Interior Designers: Hardwood Floor Questions

In My Humble Opinion
1

I think we have decided to to the house with Pergo or some similar hardwood flooring.

The carpet is starting to look like crap after five years, and always wanted hardwood floors.

So here are the questions:

  1. We like Pergo or those type of materials. Are they really as good as they are advertised?

  2. Although we have light maple cabinets in the kitchen, we want to do the floor from the kitchen to the living room and downstairs in the family room - so we are thinking of going more to a much darker wood color for the contrast. Wise idea? We have lots of natural light coming into the house and I think we can handle a darker color, but just wondering. Is dark wood a bad idea?

  3. A local store told us all of these floorings are basically made by the same company with just different name brands. Hense, he claimed it didn’t make any difference which name brand to use. They have a non-name brand for $3.99 a square foot, including installation! Wise idea?

  4. I know it is supposedly easy to install, but I think I would rather go with having it professionally installed. Granted, they want $3.00 per square foot to install, but still. Want it under the fridge, and in the pantry, and there are lots of strange, irregular corners to work with. Plus, I think I would probably have to buy some major power tools (electric band saws, etc.) to do it myself - and I am not sure I have the patience to do it myself. Correct me if I am wrong.

  5. I think it will be a good investment for the house. It seems to me that people like the idea of hardwood floors in a house they are considering to buy. Is that a correct assumption?

  6. If you have Pergo or other (non-natural hardwood) floors, are you happy with them?

2

My DH and I put down the laminated flooring in April of this year. I have been very happy with it. It’s very easy to care for as long as you use a laminated floor cleaner. The regular wood floor cleaners will streak and dull after drying.( I learned this the hard way.) Buy the $15.00 (approx) kit in the flooring section of Home Depot or Lowe’s.Thew kit will contain the terry cloth style “mop” and a bottle of the cleaner. Mine is a med. color. I have a dog and a cat and have had no problems. We saved a ton because a new flooring warehouse opened in the Atlanta area and we did the installation ourselves. I have it in my kitchen, family room and down a hallway…

3

These answers are all per my b/f, someone who has experience working with Pergo, but wouldn’t proclaim himself an expert. He believes it is a good product, yes.

He said he would never install Pergo in a room where it is likely to come into contact with water (kitchen, bathroom), because it is basically MDF with a laminate. (I searched on this part, and FWIW BobVila.com agrees).

Wasn’t sure about them all being made by the same company, but said they are all pretty similar. His opinion was that he would go with the best price and then referred me to Lumber Liquidators. IOW, yes, the non-name brand is fine.

Speaking for myself, I would have someone else install it. I like doing stuff like this, but I’ve never helped to install Pergo and would want someone around who had experience. He talked about how easy it was to install, and listed a mitre saw, multi-square, sliding bevel, hammer, tape measure, hand saw, and a couple of blocks of hard wood for tapping.

I’ve noticed the same thing in our area, and would think most types of improvement would bring a better price for a house (speaking in general).

We don’t have hardwood floors, though I wish we did. When I asked my b/f what his customers thought about their non-natural hardwood floors, he said the only complaint he’s really heard about them is problems from water damage. He doesn’t sell flooring, btw, works for a commercial company that deals with water, fire, sewer damages, etc.

4

If money isn’t the main factor in what you go for, I strongly recommend going for the real thing.

We have jarrah floors in our place which in all likelihood will outlast the house. The jarrah is 19mm thick, which means later on down the track there is plenty of timber to sand back and re-finish should it be required.

You can also save money depending on the grade of timber you go for, with most timbers being sorted into feature, select, or reject grade. The differences between these is mostly to do with wastage per metre square, and also the reject grades etc tend to have more natural faults/knots which I personally find more attractive.

There are different methods of laying as well, with “direct stick” and “plank on ply” being the two options. Direct stick involves exactly that, with the timber being glued and nailed directly to the concrete slab. Plank on ply involves fixing intermittent timbers as a base, then laying the flooring on top of that, thereby creating a small gap between the flooring and the house slab.

We have direct stick in our place, but if we were to do it again I would probably go for plank on ply because direct stick can be pretty hard on the feet due to it having virtually no give. Different people will give you varying reasons as to which method to go for.

In terms of cost, I guess it set me back close to $100 per square metre (approx. 140sq/m), which included everything such as timber, laying, then a finishing to your choice, be it gloss, satin, or matte.

Sotico

Given your reasons, I wouldn’t recommend doing it yourself.
I hope this helps.

5

We put in wood floors and love them.
We didn’t go pergo or similar because we had some at my work once and it looked awful after a while. Real wood costs more but I think looks nicer in the long run.
We use the hoover floor mate. It is great to clean the floors. I really recommend it.

I would just confirm that the install price or price per square foot includes the trim. Usually it does NOT and that is where a big cost can hide. This is especially true if you use a non-standard trim.

Also, if you have any ceramic tile to get rid of, get ready for another ‘hidden’ cost and a hellacious mess.