May 18, 2012
Flooring confusion!
Yesterday was beyond exhausting. We went to two flooring stores and ended up overwhelmed. It seems that there is hardwood flooring as well as engineered hardwood and laminate flooring. We were informed that unless we had a special humidifier running through our furnace we could only have laminate flooring as the wood would eventually dry out and warp. With us shutting down the house for six months of the year when we head down to Mexico, it complicates things further. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions or horror stories to share with us?
We realized that we really can't pick the tile until we decide on the flooring. We are planning carpet for the bedroom only. Thousands of choices out there.
One of the stores had an interior designer available to do a consult. She however did not like some of our choices to date and was very strong about her opinion. She even started to sway us on the colour of the house siding.
We went from her store back to the siding store where they pulled out a large piece of 'mahogany' colored siding which she said we had to use. We carried it out into the sun, back into the shade and looked and looked. We still are happy with our original choice of 'colonial red' which is the sample above the letters KAY. I don't like brown.
We spent 20 minutes in a lighting store but both agreed we were too tired and hungry to deal with it. Besides that is not as much of a pressing decision as the others.
This is my master list, the only way I am getting through these crazy weeks. June so far is only 50% full so there will for certain be downtime then.
We got the dreaded call while at one the the flooring stores yesterday…..the cement team has been delayed until Tuesday. This means that they just might finish an hour or two before we move over to the beach site next weekend. Sigh!!! All the coordination the other day with the irrigation guy and the water box thing, out the window. Plus the forecast is for showers next week, so it is what it is, nothing I can do but deal with it.
Meanwhile the lake is slowly rising. Mid April we had a large beach.
Now the lake is lapping up the third step. Still lots of snow up in the hills to melt...
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Have you thought of cork or bamboo flooring!! We have the cork in our kitchen and family room, I love it easy to mop up and has a give for when your standing, Our house is now almost 8 years old and it looks like new and as that,s the most used rooms!!
In 1994, when we built onto our DE beach home, we put in hardwood floors in the dining and great room areas. The original two bedrooms already had hardwood floors and we had them refinished. We spend four months there thru the summer and into September. We keep the minium amount of heat thru the time we are not there and have never had trouble with the floors including the rooms that have ceramic tile. The floors are still beautiful! It may be different where you live because of the colder weather. Cork and bamboo flooring sound nice, too!
Forgot to say that we have a full basement underneath that house so don’t know if that would make a difference or not.
We’ve never had hardwood floors but many people in Montana have them and don’t have any trouble. Someday I would like them in my house. My sis has laminate in her house and loves it.
We have looked at many and are impressed with a new Allure Ultra, resilient Plank flooring, good luck with your choices.
Thanks for all your thoughts…..looks like we have more research to do!!
For your info, our maple hardwood has not been a problem. We do not have a humidifier and for a few years did not even have an air conditioner. It often went into the high 30 and 40c in our house. It is tongue and groove and was very well cured when Gord and his brother installed it. We have had almost no shrinkage. on the other hand, Gord’s brother and his son in law put down hardwood planks (different than tongue and groove) in their home around 15 years ago and have suffered some shrinkage and consequent gaps. We love the look of hardwood, but if we were to do it again would consider some of the alternatives…..especially high grade laminate. Much easier to maintain and clean, esp in the kitchen area.
We put down engineered Bamboo a year and a half ago and it is really performing well. We even put it in the kitchen and except for one spot where a butcher knife fell point down and another , it is unmarked.
Also the vinyl plank flooring comes in many colour,s we put it our Mtr. home last year, I love it and is resistant to moisture , if interested I’ll find the name etc..