Suggestions for a wood floor.

[Runs With Scissors]

Here are some shots of the "pre-finished wood flooring" after 23+ years, 2 kids and a dog.

You can see how they used to "bevel" the edges, so it does not have the same look as a professionally installed "real wood" floor.

Now that I take these pic's it appears that they are a little more scratched up than I thought.....

I suppose the "nice people" that eventually "buy the house" will have to worry about it though.....hahahah

 

[woodman55]

Wear and tear is why we went with ceramic tile. 25 years in with multiple kids, dogs and cats, it still looks as good as when installed. I also I the rough texture on my bare feet in the summer. Plus there is no warpage due to the changing humidity.

 

[ctfjr]

We bought this house just about 2 years ago. The PO had stained the oak hardwood black. When we first looked at it, it looked pretty cool. Then we moved in with 2 dogs. Within a month my wife was on the warpath to have them redone to the natural state. In addition, for whatever reason, there was carpet in the first floor family room. It cost us almost $9000 and we had to move into a hotel for 5 days but the outcome was awesome. Here is what the 'wood flooring doctor' did on our 1st floor:
Scope of Work:

- Hanging Plastic to minimize dust spread.
- Sanding Floors 1552sqft.
- Screen floors after sanding.
- Sand and refinish Stairs. This does not include the risers or stringers.
- Remove carpet and Install 300Sqft of red oak 2 1/4 clear 1
- Vacuum Floors to remove dust from the surface before finish is applied.
- Using a tack cloth on the floors between each coat of finish to achieve a clean surface.
- Loba Water Base Finish 2k 3 Coats.
- Second Coat will be applied on the same day of the First Coat.
- Screen Second Coat 24hr later so it can be ready for the 3rd and final Coat.
- Manufacturers Specs / light use after 24 hours, fully cured after only 5 days. Allow to dry for 5 days before replacing rugs. NOTE: Drying time will be increased by high humidity, low temperature.
- No Stain will be applied.
- Natural wood Finish.
- Sheen / Satin (Low Shine)

The new oak abutted existing in 2 areas - a perfect match. The guy, Felix, was great to deal with. I stopped over a couple days to see what was going on. It's a crappy job to do - what a mess you can make.

He is local (CT) and I recommended him to a friend who had bamboo floors that needed refinishing. He was very pleased also. https://woodflooringdoctor.com/

 

[InTheWoods]

...Presently there is 3/4" plywood under the carpet, and I want to remove that and put the boards that are cut for radiant heat in place of the plywood...

I used southern yellow pine. And we have hydronic under it. It's available (around here anyway) in 3/4"x6" T&G boards. There is a grade (D?) that's basically clear ( no knots). You'll need to run a floor sander over it, and then a couple coats of old-school gloss poly. For bedrooms, it'll hold up very well.

 

[RCW]

@DustyRusty - love the hickory floor. That’s beautiful.

Looks more like a birch or maybe ash from the picture to me. Not doubting its hickory.

Years ago we redid our kitchen with a new pre-finished maple floor and had oak in the adjoining living/dining room refinished.

The maple kitchen floor has taken a beating over the years with 3 kids and 4 large dogs….plus me and the Mrs.

Far from pristine, but I love it.

Given another opportunity, I would have done hickory, and a much more “rustic” grade. Hides blemishes better.

Much harder than maple.

Adjoining room was oak original to the house (1950-ish) and refinished at the same time. Professionally done with 3 coats of poly.

For a lower traffic area like bedrooms, etc., I often liked the look of birch, black walnut, butternut or ash.

Some are softer, some not as much.

I don’t like any of the northeastern hardwoods stained, but that’s the Forester in me talking…..

Just an aside our dining table is hickory. Kitchen cabinets are cherry.

 

[Dustball]

Many years ago I fixed up a house that was in pretty bad cosmetic shape. I tore out the carpeting and baseboard then went over all of the sub-flooring and screwed down any creaky/loose spots. The next step was vacuuming up the floor really well then laying down rosin paper. I went with 3/4" pre-finished hickory T&G flooring and I really liked the look of it when I was finished. Installation isn't difficult, just time consuming and hard on the knees.

For tools, not too much was needed- just a hammer driven pneumatic flooring nailer from Harbor Freight along with staples, a mallet, and a couple different types of saws to rip the pieces lengthwise and/or notch/shorten where needed.

The doors did need to be cut a bit to accommodate the higher finished floor and the new baseboard was installed on top of the new flooring.

 

[johnjk]

We did a Brazilian Cherry pre finished floor in our old house. Good because you can sand it and refinish. Dog nails continuously left marks in the floor. Other than that the durability of the finish was good. Lumber Liquidators. For my office I did a wood laminate with the top being a hickory. Great finish, cost effective and easy to install. Cuts like wood because it is. No floor stapler or glues.
I don’t have a photo of my office floor. Will be doing the wood laminate floor in our MBR room when I pull the carpet this spring.
The rest of our house is laminate. Holds up good to dogs The only area we have issues with are where my office chair rolls. Need a floor protector. I’d need this for any floor though.
If I could get the same flooring as we have in the main house , I’d probably do that in the MBR but it is almost 3x the cost of wood laminate since it has to be shipped from AZ.

 

[DustyRusty]

@DustyRusty - love the hickory floor. That’s beautiful.

Looks more like a birch or maybe ash from the picture to me. Not doubting its hickory.

No question that it is hickory, although the picture makes it look more yellow than it is. The mill that supplies the wood to the trade is one town over from where I live. I recently got a quote for the hickory.
premium hickory 3-5” x 4-10’+ is $7.50/sf. When I purchased the original flooring in 2016 it was $5.86 for the same premium hickory. Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator $5.86 (2016) is equal to $7.74 today.

 

[Donystoy]

I would recommend engineered hardwood over solid hardwood. In our living room and dining room, I removed the carpet and original strip hardwood from the 60's and installed solid 3/4" Bruce oak flooring. I wasted a lot of time sorting out all the strips as there was 1/4" difference between the narrowest and widest board. Looks great when it was finished. Upstairs is still carpet over the original strip flooring. In our lower main area of kitchen etc. I removed the ceramic tile and installed 1/4" underlayment with Luxury vinyl 1/4"lay in imitation wood flooring (LVP). You can just lift up one strip and replace it if one gets damaged.

 

[RCW]

No question that it is hickory, although the picture makes it look more yellow than it is. The mill that supplies the wood to the trade is one town over from where I live. I recently got a quote for the hickory.
premium hickory 3-5” x 4-10’+ is $7.50/sf. When I purchased the original flooring in 2016 it was $5.86 for the same premium hickory. Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator $5.86 (2016) is equal to $7.74 today.

You know well the cost of flooring.

When we re-did bathrooms and laundry room a year ago, we did LVP.

Our contractor cautioned about "cheap" LVP products and suggested we only look at stuff that was "light commercial grade," ~$5/sq ft, and with good backing, etc. Much more wear resistant. Said the real cheap LVP stuff is flimsy and not worth the effort. I think what we selected was $5-5.50 or so.

Obviously LVP is an easier installation, etc., but the material cost difference even with LVP isn't as large as one might think.

We're looking to pull 3 upstairs bedroom carpets also. I would love real wood floors, but we will probably continue with LVP up there.

I'd never worked with LVP before, but watched contractor put it down. Pretty sure it's within my capability (famous last words..... ).

Look forward to what species you decide on for your wood floor. Sounds like a great project.

 

[jyoutz]

You know well the cost of flooring.

When we re-did bathrooms and laundry room a year ago, we did LVP.

Our contractor cautioned about "cheap" LVP products and suggested we only look at stuff that was "light commercial grade," ~$5/sq ft, and with good backing, etc. Much more wear resistant. Said the real cheap LVP stuff is flimsy and not worth the effort. I think what we selected was $5-5.50 or so.

Obviously LVP is an easier installation, etc., but the material cost difference even with LVP isn't as large as one might think.

We're looking to pull 3 upstairs bedroom carpets also. I would love real wood floors, but we will probably continue with LVP up there.

I'd never worked with LVP before, but watched contractor put it down. Pretty sure it's within my capability (famous last words..... ).

Look forward to what species you decide on for your wood floor. Sounds like a great project.

For shame. A forester using fake wood.

 

[RCW]

For shame. A forester using fake wood.

True….. I can say that most of downstairs is wooden…

 

[jyoutz]

True….. I can say that most of downstairs is wooden…

I should talk. I’m a forester who replaced my wood stove with a gas fireplace.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I should talk. I’m a forester who replaced my wood stove with a gas fireplace.

Smart person!

 

[jyoutz]

Smart person!

When we replaced the propane with natural gas, I made the switch. Natural gas is so cheap.