New flooring

[goforgin]

Any idea on what a good price estimate would be? 1,200 sq ft condo. Kitchen, living room and 2 bedrooms. Looking at vinyl mechanical lock-click flooring (looks like wood). Mannington brand was recommended. Looking for total cost of flooring, installation, add baseboard trim, move furniture around and remove/dump the old carpet. Also, I live in the Chicagoland western suburbs if anyone knows of a reputable company. Thanks, Jim.

[HUSKER55]

There is a restaurant that we go to that upgraded about a year ago and they went with the artificial flooring. Looks great and seems to wear like iron.

I will ask them over the week end if I don't forget.

Also, there is a company called Lumber Liquidators, or something like, that sell floor panels made with heartwood that really looks great. They also sell recycled lumber in panels that is not too shabby. I believe there is one in Chicago. If you can find one it would be worth a look.

[DJofSD]

There's "This Old House" and "Ask This Old House" on PBS.

Here's a link for getting an article after you give an email address: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/info/0,,20787553,00.html

Unfortunately, it appears the hero from Canada, Mike Holmes, does not have anything on his web site which could aid it getting estimates or help educate the consumer for replacing floor treatment.

In my experience, the most reputable stores dealing with flooring materials and installation are good places to start. You should find a business with people you trust and are comfortable with and will take the time to sit down with you and will listen to you. And don't be afraid to ask questions -- about any and all aspects of the job. Even to the point of meeting the job supervisor ahead of time. Remember, it's your money.

GL

[Bettowin]

I have a friend that owns a hardwood floor business and does also install prefab floors for people who think they got a "deal" on flooring from Lumber Liquidators. He said the majority of the stuff is junk from China and is the odd sized (shorter) pieces other stores won't buy. He is also a certified inspector and does work to settle disputes. Most of his cases involve Lumber Liquidators so be careful. We will get you pay for and like most things if you want it to last it's smart to spend the money up front.

[therussmeister]

Am I the only one getting an ad for flooring st the bottom of my screen?

[HUSKER55]

mine is for a washing machine from Maytag FWIW

[tucker6]

Am I the only one getting an ad for flooring st the bottom of my screen?
I see a flooring ad at the top of my page as I type this. The world knows too much these days.

[Dave Schwartz]

GoForGin,

Any idea on what a good price estimate would be? 1,200 sq ft condo.

Several years ago we, coincidently while watching the Kentucky Derby, we discovered that water had been leaking through the walls from a broken hose bib. We decided to do hard wood as a replacement.

Actually, we chose a laminate.

At the time we had a friend in the hardwood flooring business. (He's still in the business, we just aren't friends any more. LOL)

This is what he told me:

1. The key to getting good laminate is the thickness. You want a minimum of 8mm. We got 11mm. I guess now there is 12mm out there.

2. If you have dogs, do not waste your money on real wood. They will scratch the hell out of it just by walking on it.

3. Look for a Lumber Liquidators (http://www.lumberliquidators.com/ll/home?Wt.ps_id=PS_google_1003&CAPCID=8018136979&cadevice=c&gclid=CLXn38Hf278CFUMLMgod_C8AiQ&CA_6C15C=1525779257) and you can find some great bargains.

Our experience from shopping around is that you cannot get this price in a bundled deal. If you go to a "Flooring store" the materials will be amazingly jacked up in price. I mean, you might pay 3 times what we did for 4mm stuff!

If you go to a Lumber Liquidator, they will have some independent installers they can recommend.

Our bottom floor is around 1,600 sq. feet (counting kitchen, bathroom and laundry room.) We put textured linoleum tiles in those 3 areas, which was much more expensive than the hard wood.

We paid $2,500 for installation and $3,200 for the materials.

Thus, net cost was about $3.56 per sq. foot, installed.


Now, over 6 years later, the floor still looks like new, even with 2 dogs.

Couple of other things we learned:

*There are some laminates that come with soundproofing on the back so that you do not have to purchase padding!

*Do not waste your money on that Pergo-type crap. It will sound like you are walking across the Boston Garden with every step. Ours is inter-locking. That makes installation easier.

*You should get an experienced installer. If you are fortunate, you can get one that will let you help and cut his cost that way. Without the experience, your corners and odd-size cuts could wind up looking like real crap. Our guy was a real master at this. It showed in the couple of places that really mattered.

*Baseboards will have to be adjusted because there will be a gap below. Home Depot has some little triangular strips that fit perfectly for next to nothing compared to buying the ones at the hardwood store. I mean, like 10% of the cost.

*Big one: If you can, get the installer BEFORE you get the materials! He can help you decide what is good stuff and what isn't.

The comment above about Lumber Liquidators CAN be true. But the truth is, standard or non-standard size does not really matter. You are just going to use the one size anyway.

Closing: Since we did our floors, three of our friends liked ours so much that they have done their floors with exactly the same materials as us.

[DJofSD]

I would agree, an experienced install is worth it.

The last time I replaced carpeting, I noticed the location of the seems was much different than what had been done before and it was better.

[HUSKER55]

I check with the restaurant owner today. They bought the best laminate flooring at the the building supply center. The key....getting the thing installed correctly.

FWIW, their contractor sealed the floor the night before and then added the padding and waterproofing and etc.

After talking to them I really don't think this is a do-it-yourself project.

I agree with Dave. It is all in how you buy it and how you install it.

Hope this helps

[BettinBilly]

I've put flooring in a few of my homes. This is my issue with laying your own flooring.

By the time you get good at it, you are 80 percent through the job. You want to go back and fix what you did in the first 20 percent of the job when your skill level was for crap. It's almost like you wish you could have practice flooring somewhere, do that for a day, and THEN tackle your flooring job.

If you do it yourself, you save good money on labor - obviously. As someone whom has completely renovated two homes, and am in the process of remodeling a third, acquired skill in specific areas is nice to have from the "get-go".

My two cents worth.