Hardwood floor questions

[Triplegreen500]

So, I have hardwood in my house. I had hardwood in my rental (original, 75+ years old), but a tenant (and her dog, and all the mice from her being a f'n SLOB) ruined it.

So I'm remodeling the rental.

I'm at the point I have to decide what floor covering I'm doing, so I can set cabinets (more specifically, cabinet heights) and do the plumbing rough ins. I want real hardwood because I hate the "hollow" sound and feeling of laminate and engineered floors. I'll tile the bathroom, of course...but I'm debating hardwood in the kitchen as well. Anyone have wood floors in their kitchen? I'm thinking multiple layers of polyurethane should make it doable?

Also. Thoughts on unfinished versus prefinished? I'm finding prefinished on sale for $4 a sf. Unfinished I can get for $1/sf. Lay, stain, and poly....

What thinks the collective?

 

[Dave6T4]

Have you thought of luxury vinyl? It is very durable, and easy to put down.

 

[F4R/T]

I absolutely love hardwood floors... I would have them everywhere and my house would look like a log cabin on the inside with a stunning fireplace BUT since I know we aren’t staying here for much longer we found this and it’s pretty darn nice for the money and made in USA. If feels like real wood and doesn’t have the vinyl feel or sound while walking on... just food for thought it was at my local Home Depot.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Went in a $1 mil house a friend worked on. The floor was like glass, the poly looked 1/8 inch thick. It looked great. Wood drying and shrinking can mean open spaces.

 

[F4R/T]

I’m also a fan of Bruce hardwood floors, my brother has them and they are gorgeous.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Pergo is the foshizzle!

 

[RR Fan Dan]

I have hardwood in my whole house including kitchen. House is 65 years old. Floors still look geat. I’ve done hardwood in other houses too. 3/4 oak pre-finished is my preference. Bella is my choice.

 

[GTXDAN]

We have hardwood in our house also. 3/4" prefinished for last 20 years and no issues. Bought the nailer and did it myself. 2nd house I've done.

 

[Richard Cranium]

The finish of pre-finished flooring is great, but I hate the beveled edges where crap gets stuck into it.

Refinishing them presents a dilemma.

Refinishing Beveled Hardwood Floors - Job Example

 

[RR Fan Dan]

Bought the nailer and did it myself.

The last I one did i got an air nailer. That was a life saver over a manual one. I highly recommend getting one if you are doing a very large area. Also if your going to get a cheap one cause your only going to use it once, get it from harbor freight, so when it breaks, and it will, you can exchange it for new. Tool centers like Lowes also rents them.

 

[The Rebel]

We had a hard wood floor and new cabinets put in years ago.

Seeing your doing the same thing, sounds like you just need to refinish the floor and lay down a new top coat of polyurethane.

I had Stanley steamer come out 2 months ago to remove the dirty wax buildup and lay down a new topcoat of wax.

 

[Triplegreen500]

No, my old hardwood is in the woods as kindling. It was TRASH. Any humidity and the outline of her furniture showed up in the hardwood - because the mouse piss was sweating out of the wood. Been working thus far just on original subfloor. Debate is:

1. Get another layer of 3/4 subfloor then a thin laminate

Or

2. Lay hardwood directly on the existing subfloor like original.

I've changed the floor plan of the apt since I had it all stripped out to bare studs anyway and already moved/redid the electrical. Now it's plumbing time but as I said, I need to figure out my floor thickness so I can set my rough ins.

I have an air nailer - got that when I refloored a sunroom in the other apt. I used Bruce up there but it was a smaller area. Liked the prefinished aspect, but also not a fan of the beveled edges.

My house is 5" custom oak throughout (tile kitchen), and is finally about ready for a refinish. After 40 years. I like the worn look - "patina" - and have plenty of it thanks to 3 big dogs, but I don't want a kitchen in a rental to develop rot due to an(other) idiot tenant.

I could always do what I tore out. Tile bathroom. Hardwood everywhere else, but with linoleum on top in the kitchen.

 

[1967coronet]

I was thinking the same thing as Reble,
Why not strip and drum sand your current hard wood then apply new finish ?

 

[1967coronet]

Well, scratch that didn't know you had pulled it.
For a rental ( i have one myself )
I would put in a new sub floor and put down what ever costs less.

 

[Triplegreen500]

Well, scratch that didn't know you had pulled it.
For a rental ( i have one myself )
I would put in a new sub floor and put down what ever costs less.

That's why the unfinished hardwood for $1 a square foot is appealing.

One.
Dollar.

Hmmm....

 

[Moms68]

So, I have hardwood in my house. I had hardwood in my rental (original, 75+ years old), but a tenant (and her dog, and all the mice from her being a f'n SLOB) ruined it.

So I'm remodeling the rental.

I'm at the point I have to decide what floor covering I'm doing, so I can set cabinets (more specifically, cabinet heights) and do the plumbing rough ins. I want real hardwood because I hate the "hollow" sound and feeling of laminate and engineered floors. I'll tile the bathroom, of course...but I'm debating hardwood in the kitchen as well. Anyone have wood floors in their kitchen? I'm thinking multiple layers of polyurethane should make it doable?

Also. Thoughts on unfinished versus prefinished? I'm finding prefinished on sale for $4 a sf. Unfinished I can get for $1/sf. Lay, stain, and poly....

What thinks the collective?

As long as you don't have pets or young kids at home you should be good. as a former kitchen remodeler I tried to disuade customers from using traditional hardwood in a kitchen due to possible water damage and daily wear and tear. Prefinished floors are nice but as someone else stated, refinishing is not usually an option. Solid vinyl flooring has come a long way and the newer backing/ underlayment options soften that "hollow" sound. Vinyl is resilient and easy to maintain.

 

[Hey-O]

Have you thought of luxury vinyl? It is very durable, and easy to put down.

I've put down many different types of flooring and enough hardwood to go from my place to yours, walnut, cherry, oak, all of them. That's all I used to use on my homes, period. The perfinish has aluminum oxide in the finish, which no matter how many coats of ploy you put on, will never match it, IMO. I wouldn't put hardwood in my home these days if you came and did it for free. The sun bleaches it, water will blow it up, dogs will kill it when they slam on the brakes skidding up to a window to look out, a fat gal in high heels will dent it and the biggy, your renters won't give a sh*t about the dents and bruises they put in it. My last three houses have been, totally waterproof, pet friendly, 10 year commercial and lifetime residential guarantee luxury vinyl plank. They come with a rubber back and don't bounce around or make noise. If there's a problem, replace it. A monkey can put it down and it's a quick install. Have you ever taken out a piece of bad hardwood flooring, I have and while I can do it so even God couldn't tell, it's a huge pain in the a**. Wood is all I did and wood is for furniture, not floors, those days are over. Buy the best vinyl and never look back. You've been warned!! LOL. The last hardwood job I did, was for a friend. I left my Bostitch nailer with him.................. I used staples, not nails.

 

[gkent]

We have hardwood throughout that we refinished 20+ years ago and its still in great shape in the high use areas. HOWEVER, I would never consider it in a kitchen due to spills, dropped pots, dishes, etc. . We did a full kitchen remodel four years ago, ripped multiple layers of various products off to get to the original plank floors. Screwed all those down to elininate squeeks, screwed down 5/8 plywood then, where it needed it, poured self-leveler. Then installed LVT. You have two options with LVT, you can butt them tight or leave a gap and grout them. For the look we went with the grout. These tiles are durable as hell BUT if one is damaged it can be pulled up and replaced. Two years ago we installed the same LVT in the mudroom which we use as our main entrance. It takes a beating but doesn't show it at all. Although the LVT has a sticky back, we still installed it with an adhesive which ensures its not coming loose!

 

[YY1]

Tile.

Rental house 2 came with tile.
It's on it's third tenant since with very little damage.

Rental house 1 got tile the last time it got turned over.
We are in the process of evicting that tenant, so we haven't seen the condition, but I'd bet no or very little damage.

I'd be scared of gouging damage to wood or wood veneer from lazy furniture dragging by unconcerned movers or tenants.

 

[Triplegreen500]

Only concerns with tile are:

Everything you drop on it, breaks.

Weight.

This is an old building - 1952 - and the floors are...wavy, as it is. Add a layer of backer board, then mastic, then tile and grout....

I've done plenty of tile in my day. My old house, I tiled the basement when I finished it (was unfinished and useless when I bought it).

This is also a mountain place. Country. If it were at the beach...yea, tile all the way. But wood just "fits" better up here.