subfloor conditions onto which the engineered hardwood was installed. Onto the next...

-Luxury Vinyl Plank: This has a come a long way in the last 10-20 years. I just finished an install of Flooret Modin and would recommend it over all the top-of-the-line big box products from Lowes and Home Depot. It has better underlayment, a better core, and a 40mil wear layer that I'm finding harder to scratch. It also comes in an attractive 9" width that I find suitable for high-end, contemporary builds.

From my experience, high quality LVP wears better, can live happily on less-than-ideal subfloor conditions, is fully waterproof, and looks competitive with high-end engineered hardwood if you buy good product. If home resale value is not being considered, I find it to be the best choice on the market right now.
csmath
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by csmath »

seppatown wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 1:58 pm the factory poly finish on both engineered and LVP products are far superior to anything that can be performed on site. 3 coats of a high-quality oil-based poly applied during a professional refinish wouldn't get you anywhere near the durability of a factory finish.
Disclaimer... I didn't read more than a few sentences in this thread and was just quickly scrolling to the bottom to hit the reply button when I noticed this in the last post, which is what I was going to say. The finish applied to pre-finished hardwood in the factory cannot be matched on-site by a contractor.

Edit to add: And by "can't be matched" I mean that the hardness and durability can't be matched, not the color.
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willthrill81
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Re: Hardwood Floors

Post by willthrill81 »

csmath wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 2:26 pm
seppatown wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 1:58 pm the factory poly finish on both engineered and LVP products are far superior to anything that can be performed on site. 3 coats of a high-quality oil-based poly applied during a professional refinish wouldn't get you anywhere near the durability of a factory finish.
Disclaimer... I didn't read more than a few sentences in this thread and was just quickly scrolling to the bottom to hit the reply button when I noticed this in the last post, which is what I was going to say. The finish applied to pre-finished hardwood in the factory cannot be matched on-site by a contractor.
:thumbsup

Factory-finished hardwood will outperform on-site finished hardwood virtually every time.
The Sensible Steward
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