Replacing floors - total costs. What am I looking at?

[mrs.jacinthe]

Carpet's not really something to DIY. A lot of places will throw in install for free/cheap if you buy the carpet and pad. We did ours this year - paid $2 sq/ft for carpet, $0.50 sq/ft for pad, and $150 total for removal/haul and installation. We are planning on hardwoods throughout in 5-10 years, though, so we didn't want to get anything too high quality (it'd be hard to justify taking out carpet in GOOD condition.) SO, for about 500 sq/ft, we paid $850 total after some discounts were applied. It wasn't terrible.

Honestly, though, if you can swing it, I'd go the engineered hardwood route. I'm already tired of the carpet. LOL

[sjh722]

We were happy with the engineered hardwood we got from Build Direct. It was around $3/sf IIRC.

The slightly-nicer-than-builder-grade carpet that we had installed was virtually the same price. (We debated about doing the office in h/w or carpet and price them both. It was within $5.)

[karinothing]

I am hijacking since we are going to be putting new flooring down too. What is the thinking behind engineered hardwood vs. regular hardwood? Is it just cost? Or are there more benefits to engineered?

[eliza22]

We just replaced most of our main level flooring. We put in laminate but I'm assuming the installation costs would be similar with engineered hw. Installation/pad/etc added about $5/ sq ft to the cost of the floor.

We removed our old flooring and quarter round to cut down on costs .

I looked at engineered hw and it was going to be over $10 sq/ft with installation.

[munkii]

Jan 3, 2014 15:37:27 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I am hijacking since we are going to be putting new flooring down too. What is the thinking behind engineered hardwood vs. regular hardwood? Is it just cost? Or are there more benefits to engineered?

Pros: Engineered wood can usually tolerate moisture better than hardwood, and it can be installed below grade. 

Possible Con: Depending on how thick/thin the top veneer is, you may or may not be able to refinish engineered.

[karinothing]

Jan 3, 2014 16:02:54 GMT -5 munkii said:

Jan 3, 2014 15:37:27 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I am hijacking since we are going to be putting new flooring down too. What is the thinking behind engineered hardwood vs. regular hardwood? Is it just cost? Or are there more benefits to engineered?

Pros: Engineered wood can usually tolerate moisture better than hardwood, and it can be installed below grade. 

Possible Con: Depending on how thick/thin the top veneer is, you may or may not be able to refinish engineered.

Intersesting. Wouldn't it still be risky to install engineered hardwood in a below grade, just due to possible flooding issues. I don't think any basement is full proof.

Also, do you know if engineered is less expensive to install because it is typically a floating floor?

[munkii]

Jan 3, 2014 17:28:22 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Intersesting. Wouldn't it still be risky to install engineered hardwood in a below grade, just due to possible flooding issues. I don't think any basement is full proof.

Also, do you know if engineered is less expensive to install because it is typically a floating floor?

In a flood-prone area, I probably wouldn't install it.

I have no idea, but am curious as well, if it is less expensive to install.

[sjh722]

Jan 3, 2014 17:28:22 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Jan 3, 2014 16:02:54 GMT -5 munkii said:

Pros: Engineered wood can usually tolerate moisture better than hardwood, and it can be installed below grade. 

Possible Con: Depending on how thick/thin the top veneer is, you may or may not be able to refinish engineered.

Intersesting. Wouldn't it still be risky to install engineered hardwood in a below grade, just due to possible flooding issues. I don't think any basement is full proof.

Also, do you know if engineered is less expensive to install because it is typically a floating floor?

We were going to nail it down but weren't able to due to the type of subfloor used when our house was built. I think the cost is pretty comparable - we had to buy glue to float it. If you're fast with tools, nailing hardwood floors is faster. (In my experience.)

[kaylie]

Jan 3, 2014 15:37:27 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I am hijacking since we are going to be putting new flooring down too. What is the thinking behind engineered hardwood vs. regular hardwood? Is it just cost? Or are there more benefits to engineered?

To answer @crackhabit, I've been quoted $3,25/sq ft to install hardwood (solid or engineered). That does not include removal of current flooring or the removal/replacement of baseboards. For material you could be looking at anywhere between $3 and $12 depending on quality. We're ordering ours from www.hoskinghardwood.com/ which has a pretty good reputation and a good rating system to evaluate quality.

Personally, I would not DIY engineered wood. That was our plan at first, but after looking into all of the particulars and seeing some disaster photos of bad installations I decided I don't want to risk it. If you do DIY, I would stick to a brand with a good reputation and go with a domestic species. A lot of the South American woods have major moisture issues that make them more unstable than domestic woods.

As far as solid vs. engineered, I would go with solid. It's usually only 50 cents per square foot more than solid and based on reviews I've read, seems to hold up better. I've been told by some people that engineered is just as strong as solid, but I don't believe it. A lot of the flooring products I've looked at will have good reviews for the solid product and mediocre ones for the engineered.

[karinothing]

kaylie

Thank you for the information. I have another stupid question. If you buy from a place like this or Build Direct, how do you find someone to install it? Do you just go with a contractor? I have been researching a lot of flooring companies here, but I think I have to buy the wood through them vs buying it elsewhere and having them install. Any insight? Sorry I am new to this!

[kaylie]

Jan 3, 2014 20:57:02 GMT -5 karinothing said:

kaylie

Thank you for the information. I have another stupid question. If you buy from a place like this or Build Direct, how do you find someone to install it? Do you just go with a contractor? I have been researching a lot of flooring companies here, but I think I have to buy the wood through them vs buying it elsewhere and having them install. Any insight? Sorry I am new to this!

This is a very easy question to answer. Do not buy from Build Direct . Their product is worse than Lumber Liquidators (you shouldn't buy from them either) and I read tons of complaints from people about the finish coming off of the floors or the veneer on the engineered wood separating from the other layers - crazy stuff.

You should probably contact a flooring professional first. I found a few local companies on Angie's List and got pricing from each of them and have narrowed it down to the one I want to use. They don't care if I buy the wood myself or through them. Local companies tend to be best for hardwood installations. Big box companies tend to use crappy subcontractors with installers that don't know that much about hardwood. The small companies tend to be one-man operations with guys who know A LOT about what they're selling. They also know how to get good deals on certain products. If you don't have Angie's List just google the name of your town or county and "hardwood" and you should get some results.

[karinothing]

Jan 3, 2014 21:05:40 GMT -5 kaylie said:

Jan 3, 2014 20:57:02 GMT -5 karinothing said:

kaylie

Thank you for the information. I have another stupid question. If you buy from a place like this or Build Direct, how do you find someone to install it? Do you just go with a contractor? I have been researching a lot of flooring companies here, but I think I have to buy the wood through them vs buying it elsewhere and having them install. Any insight? Sorry I am new to this!

This is a very easy question to answer. Do not buy from Build Direct . Their product is worse than Lumber Liquidators (you shouldn't buy from them either) and I read tons of complaints from people about the finish coming off of the floors or the veneer on the engineered wood separating from the other layers - crazy stuff.

You should probably contact a flooring professional first. I found a few local companies on Angie's List and got pricing from each of them and have narrowed it down to the one I want to use. They don't care if I buy the wood myself or through them. Local companies tend to be best for hardwood installations. Big box companies tend to use crappy subcontractors with installers that don't know that much about hardwood. The small companies tend to be one-man operations with guys who know A LOT about what they're selling. They also know how to get good deals on certain products. If you don't have Angie's List just google the name of your town or county and "hardwood" and you should get some results.

Thank you again! I just did a cost estimator on the home depot website and they wanted to charge us 5K for install. Yikes! I guess I was hoping we could do our top level for 6K (that would put us at 14K whomp whomp). It is only like 800 sq feet! Goodness.

I have a few recommendations for local flooring companies, so I will check them out. Thank you!

[kaylie]

Jan 5, 2014 16:33:56 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

Thanks for all the info! No particular reason in engineered vs hardwood aside from moisture; we would like to put it in the kitchen.

It's kind of replace carpet with better carpet now or wait longer to afford what we really want, which is wood on the entire level.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the only moisture related benefit to engineered is that you can install it on slab below grade and it won't absorb the ground/air moisture. It would still get ruined if the dishwasher flooded the kitchen. That's not stopping me from putting wood in my kitchen, but probably something to confirm for floor care purposes.

[karinothing]

Jan 5, 2014 18:19:43 GMT -5 kaylie said:

Jan 5, 2014 16:33:56 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

Thanks for all the info! No particular reason in engineered vs hardwood aside from moisture; we would like to put it in the kitchen.

It's kind of replace carpet with better carpet now or wait longer to afford what we really want, which is wood on the entire level.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the only moisture related benefit to engineered is that you can install it on slab below grade and it won't absorb the ground/air moisture. It would still get ruined if the dishwasher flooded the kitchen. That's not stopping me from putting wood in my kitchen, but probably something to confirm for floor care purposes.

Neither solid or engineered will stand up to standing water. I know that engineered stands up to light moisture better, but I don't know what that really means. Reading about hardwood floors makes me feel like they can't even withstand a glass of spilled water. However, most of the houses in this area have hardwood and they are 70 years old. I imagine during that time someone has spilled a glass or to or splashed some sink water, and they are all fine.

[tripleshot]

I don't have much to add, but if you decide to go with carpet, upgrade the padding. It'll help the carpet wear better and last longer. I think we have 8 lb. Stainmaster Pet padding.