Flooring Options - We had a flood :(

[hockeywife]

We had a pipe burst over the weekend and the restoration company tore up some the floors in our hallway and pulled back the carpet in our living room, bedroom, and office.

We've just about had it with our house - the plumber said it was the worst plumbing he'd ever seen.  Between that, the termites over the summer, and all the poor craftsmanship we see, our 15+ year house (we've been here almost 6) is now looking like a "as soon as we find something we like we're out house".

Originally, we had planned to replace the whole bottom floor, save the bathroom and bedroom, with engineered hardwoods (we're on a slab).  This would be over improving for our neighborhood, but figured if we got 1/2 our money back, it was money well spent on personal enjoyment while we lived here.

Because this is no longer a long term house, we dont want to over improve, but dont want the house to look like crap, either.  We need to replace the floors, but dont know what to replace them with.  We really do not like the look of laminate.

Here is our floor plan. There is carpet in the family room, bedroom, and office. (crappy) tile in the kitchen, and parquet wood floors in the DR/LR.  The parquet floors used to be in the entryway/hallway, but were ripped up by the restoration co.



WWYD?  I'm concerned about intorducing yet another type of flooring in the entryway/hallway, but it will be virtually impossible to replace with what was ripped up so that it matches the DR/LR. UGH.

[boiler717]

I don't think it matters as much that the entry way and DR/LR match -- they aren't really visible from one another. Are you interested in retiling the kitchen? What if you did the same type of tile in the entryway and kitchen?

[hockeywife]

Jan 31, 2013 8:41:47 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

I don't think it matters as much that the entry way and DR/LR match -- they aren't really visible from one another. Are you interested in retiling the kitchen? What if you did the same type of tile in the entryway and kitchen?

We just dont want 4 different types of flooring in the main areas of the house, which is why matching is a concern.

We thought about retiling the kitchen and extending that into the hallway/entryway, so that's definitely an option. Lots of tile isnt something that's really done up here, so I'm worried that it may look strange to prospective buyers...

ETA: the more I look at it though, if we dont want 4 different types of flooring, we dont have a lot of options. We either carpet (definitely, no), replace the kitchen tile and extend, or replace the DR/LR floor and use whatever we decide in the hallway, too.

I guess I'm hoping for a magic solution

[ssmjlm]

I would probably tile from your front door, down the hallway into the kitchen with all the same tile.

I would probably put a laminate in the FR and the living/DR. I'm not a fan of carpet in DRs b/c of the food aspect.

I would probably just replace the carpets in the bedrooms for resale.

[demandypants]

would the hardwood floors help to sell the house when you are ready to do that? I am sorry that the water caused so much damage. I understand not wanting too many different flooring selections on a single level but depending on how it flows together it may not be as bad as you imagine so long as the flooring choices coordinate.

We have hardwood in our LR, slate tile in the foyer, red brick stairs that go down to the kitchen which has a beige linoleum floor. The dining room has turquoise indoor outdoor carpet (yea... house is a major work in progress), and the family room is a retched faux yellow brick pattern linoleum tile. But since they are all mostly neutral it all sorta flows. Doesn't mean I won't change it in the future when the money is available... but it isn't as bad as I would have thought it would be with so many different flooring between the spaces.

[SusanBAnthony]

I would just have the entry not match. Put in whatever is common in the neighborhood. If you are planning to seel ASAP, who cares if you hate laminate, as long as prospective buyers like it?

[Susie]

I don't know if this is getting ahead of yourself, but I might actually consult with a realtor before making a decision if you really plan to sell soon.

When we bought our house it had laminate in the kitchen/entry, and we've given considerable thought to what we'd like to do in the long term.  I'm honestly not sure.  I know what you mean about tile in the entry not really being a "thing" here.  I think in our house we'll probably do tile anyway, with radiant heat underneath and area rugs on top (which is also what we just put in the half bath, less the area rug), but that's not the kind of solution I'd employ in a house I was planning to sell. 

FWIW, I don't think having 4 flooring choices in a house you're trying to sell is that big a deal. 

[sjh722]

Jan 31, 2013 9:35:05 GMT -5 Susie said:

I don't know if this is getting ahead of yourself, but I might actually consult with a realtor before making a decision if you really plan to sell soon.

I would do this too. They might be able to direct you to a local source, also. (For instance, I know which flooring stores builders buy all their spec flooring from, what they keep in stock, etc, and it's usually significantly cheaper than picking something out randomly at HD/Lowes.) Then you're also in line with what other people are putting in.

If you do decide to look at engineered hardwood, we got some from Build Direct that was something like $2.69/square foot. Very similar stuff was selling for $5/square foot everywhere else - for a house I'm not going to live in forever, I was happy with the price.

[kitty]

I don't think I would spend money to replace the LR and DR floors if I wanted to sell asap if hardwood would be overimproving for your neighborhood. I also wouldn't want to retile the kitchen as long as it was in good shape and wouldn't adversely affect selling the house.

If you think the kitchen needs new tile to sell, I would carry that through the entryway. If not, I would probably put in some prefinished hardwood in a similar color to the parquet that you had previously.