Looking for input on flooring

[DCrom]

Redwolf, you've seen the floors in our place.

Oak, over 40 years old. About 6 years ago, we pulled out the wall-to-wall in the halls, living, and family room and had them refinished. Since there were nailholes and such from the carpet, we decided to go with the distressed look. The floors still look as good (IMHO) as when we had them refinished, and when the time comes we can refinish - again - for less than the cost of even cheap wall-to-wall carpeting.

Pergo can look good for quite a while, but when it starts to wear about all you can do is replace it. I like oak, but as suggested earlier you might also want to look into other natural materials (if we didn't already have oak, I would have been very tempted by the bamboo flooring).

At the end of the day, though, all that matters is what *you* want to look at, and walk on, for the next N years. No need to go crazy, but if the choice you *really* like is only slightly more expensive, it may be worthwhile to stretch a little.

Dana C

[Redwolf]

Those of you who have/are familiar with the bamboo...is it typically sealed? I always think of bamboo as fairly pourous, and with a leaky puppy....

I do like the look of it, though.

Redwolf

[cowtime]

With your pine paneling you will never be happy with a "fake" flooring.
Pergo or the like will SCREAM fake next to the real thing(your paneling)
Since tile is out due to quakes you really should consider either-
oak
perhaps bamboo although I've heard that it is nowhere near as resilient as oak
or real linoleum-not great for really wet conditions but I assume that the new puppy will be housebroken eventually

The great thing about real lino is that scuffs and scratches can be sanded out since the color goes through the whole thing, or even patched and the patch will never show! The cost should be about the same as real tile.
This stuff will last you a good long time. We have a patterned piece in our dining room that looks like an arts&crafts rug until you step on it. It's original to the house(built in 1930's and still looks great. We will be installing marmoleum in our new morning room this summer.



Don't worry about the dogs and real oak flooring. Any scratches etc just add character and can be sanded out if you wish. There are sealers now that are pretty much dog proof (as in normal dogs, not demolition experts)
Our house also has the original oak floors and I love them. Last year we ripped up two layers of vinyl, plywood sub-floor to uncover the oak in the kitchen. Yeah, it's got dents and nails showing in places, etc. But some sanding and a new finish and they are great. We did have to replace some boards that had water damage, but it was really not a hard job.

[kkrell]

Actual Linoleum? Used for the chemically sensitive, and can be isntalled with a Zero-VOC adhesive. A natural product: http://www.themarmoleumstore.com/

That's what we popped for. Tile is too cold (and prone to cracks, damage to/from dropped items), vinyl is toxic throughout its entire lifetime, wood will not hold up to dog nails.

Kevin Krell

How often would you think you would have to strip and polish it? I wasn't too clear on the difference between Marmoleum and Marmoleum Click. It looks really nice though. But the stripping and polishing thing could be a problem for me I think.

The Marmoleum is in roll (sheet) form, 6'7" wide, usually up to about 100' long. The Click version are smaller panels (12"x12" square or 12"x36") mounted on an interlocking base board, so you tile them up to cover an area, and you don't need to use adhesive. It does make for the ability to run trim around an area of interest, like a coffee table, edges of rooms, or for mosaic-like effects, much as one might accomplish with different colored tiles. More seams, of course, and don't hold up well to standing water.

As to care, this manufacturer, Farbo, processes the Linoleum with their TopShield product, so little care is required. We're going with the Caribbean color.

Frankly, I've been living in an apartment that has had linoleum in the kitchen for 30 years and there is little wear. A little lifting at a seam, but that's it. Vinyl floors probably require more maintenance, as you have to surface treat them, and avoid build-up of polishes.

Disadvantages to Linoleum: 1) limited color choices, particularly in very light colors - a few more choices if you include the Commercial product line; 2) Should only be laid flat, can't curve up to the wall or cabinets ("coving"?); 3) Depending on your floor, installation might require 1/8" plywood to make for a level surface to avoid rippling - over a strip wood floor, the strips flex too much; 4) May smell of linseed oil for a few months. Remember, linoleum is sort of like walking on a flute: wood, cork, linseed oil.

For flood areas, you need to use other products. The vinyl "Fiber" flooring is recommended. Also doesn't need adhesive, as it's heavy enough to just lie there. But it can be pulled up if flooding occurs, the area dried, and the flooring put back down.

BTW, Armstrong is a U.S. manufacturer of linoleum, having recently revived it in their line. Their product seems to require the polishing, stripping (removal of excess polish build-up) process you mention.
http://www.armstrong.com/resflram/na/linoleum/en/us/

Kevin Krell

[Redwolf]

Oh my.

We went down to Home Depot today, just to get a look at what's out there, and my hubby and I both fell in love with the bamboo flooring. It's really striking, and the more I read about it, the more I love it. Whether or not it will fall into our budget is another question, but we're going to be researching it very heavily.

The next best, price-wise and look-wise, was ceramic tile that looked like slate (the natural stone is well beyond our means), though some of the hardwoods were definitely in the running as well.

One fun thing about this house is it's an interesting hodgepodge of woods. The external siding and shakes are redwood, the (exposed) beams are spruce, the cabinetry is oak and the walls are knotty pine...so it really wouldn't look as odd as it might sound to have bamboo floors (especially the darker colored bamboo, which is really quite striking!).

Thanks for all your input...I'll keep you posted on developments!

Redwolf

[s1m0n]

With your pine paneling you will never be happy with a "fake" flooring.
Pergo or the like will SCREAM fake next to the real thing(your paneling)

Very good point. Laminates like pergo look like a wood-grain formica or melamine countertop. In fact, that's what they are--a layer of printed plastic glued to particleboard.

Yuck.

[Redwolf]

I think Pergo's out anyway. I was considering it primarily because I thought it would be cheaper than wood or tile, but it seems comparable, or even slightly more expensive, depending on style. If I can get wood or tile for the same or less than a laminate, I'm going to go for wood or tile. Though the more I read about it, the more I'm hoping bamboo is an option for us...pretty, durable and sustainable!

Redwolf

[Jack]

I like dirt floors.

[Redwolf]

I like dirt floors.

Considering that the area under our living room consists of about 20 feet of air followed by concrete (in other words, our living room is on top of the garage), I think that's probably out.

Redwolf

[Redwolf]

Argghhh! This is getting frustrating!

I've been to several places now, and I don't get the same story from anyone. I've got one person telling me that bamboo is nearly as durable as hardwood, another telling me that it will be scratched up and horrible looking before the installers get out the door. I had one working earnestly to sell me their "stock oak" (which was seriously ugly, and would have clashed horribly with our pine walls...it looked like we were trying to match the pine and couldn't quite do it) and another trying to sell me a "manufactured hardwood" that was actually only a thin veneer of the decorative wood over a base...it couldn't be refinished, and would have to be replaced in about 15 years.

Does anyone here actually have bamboo, or know someone who does? I'd love to get some input from people who have actually lived with it, rather than from people who are either trying to sell it to me or trying to sell me something else.

I'm getting a little frustrated over the budget as well. I budgeted about $6000 for this (that's my base figure, but there's a little extra padding in there to cover such things that might come up, such as replacing particle board with plywood in the kitchen, installing new baseboards, etc), and it's beginning to look like I don't have a lot of decent options in that range. I've only got about 500 square feet to cover...the living/dining room, a small kitchen and a short hallway. It's looking, at this point, like my only options are bamboo or Pergo, unless I want that really crappy looking "stock oak," so I'm hoping, at this point, that the bamboo promoters are right and the detractors are wrong.

Redwolf

[cowtime]

I know I remember someone over at American Bungalow saying something about bamboo. I'll go do a search.

Did a search, didn't find anything, so I posted the question.

We'll see if I find out anything.

[Redwolf]

Well, the good news is we found some people locally who have bamboo (have had it for about a year now), and they're thrilled with it. We both really like the look of it, and the fact that it's an easily renewable resource is a huge factor too. The real clincher, though, was the fact that it's not particularly susceptible to warping and swelling from moisture...our climate can go from one extreme to another, and that's always a major concern (I really baby my wooden instruments, let me tell you!).

We've decided to go ahead with it. I think it will look very nice in here, and now that the decision has been made, I'm really getting excited about it. I'll post some pics when it's done.

Redwolf

[Flyingcursor]

vinyl is toxic throughout its entire lifetime,
Kevin Krell

I'm sure glad I don't eat my vinyl floor.

Actually we're going to replace a floor soon so this thread might be valuable.

[TJ Hanlon]

Sorry this thought comes in a bit late, but my 2 cents:

Bamboo is absolutely gorgeous, but if you have a lot of humidity, it can warp, twist, and pull. I isn't as durable as hard woods like maple or oak, so if you don't mind dings adding to the character of the floor, it should be OK.

I plan on finishing my cellar using cork flooring - perhaps the softest wood available, but it's not going to be a high traffic area, so I'll be going for the wrmth and comfort over the durability.

I think the best overall choice is going to be oak, for beauty, ease of installation, durability, and cost.

Good luck with whatever you end up using.

tjh

[Redwolf]

Sorry this thought comes in a bit late, but my 2 cents:

Bamboo is absolutely gorgeous, but if you have a lot of humidity, it can warp, twist, and pull. I isn't as durable as hard woods like maple or oak, so if you don't mind dings adding to the character of the floor, it should be OK.

I plan on finishing my cellar using cork flooring - perhaps the softest wood available, but it's not going to be a high traffic area, so I'll be going for the wrmth and comfort over the durability.

I think the best overall choice is going to be oak, for beauty, ease of installation, durability, and cost.

Good luck with whatever you end up using.

tjh

Actually, bamboo is LESS susceptible to moisture issues than most woods. That's something we checked out pretty thoroughly, and it was a major selling point. Bamboo flooring is a laminated product, so it doesn't tend to swell, warp, and shrink with changing humidity levels. I don't know how it deals with really and consistently high humidity, such as one might find in the South or the tropics, but it never gets that humid here.

Oak is considerably more expensive than bamboo in this part of the country, I'm afraid, unless you go with the cheapest stock red oak, which is actually lower on the hardness scale than bamboo (and not particularly attractive, at least to my eye).

As far as dings and such go, I haven't seen a wood floor yet that didn't have its share...that's just the nature of natural flooring, I think. We'll probably freak out over every little knick and ding for about a week or so, and then we'll just relax and enjoy its character. My biggest concern is getting the piano and fridge back in without scratching the hell out of the floor...I think we'll have to lay down some plywood to slide the fridge on, and possibly a runner of the old carpet to move the piano. Once they're in place, it should be no big deal.

Redwolf