Flooring

[elizilla]

I have never given much thought to flooring. I have lived in a number of houses built during the latter half of the 20th century, that have oak floors, and unless the floors are damaged they all look about the same to me. I like them. But when you say you want wood floors it's not just these generic oak floors. There are hundreds of choices. Even if you shrug and say you want oak, it's like, which oak? And are you sure you don't want maple or hickory or cherry? Or how about one of these new eco-friendly engineered bamboo or eucalyptus or poplar floors? Some of these look great. But it's not only how they look; it turns out that you have to pick carefully because the flooring can cup or shrink once it's laid down. I can't find any flooring that has reviews, that doesn't have people ranting about how their floors looked great when laid but within a couple months they were a disaster. And you have to be cautious not to get stuck with a flooring that's full of formaldehyde.

Also, I have always just thought that wood goes with wood; it hasn't occurred to me that they can be matched up any more carefully than that. But with everything pre-finished, suddenly you have to think about whether your trim matches your floor and whether your kitchen cabinets clash. And when you have no existing pieces you are stuck with, there's no starting point to anchor yourself.

It's overwhelming.

Comments

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

If you're not going to do actual hardwood flooring (understandable, it's expensive as hell now) the faux-wood laminate they have at Ikea is quite nice, relatively cheap, and holds up pretty well. Friend of mine did half his house with it. My grandparents' house in Belleville had Pergo, that was poor quality by comparison.

[elizilla]

We're considering the bamboo. It's not solid wood OR laminate. It's the same stuff all the way through, but what that is, is bamboo shreds and glue. There is also a similar product made from eucalyptus, and another that is made from poplar.

I have a sample of poplar that I particularly like, where the wood strands are multicolored - but it probably would look way too busy, if you covered a whole floor in it. I'd love a piece of furniture made of this stuff though.

The natural color of the bamboo is a blond color like unstained oak. If you get a darker one, it's not darkened by stain - it is what they call carbonized, which means they bake it until it browns like a cookie.

You have to pay attention to whether it's sustainably grown, and that it's been independently tested for VOCs and formaldehyde, since so much of it comes from parts of the world where the factories will cheat if they can. But many of these products look terrific.

[sendthewolf.livejournal.com]

I put in full thickness red oak with clear poly. Expensive but looks amazing.

Our laminate floor is nice, but doesn't compare to a hand finished surface. I don't care for the pre-finished stuff either. Great for the installer, but a sealed surface is far superior.

[the-rigger.livejournal.com]

When I redid the spare bedrooom into the gun room/workshop space, I had them put in a laminated floor from Lowe's; not Pergo but similar and with better ratings. We'll see how it lasts. The rest of the house is real stained hardwood, one of these days I'll have to have it refinished.

-R