Home flooring, learning curve?

fishon

We need to replace the worn out carpet in our home. We wish to get away from carpet. Wishing to do plank laminate. Important, price, installation, durability. What are the ins and outs of buying, what to look for? And what to stay away from? We wish to lay it ourselves....

ChasinPoon

I would do vinyl plank instead of laminate. That's what we're putting in the beach house.

kmagnuss

I did this a few years back. Didn't know jack about wood floor beforehand. Bought everything from Lumber Liquidators... they were by far the cheapest. Their stores where you buy in person are even better priced sometimes. I did a laminate with foam backing... looks like real wood but when you walk on it it's completely obvious it's fake. A glue down floor is better for this but I wouldn't know where to start there. (my floor is a 'floating' floor) It's pretty easy to install wood/laminate/engineered flooring honestly.

rock_fish

Buy from a good store. That is my only advice. I put in bamboo wood floors about a year ago. Shopped around for months. Home depot, lowes, lumber liquidators couldn't hold a candle to JB factory floors. They weren't the cheapest but the salesman knew his floors. And quality is night and day
I bet I was in all the stores five times or more and after a while you can tell who is cheap. My bamboo floors had solid cedar, perpendicular bottom.layer
No mdf or other cheap crap like the other three stores

cpr

I put down TrafficMASTER Allure from HD. Very easy to put down and you cut it with a utility knife. Looks good and holds up to water. My wife hates the feel of it but it's going down in my other bedroom in the next month or so.

Baits Out

As a former long-time woodshop owner (I didn't do floors) and having seen all the latest trends to produce something cheaper, would never ever buy any kind of laminate for flooring.

But, it depends upon your situation and what you are projecting and expecting.

Solid hardwood lasts for decades and can be repeatedly sanded, refinished and so on.

Floors take a beating in most instances.

snookerf150

I used to sell flooring and I will tell you this, if I could I would do my house in all solid 3/4" thick 5" planks but since I can't afford that and I am trying to have the best bang for the buck my next floors will be LVT luxury vinyl tile. Looks good, sounds good, scratch and dent resistant. Think laminate meets vinyl meets engineered hardwood. Most have a very good warranty and it's simple to lay. Mostly floating or you could do a simple glue down.
Just my .02

fishon

Wow, googled Luxury vinyl tile. Up came lowes w/ LVT, very inexpensive! And incredible great reviews! Thanks snookerf150.
May have to go get a few samples from Lowes!

team getterdun

I just layed 350sq ft. of the Trafficmaster FVP as well. I started it and got about 1/5th of the room done, and my lovely wife, and she is lovely most of the time, finished the rest all by herself!!!!

My research had me staying away from the FVP that clicked together. The Trafficmaster has a glue strip, so no joints to click together.

BTW, sheet metal snips work much better for cutting than a utility knife. I also put down a few feet of 2 sided carpet tape on the first row, which kept it from sliding around.

hatcity

After you pull the carpet, be sure to run a good scraper all over the concrete.
any, ANY, small item will show thru the laminate

rock_fish

hatcity wrote: »

After you pull the carpet, be sure to run a good scraper all over the concrete.
any, ANY, small item will show thru the laminate

And make sure your sub floor is level.

Conchy Cracker

My floors are all painted plywood. My feet don't care, it's easy to clean and touch ups are a breeze. A month before I sell I'll put in the cheapest carpet available.

rock_fish

Conchy Cracker wrote: »

My floors are all painted plywood. My feet don't care, it's easy to clean and touch ups are a breeze. A month before I sell I'll put in the cheapest carpet available.

That must look... interesting

Interested