Floors

Reply to: either you want real wood, or you want fake. because fake does not look like the real stuff. And engineered wood is real wood. Often it's stronger than a solid wood plank. look at the Janka hardness test and choose accordingly. One of the hardest is a Fossilized Bamboo. it's up above 3500 on the scale. (oak is about 1300 or so) But remember, 120 year old homes still have the original wood flooring in them. So to say that a wood floor can't stand up to a toddler, a small dog and a messy cook is silly. look into a solid white oak, stained on site. see how that price compares w/an engineered hardwood. How about a wide plank French Oak? You needn't have to get hand scraped. I would never do 1500 sq ft of the vinyl plank. oh heck no. And, if you want the really good, long lasting LVP, it's about the same price as a good hardwood. or find a quality wood-look tile oh, and the last place I'd buy any of those products is at a big box store. They don't exactly deal in the best quality items. Go to an actual flooring place where that's all they specialize in dealing. they more choices, better quality, and better pricing.

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Reply to: I've seen a number of people rave about this company for LVP, though I have no personal experience with them. https://www.flooret.com/modin-rigid-vinyl-plank/

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Reply to: We ended up installing the Danube birch and we love it! It's beautiful and easy to maintain! 4 months in, no regrets.

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Reply to: Patricia and Sophie are on it. Laminate is NOT a very good idea in kitchens. In fact, the average age for laminate in a kitchen = 3-5 years. Yep. You have to replace that "durable" floor inside of 5 years. But "Oh Wait! I can't find it any more. Now what do I do?" Sigh....happens SOOO often I could spit! I would say work with the electric heating in the bathrooms - and that's IT. If you MUST have it in the kitchen then MAKE SURE you use TILE in the kitchen! Now you can use laminate throughout. And I can "save you" thousands of dollars (in both installation costs AND heating/cooling bills) by suggesting 1/4" cork underlay underneath the laminate. The insulating value in the cork will reduce your heating/cooling costs by 10%-15%. If you upgrade to 1/2" cork you will save as much as 30% on your heating/cooling costs. And yes...it is possible to design the floor height variations INTO your flooring plan. Not a problem. It just takes some fore planning (as in BEFORE the concrete slab is poured). Here's the OTHER way to do this. You can CALCULATE the tile+heating coil floor heights with decent accuracy. Then you work BACKWARDS to find a laminate floor + cork underlay that will FIT the calculations you have already created. I used to do this every day for people. A tile floor will OFTEN sit slightly higher than 1/2" (between 5/8" and 11/16"). If you add in the heating coils you are going to sit a little higher (much closer to the 3/4" height) - possibly even 1" high. Now you take these measurements (stick with 3/4" = 18mm thick = you should be fine) and go shopping for laminate. The 'average' thickness for laminate = 8mm to 10mm thick. If you want a high-end laminate you are looking at 12mm (1/2"). Which means you will need to "make up" roughly 1/4" of height. Great. This is where 1/4" cork comes in. If you do the math it works in both metric and imperial: 1/2" laminate + 1/4" cork = 3/4" thickness; the metric works out to be 12mm laminate + 6mm cork = 18mm thick total floor height. Notice how all of these numbers match up? Right. Now for the tricky part. You are looking at a floating floor system. It MUST HAVE a transition strip between the tile and the laminate. Must have. The good news is a floor that has matching floor heights will allow you to work with low-profile products. These low profile products will reduce the "humps" in your floor. That's as good as you can get with a floating laminate floor - regardless of the underlayment, or the total thickness.

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Reply to: BTW: I'm in Florida on a slab and my condo was concrete floors so in both cases my best practices choice if using wood was engineered wood. Both times I used a 5" wide plank and both with a micro bevel edge. Stop fretting as I love my floors. What finish are the floors?

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Reply to: You have to remember site finished is subject to the skill of the workers so you have no guarantees that yours would be perfect. I have seen some my neighbor's awful site finished floors and personally had a site finished floors with lifting problems and bubbles left in the finish. I have prefinished Braz Cherry floors now in a matte finish and they are not plastic looking at all. They look totally like normal hardwood. However, I have seen glossy floors with a heavy clear layer on top so I know what you are talking about. Whichever one you pick, in 15 years you can site finish your refinished floors. Best of both worlds.

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Reply to: Actually the way wood is cut (such as rift) WILL effect how it MOVES! Plain sawn is the cheapest but the LEAST stable (will expand and contract quite a bit = gaps in winter...every winter). Quarter sawn is more expensive an a bit more dimensionally stable. Heating/cooling does not effect it quit as much as plain. The most expensive, rift sawn, is also the MOST dimensionally stable. This is INCREDIBLY important with wide planks (5" or more is considered wide....many people will consider 4" plain sawn as wide as well) in a climate that has wide swings. Hot humid summers and cold, dry winters (interior space is dry because of ALL the heating needed to keep the house comfortable) will cause wood floors to expand and contract quit a bit. The wider the plank, the more it will move. The more it moves the more you will see gaps in winter and possibly cupping/crowning in summer. Wide planks are stunning but they require plenty of planning. The appropriate install and the appropriate heating/cooling systems must be in place to keep these planks happy and healthy. If you are unsure as to your HVAC system's abilities, an engineered plank in the wide presentation will be dimensionally more stable than even rift sawn. But again - ALL wood moves. Just because it is engineered doesn't mean it will stay perfect in a poorly controlled home.

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Reply to: The great thing about a character hardwood floor is that it can wear with the home. The vinyl's just look artificial from the get-go. We have a lot of clients that have fallen in love with our Euro-Sawn Center Cut White Oak that is distressed similar to the photo you attached. It will wear over time similar to a nice pair of boots. Show their age but also the inherent quality. This is one that we just did for a client.

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