Flooring options...hardwood

Since Spring is here and we have all these house improvement threads, i figured i might as well join in.

The house i am under contract with has hardwood/tile in LR, hall, kitchen, bathrooms. The bedrooms are carpet. In my master I think I want to replace it with wood before i move in. The hardwood in the rest of the house appears to be real oak, narrow strip type floor. Im fine with that look but was thinking of doing something darker and wider in the master. The hall at the doorway would be the other style wood. How bad will this color/style change look?
Thoughts on type of wood/laminate (brands, style of laminate, species, stains finishes etc)?
Floating or nailed?
Its only the master and closet, maybe 200sq ft (need to measure) and i plan on doing it myself with some experienced help as needed. I would prefer pre finished and not super cheap snap together. But dont want to bow a race weekends worth of $$ for 200 odd sq ft of floor.

What ya got oh magical beeb....


Oh yeah...follow up. The hardwood thats there is 15yo old. What kind of cost should i expect to have it sanded, stained and finished? Figure 1000-1100 sq ft. How many days would it take to do as DIY??

 

I’ve done 3/4 thick solid hardwood a couple times for myself and some friends and family have done the laminate type. To me Real hardwoods cant be beat and last several life times.

 

If you have big humidity changes, the floor will move around. The bigger the planks, the bigger the separation betwen planks when the humidity is low.

The cheap "hardwood" dents like a mofo if you drop somthing on it (and you will). The expensive stuff, especially if it is well-finished, is very resistant to abuse.

Laminate is resistant to dents, but pulls up easily if you spill something. I would do real wood, best quality affordable.

 

There is no substitute for real hardwood!
Myself and father in law did Brazilian teak through out of my house two winters ago and love it. Few words of advice make sure that new floor boards are acclimatized to your house environment before you start installing (let them sit in the house for 20-30 days).
Second one is when you install the floor to maintain humidity in the house, each season respectively will require humidifier or dehumidifie, ideal humidity is between 30-50%... do your homework!

 

Damn that teak looks sweet. Love the color.
I had swing thru town so I stopped by Lowe's. The prefinished oak and hickory, Bruce I think, looked nice.
That way be the way to go.

I always preferred real wood but didnt want to eff up a floor trying to stain top coat it in place

 

My grandfather taught me early on that if you ever install anything made of wood in your house, let it acclimatize for a minimum of two weeks before the installation.

 

Check and see if any of the local Amish guys do flooring. When my mom built 10 years ago it was cheaper to bring those guys in to install, sand, and finish than just the material cost of a good pre-finished. My brother went with the pre-finished Bruce hardwood floors and they faded horribly in the sun after 2 years.

 

We have a good bit of hardwood in our house. Bruce 3/4" oak. The boxes of flooring acclimated for about 2 hours before installing. The humidity ranges from 10% in the winter when the gas furnace is running almost constantly to ungodly humid in the summer. Had a supplemental in-duct humidifier that was half-assed that we used the first 10 years or so before it shit the bed and we didn't replace it (some of the flooring was installed after the humidifier croaked). No dehumidifiers other than whatever the central air does. Never had a problem after 20 years.

 

Ohhh.
Good call TJ. didnt even think of that.

 

Where did that railing come from?

 

Floating, nailed or glue would decide what kind you need.

 

Are you sure there is not hardwood under the carpet? Might not have to do anything.

 

If there is moisture close by...vinyl planking, some of it looks spectacular.

 

We have a dog, will always have dogs and I’m sure my wife will be bringing another home soon. For us it was the tile that looks like hardwood. Get a good tile guy and make sure the grout matches the tile and voila. Maybe not a authentic as hardwood but I won’t have scratches everywhere. Someone spills on it I don’t have to worry about stains, etc.

For me it was the maintenance factor. Grew up with hardwood and laid two floors with dad. Love the look and feel but tough with pups, kids(currently none), etc.

 

I doubt it. House was built in 04, as in 2004 not 1904. And the carpet height matches the hardwood height.

Found a guy with 9 boxes of 3 1/4" bruce prefinished in a decent color for a pretty good price. its still available in case I need another box or so. I will try to go look at it and decide.
The width and color will be different than the rest of the house, but Im ok with that given its in a bedroom, and ill use a transition strip at the door.

 

I've got 3/4 in hickory in the living room and downstairs bedrooms, dogs haven't hurt it at all. Higher quality products will usually have more longer pieces and a good mix of lengths in each box. Makes for a better and easier layout.

 

Stair supplies
You will need to send them sketches of the stairs with landings etc and what would you like it to look like. They will take it from there and contact you with suggestions etc.
There are many options in shape, material, handrails etc. Since my floor is teak we wanted teak handrail and they supplied one...
Keep in mind I installed all of the posts, rails and cabling so I saved a lot of money but still it was pricey. If you want more info PM me.

 

Well one consideration if you finish: unless you use one of the low VOC water base types, the house is unlivable for weeks due to the fumes. I remodeled my kitchen 6 mos. ago and decided to refinish the floor. Had to keep it sealed off with plastic for 2 weeks just to not die.

 

I ordered Bamboo from Florida and had installers put it in... it’s held up great the last 20 years..

 

The stuff we laid down didn’t come in a box. It was thick and came on the back of a truck in a bundle. All crazy lengths and then you had to still get it sanded down and stained. It was high quality oak from a professional mill. I don’t know that I’d be able to find it out here in California. We didn’t have dogs on that floor but I know my parents lake house has the pre-finished stuff and the floors are all scratched up from the previous owners dogs sliding around.