Who to buy wood flooring from?

[RearAdmiral]

Hello all,

I'll be closing on a house soon and my first project will be to redo the living room:

Paint and rip up the old stained yucky carpet. I would like to replace with hardwood/engineered hardwood. The room is 17*19 with about an 7-8 ft wide jut out for a pre-fab wood fireplace. So I'm guessing a bit south of 320 sq.ft.

Anyway I found some quick clic engineered that I like from LL:

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/ll...ic-Schön-Quick-Clic-Engineered-QCMM4/10026136

I went to look at that in person yesterday and liked it.

I've found some other wood I like for other e-tailors as well. When I go to look them up all I see is horrible reviews on wood quality and post installation issues, LL included.

So now I am kinda bummed and confused on what to do. Anyone have experience from LL, build direct or ifloor? Or anyone else they can recommend?

Many thanks

 

[UnklSnappy]

You should have a hardwood flooring distributor in your area. A place that all the area floormen get their materials from. They will sell better quality products than you will get from LL etc. They will probably have a showroom that you can see the products before you buy them.

This is the main distributor in my area
http://www.harmanfloors.com/

 

[fstime]

For your average homeowner, it is all the same crap probably. I have used LL in the past.

Hard wood is rated with the cleanest wood (no knots, no aggressive wood grain, etc) being "select," followed by #1, #2, etc.

A lot of these reviews are probably poor installations which is the installers fault.

I've never used engineered wood, I assume that is the stuff which is layered like plywood.

LL does have a commercial grade #3 oak for 89 cents a square I believe, a good value. It is going to have a lot of knots and wood grain texture. I personally think select grade wood looks like crap, it is too clean.

A good price for installation and finishing (1 coat stain, 3 coats clear) is probably around $2/square. A good price for something mid-grade like #1 oak is probably around $2.00-2.50/square.

Prefinished wood I am also not a fan of, although the finish is stronger, the joints between the wood is not flush but beveled making the surface not look uniform.

 

[DrPizza]

I'm not afraid of shopping at LL, but if I did, I wouldn't buy brands that seem only available there (schon) - I've heard good things about Bellawood. But, I'm going with solid wood, certainly not some sort of laminated stuff. There are homes with 200 year old hardwood floors. It works. Manufactured wood products will never have the same lifespan. The cost of solid wood isn't that much more, unless you want much more exotic woods. And, it's probably significantly less over the lifespan of the home, since solid hardwood floors can be refinished quite a few times.


How ironic. Before hitting the reply button, I thought I'd check UnklSnappy's link (my neck of the woods). From their page, "Cost: How much does an inexpensive floor really cost if it only lasts several years? A good hardwood floor will last a lifetime." It further goes on to give other reasons a solid wood floor is preferable to these laminated things.

 

[RearAdmiral]

An additional note: I'll be in this house 5 to maybe 6-7 years. Of course I would like solid hardwood but I can't break the bank unless I want to lose money on future sale of the home possibly.

This isn't going to be my permanent home.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Jeez it seems like everything is made in China. I really don't want to buy crappy China wood. I'm not against unfinished hardwood either. If I could find a way to get around $3.50 or so with actual wood made in the states, with some sort of combination of self work and outside help I'm all for it.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Or perhaps something like this:

http://www.thediscountflooringco.com/proddetail.php?prod=PFROGUNCHAR2

 

[UnklSnappy]

Or perhaps something like this:

http://www.thediscountflooringco.com/proddetail.php?prod=PFROGUNCHAR2

I don't see any mention of mill or manufacturer on that wood = beware
Not all mills are created equal. Cheaper ones will have more defects such as narrow ends and boards. Cracked boards and finish defects.
It does say character grade which means knots and mineral streaks.

 

[EliteRetard]

You know, sheet vinyl has come a long way. If you're just going to be there for a few years it may be worth looking into. My dad just got a new place and redid the floors in the kitchen. When I first came in and saw it I was like "hey those are some nice wood floors!" and he was like "it's vinyl"...I went and then got on my hands and knees to investigate. The vinyl actually has texture to it and in his space of about 12' x 20' I couldn't discern a repeating pattern. He said it cost him less than $2sq ft for material and install.

Yes a nice high quality hardwood is going to last a long time and be really nice, but if it's a temporary home it doesn't seem worth the investment. Once you put furniture and an area rug down the new faux wood products will still look great.

Here's some sheet vinyl next to real wood from ~1850:

Found these photos at some chicks blog, "plank" vinyl from Lowes. Comes in strips like wood, but cuts with a utility knife (2mm thick). Easy enough for women to figure out/install. Applied directly to the sub floor with a rolled/painted on primer.

(source: http://choosecraftiness.blogspot.com/2012_05_01_archive.html )

More example of sheet vinyl:

 

[zerocool84]

Or just go with a decent quality laminate with a high quality underlayment. I'd splurge on a good underlayment as that makes a big difference on the feel and sound of it.

 

[highland145]

How old's the house and what's under the carpet. My 1st house formerly belonged to my Grand parents....nice 70's gold shag. Ripped it out and pristine oak underneath. rented a buffer and waxed them. Awesome.

 

[zanemoseley]

My house has Brazilian cherry that was sanded on site and finished, I bought the flooring from a web site that specializes in a couple imported species particularly BC. We did carpet in a couple of the bedrooms. After just a few years my daughter had already destroyed her carpet and I didn't really wanna spend big money on doing BC in the room so opted for a cheap laminate flooring from Home Depot. They had a nice hickory for just like $.70 a foot plus the underlayment. It went down well and I've been shocked how well its held up although she doesn't spill stuff like she once did. If I were going to be in a house for just 5 years I'd put down $1/ft flooring instead of $4-$8 a foot hardwood.

 

[RearAdmiral]

How old's the house and what's under the carpet. My 1st house formerly belonged to my Grand parents....nice 70's gold shag. Ripped it out and pristine oak underneath. rented a buffer and waxed them. Awesome.

Well there is a large addition that was built in the 70s or 80s. That is where the living room is so there is probably plywood under there. We pulled a corner in the old part and only saw plywood too. Bummer.

 

[RearAdmiral]

I don't see any mention of mill or manufacturer on that wood = beware
Not all mills are created equal. Cheaper ones will have more defects such as narrow ends and boards. Cracked boards and finish defects.
It does say character grade which means knots and mineral streaks.

At the very least this link days it is all U.S.
http://www.thediscountflooringco.com/categories.php?cat=781

This hickory looks okay.
http://www.thediscountflooringco.com/proddetail.php?prod=PFCHS21/4

 

[RearAdmiral]

http://www.thediscountflooringco.com/proddetail.php?prod=PFCHS4S&cat=1276

There is also the clearance lot there. I could find something else to use that for I'm sure.

 

[DrPizza]

If you have Amish sawmills in your area, you could always check there. I was just looking at their tongue & groove pine the other day - just as good as it is from any lumberyard, 40 cents per linear foot for 6" widths, kiln dried.