Flooring ideas

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dbzeag

Wants to kiss you where it stinks
Jun 9, 2006
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So I am buying a condo and while we don't have any furniture, I would like to redo the floor. I hate carpeting and I love hardwood flooring, so you know what I want to do. However, it is very very expensive. I was also looking into laminates, but surprisingly those are expensive as well.

Does anyone have any ideas? I have short(ish) ceilings, if that means anything for anyone. I would like to get all of the bedrooms and living spaces and kitchen done as well. Laminates make the most sense because they can handle the abuse and wetness of a kitchen best.

I was thinking something like this http://www.flooring.dupont.com/en/design/FG8240.shtml


or like this http://www.flooring.dupont.com/en/design/FG8020.shtml

Unfortunately it is about $72 per 20sq ft and I have about 900 sq ft to do.

Can you do part at a time? I have my brother in law moving near me and he is a self contracting floorer, so labor should be cheap ;)
 
dbzeag said:
So I am buying a condo and while we don't have any furniture, I would like to redo the floor. I hate carpeting and I love hardwood flooring, so you know what I want to do. However, it is very very expensive. I was also looking into laminates, but surprisingly those are expensive as well.

Does anyone have any ideas? I have short(ish) ceilings, if that means anything for anyone. I would like to get all of the bedrooms and living spaces and kitchen done as well. Laminates make the most sense because they can handle the abuse and wetness of a kitchen best.

I was thinking something like this http://www.flooring.dupont.com/en/design/FG8240.shtml


or like this http://www.flooring.dupont.com/en/design/FG8020.shtml

Unfortunately it is about $72 per 20sq ft and I have about 900 sq ft to do.

Can you do part at a time? I have my brother in law moving near me and he is a self contracting floorer, so labor should be cheap ;)
Click to expand...

I really like the first link, its neat b/c its so different. But, we used to have tile flooring in the kitchen when I was young and I slipping on it so many times. I would have bruises all over.
 
My parents have Pergo and love it. Pretty durable stuff... I remember bouncing golf balls on it when I was younger.
 
just don't make the mistake i made. my hardwoods are way too light colored and almost match my cabinets. it looks wierd.
 
another vote for pergo. my dad installed it in his old place and it looked great. he said it went down easy too.
 
The Dupont stuff I think looks nicer then the Pergo and has the underlay on it already and has a longer warranty. The downside it is a bit more expensive ($20 per 20sqft stretch).

I am going to get my professional self-contracting floorer brother-in-law to do the install, so professional help won't be an issue.
 
dbzeag said:
The Dupont stuff I think looks nicer then the Pergo and has the underlay on it already and has a longer warranty. The downside it is a bit more expensive ($20 per 20sqft stretch).

I am going to get my professional self-contracting floorer brother-in-law to do the install, so professional help won't be an issue.
Click to expand...

the pergo I linked already had underlay too
 
You guys are gay, you don't even need to do flooring. Just paint the dirt and then call the HGTV network. They'll come over and see what you've done, put it on TV, and then next year all the Suzie Sally Mae housewives will demand their husbands tear up the floor and do the same.
 
dbzeag said:
The Dupont stuff I think looks nicer then the Pergo and has the underlay on it already and has a longer warranty. The downside it is a bit more expensive ($20 per 20sqft stretch).

I am going to get my professional self-contracting floorer brother-in-law to do the install, so professional help won't be an issue.
Click to expand...
$1/sf? Shit dawg, you ain't gonna get much cheaper than that.
 
KNYTE said:
You guys are gay, you don't even need to do flooring. Just paint the dirt and then call the HGTV network. They'll come over and see what you've done, put it on TV, and then next year all the Suzie Sally Mae housewives will demand their husbands tear up the floor and do the same.
Click to expand...
they do that. it's very hot right now, especially among the green folk.
http://www.designcoalition.org/features/natural/earthflr.htm

another suggestion is to just lay down plywood or something and paint it. that would create a very cottage-like atmosphere.
 
You should look at bamboo. It is a little cheaper than hardwood, goes down the same way, looks spiffy. About $2.60 sq ft last time I checked.

Not partial to laminates but it is your house. I've pulled up enough of them when they eventually delaminate to be bleh on them.

You bought the condo right? Real tile in the kitchen is awesome. It's cheap material-wise but labor is 70% of the installed cost. Quarry tiles are great... Whatever you do there is no excuse to put in sheet vinyl.

Real linoleum is quite possibly the best stuff I've ever seen. If I could only pick one floor for my entire house it would be linoleum (http://www.armstrong.com/resflram/na/linoleum/en/us/). It wears like iron and you can pressure wash it.

For rooms with less foot traffic you could also look at pine flooring. We have it in the bedrooms. Clear finish, light stain, you cant walk across it in golf shoes but it's nice, wood, and cheap. We got it from some lumber mill for .60 cents a sq ft.

Personally, I am going to put some marine acrylic sealer on one sided, 3/4" birch plywood for my outbuilding. Real floors are for fools, I got the idea from a book on building yatchs.
 
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Jonny_B said:
they do that. it's very hot right now, especially among the green folk.
http://www.designcoalition.org/features/natural/earthflr.htm

another suggestion is to just lay down plywood or something and paint it. that would create a very cottage-like atmosphere.
Click to expand...
See, my only question with these green people was always, adobe and shit is crap in a high humidity, high rainfall environment. If you tried that here you'd have what we like to call mold, and possibly, lichen.

For plywood, see my post :p Only not with paint, since I cant find any paint that is suitably elastic to not crack with normal wood movement, and suitably hard enough to take foot traffic. You could maybe put sealer over paint... Only thing is that plywood suitable for flooring costs about $1.25 per sq ft. Then the sealer and shit puts it up to about $3.00 per sq ft. Then, no one installs plywood as a finish floor except boat builders.
 
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