Harwood floors.. how do you know?

Original post by Suzanne

Feb 12, 2003 03:17 PM

When we see a house that has wtw carpet, and they say that there is hardwood floors underneath, how do you really know if they are, and what they look like.. do you just have to take their word for it???

shamma Posted: Feb 12, 2003 09:24 PM

Re: Harwood floors.. how do you know?

Kelly I can't see the difference they are all beautiful, is there some kind of difference that one would notice??

dgtlsunshine Posted: Feb 12, 2003 09:32 PM

Re: Harwood floors.. how do you know?

In the pic it doesn't look that different but in person I think you could see it. The kind we are getting is th pergo and the other one my mom's has it and does look different.

I hear pergo comes manufactured and already cut to fit in place so its easier to install.

KarenG Posted: Feb 12, 2003 11:03 PM

We installed our own hardwood floor

dgtlsunshine Posted: Feb 13, 2003 08:12 AM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

OH very nice.

Suzanne Posted: Feb 13, 2003 09:18 AM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

WOW thanks so much ladies!!! i appriciate all this info!

Claud thanks so much, i had no idea about the concrete slab!!

michele31 Posted: Feb 13, 2003 02:42 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

One of my many dreams is a hardwood floor in my living room, with an inlay border. Not cheap but it does add value to your home.

Sonicstef Posted: Feb 13, 2003 04:30 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

I love inlay work!! A few weeks ago I saw some very intracate inlay that looked like an oriental rug!

About Pergo - a friend had it installed when it was pretty new to the market in her kitchen. Its supposed to be very heavy duty and it stunk! Within 3 years, it was destroyed. Granted, she has heavy traffic in her kitchen but she has real hardwood in the other rooms and has had no problems.

michele31 Posted: Feb 13, 2003 04:40 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

I LOVE this inlay border.
www.inlays.com has tons of them

JennRenee Posted: Feb 13, 2003 07:21 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

Rich's Bride...

In the spring, we are planning to hardwood our living room and dining room. We are on a slab and were told we need to lay a subfloor first. We don't want to do Pergo. Any tips??

KarenG Posted: Feb 13, 2003 07:55 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

Our hardwood floor is over a concrete slab and we did not have to install a subflooring.

Again it is the tongue and groove hardwood flooring system. Rolled out a moisture protection barrier over the concrete before installing the floor though...

It is not pergo and came out really very nice.

RichsBride Posted: Feb 13, 2003 08:18 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

KarenG-great job!!! You are right about the moisture barrier- depending on how level the slab is(usually its even close) we create a subfloor out of 1x4's It's easier than trying to nail plywood into the concrete. Inlays can really add alot to you floor, but the usually add alot to the cost of the project as well.

JennRenee Posted: Feb 13, 2003 08:19 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

Okay, so I can do hardwood without a subfloor?? If that's true, it will save us mega $$ in plumbing, electric work, and labor.

KarenG Posted: Feb 13, 2003 08:35 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

michele31 Posted: Feb 13, 2003 08:40 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

Doing the floor yourself can save lots of $$$, but it is not super simple. Depending on your room, the layout can be very difficult. I would make paper cut outs to play in the room first and see how easy the layout is.

JennRenee Posted: Feb 13, 2003 08:46 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

Patrick does everything himself, but this is the one job that he wants done professionally. I'm not really sure of his reasons though.
I wish he would do it himself to save us $$!

Claud2001 Posted: Feb 13, 2003 08:57 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

KarenG - does 'engineered wood floor' mean that it's not real, solid wood? Just wondering...

We are also considering hardwood flooring in the LR/DR, but that's a project for next year, once we are in the house awhile.

JennRenee Posted: Feb 13, 2003 08:58 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

Good question Claud. I was wondering the same thing.

dgtlsunshine Posted: Feb 13, 2003 09:28 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

Oh no is Pergo a no no I thought we had found a sensible alternative.

RichsBride Posted: Feb 13, 2003 10:10 PM

Re: We installed our own hardwood floor

Pergo has revised their product and it's better now than before. We have it in our foyer & I love it. Here's the thing, eventually wood floors(or pergo) get scratched in high traffic areas real wood floors can be stripped & refinished. Pergo can't. Some real wood floors have many layers of polyeurathane on them already if they are old & often they look good even when they're a little worn.

I do not think that tongue & groove flooring of any kind is a good project for homeowners that are not really comfortable with chop saws & exact measurments. Replacing a floor often means replacing molding, modifying baseboards or other heating elements & it's a little more advanced than a beginner project. If you are familiar with the tools & have some general carpentry knowledge it's an excellent weekend project.