Wood floor decision.

natas · Post by **natas** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:26 pm

what is the best wood to use on the floor?
Should I do my own pine floor or should I get the store bought stuff?
Is real wood better than the laminated stuff?

Thanks,

Clifford

studio_drums · Post by **studio_drums** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:48 am

I'm wondering the same thing myself. I do think the "engineered" hardwood floor is better than laminate though... it's 3 layers of wood, but it's real wood, not laminated fiberboard. The "real" hardwood floors are too thick and too expensive. I was checking out the bamboo engineered flooring- it's a great look but I'm afraid the wood is too hard- it needs to be a little softer and more porous I think.

Boy, is flooring expensive or what? I'm been at Lowe's and Home Depot rapping on flooring samples with my knuckles- people must think I'm crazy. I also walked over to price some white pine planks- they looked pretty nice and if you do the math they come out to 1- something per square foot as opposed to 3-6 per quare foot. Of course I would have to figure out how to piece everything together.

I'm searching the net right now to see what they're using in studios.

natas · Post by **natas** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:38 am

let me know what you find out. The more I dig into it the more I think that doing my own pine plank floor is the best bet.

sandledfoot · Post by **sandledfoot** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 4:33 am

you may want to double check that the pine has been prepared for floor use... tounge and grooved, properly dried etc.... or you may have a sap or cracking problems... i recently installed a laminate floor, solid wood was not an option to install on concrete (without a subfloor)... and i really like the way it looks and sounds so far.... it's not something you would want to do twice... so make sure you look at your options carefully.

kevin

T3Tech · Post by **T3Tech** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:40 am

One thing to note with pine as flooring is that it's a softwood. So it can be damaged easier than a hardwood like oak would be. Though things like scratches, dings and gouges give it 'character' and if you're OK with that I'd stick to Kevin's advice. Most of the pine that is used for trim or shelving isn't necessarily suitable for flooring because it is more prone to warping.
For more details try this google search

How about coconut or bamboo?

For my house finish flooring I put in a glue-down T&G solid oak parquet that I got for about $1.30/sq. ft. from a place called Ollie's in Harford County (Belair IIRC), MD. It's a liquidator discount outlet type store. It's kind of like a Big Lots.

They had a pallet of different types of wood flooring in stock. I don't know if you have access to such a resource, but it can definitely cut the expenses.

Regards,
Tom

dynamike · Post by **dynamike** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:37 pm

i ordered laminate through ifloor.com
twice.
great both times.

they run specials of discontinued or bulk order styles too.
cheap, if not free samples before you order as well.

you can see my floor here
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8205

i used the bamboo laminate too in another room in my house. it looks amazing.

natas · Post by **natas** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:02 pm

Thanks guys.

Dan Scott · Post by **Dan Scott** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:41 am

I am also considering laminate for my build. I will place it over concrete. My supplier for this type flooring here in Altanta, GA is Floor and Decor. They sell different thicknesses and is a floating floor which locks together. Is this the same laminate you are using dynamike? They also sell 2 different grades of insulation that get's placed beneath the flooring. It is very thin but is recommended.

What do you guys think? Is floating floors better/worse than glue down?

Dan

T3Tech · Post by **T3Tech** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:19 pm

Dan Scott wrote:
What do you guys think? Is floating floors better/worse than glue down?

I personally don't like floating laminate (Pergo) floors in general.

WRT to acoustics I couldn't say whether one was better or worse. I would think there would be a resonance issue of some sort, but I don't know.
I can say that I think that laminate is noisier to walk on though. I can usually tell if a floor is a floating laminate by walking on it, it has a weird hollow sound to it and feels funny, especially if it has warped somewhere.

Laminate or glue down you need to maintain a gap to the walls for expansion/contraction. With my glue down parquet (about 1/4" thick) there was a couple places where I ended up leaving too little to no gap on opposite walls and ended up with large peaks. A broken plumbing fitting in the HWH/supply closet that started when no one was home for hours that soaked the floor didn't help either.

Dan Scott · Post by **Dan Scott** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:59 pm

I have the more expensive (thick) laminate in my livingroom/kithchen and dining area. It it feels very solid under foot and doesn't have a "hollow" sound at all however, it taking a beating from my two dogs!! I It is installed over sub flooring as my house is on a crawl space. I have installed "cheaper" thinner laminates in homes I've built for people and it is very "bouncy" until it settles mainly because of the insulation blanket underneath. I'm sure once that get's compressed it stops.

I think the resonance issue that T3Tech points out is a very valid point. If it's not glue down flooring, it may resonate but I'm not sure how significant of a resonance there would be considering how tight to the ground it is? I wonder if anyone has ever tested this?

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet maybe just clean and stain the concrete???

Dan

Post by **gullfo** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 10:30 pm

my preference would be to polish and stain the concrete. easy to clean, durable, bright sounding. you could always cover the floor with another surface later if you don't like it (and polishing and staining cement isn't very expensive to do).

Dan Scott · Post by **Dan Scott** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:14 pm

Gullfo,

Have you ever done this before? I was reading about muratic acid and how it can "eat" the concrete not to metion the danger aspect of it. I realize you should wear proper safety gear (gloves, eye wear, etc.) but it mentioned to even contain the run off water in order to dispose of properly.

I would love to do the concrete stain but wonder if you have ever done this yourself and have any other words of wisdom regarding the process?

Dan

Chipster · Post by **Chipster** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 1:25 am

sandledfoot wrote:you may want to double check that the pine has been prepared for floor use... tounge and grooved, properly dried etc.... or you may have a sap or cracking problems... i recently installed a laminate floor, solid wood was not an option to install on concrete (without a subfloor)... and i really like the way it looks and sounds so far.... it's not something you would want to do twice... so make sure you look at your options carefully.

kevin

Hi Kevin,
I've got the same situation you have. I have a concrete floor, and was given several boxes of laminate to use on it. How did you prep your floor? Did you use any kind of moisture barrior under it? Any type of padding? Inquiring minds want to know.

studio_drums · Post by **studio_drums** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 1:54 am

Same here- concrete floor. They did a wack job on the concrete- it's not level and the top seems a little brittle. I just want to cover it up so I'm not constantly reminded of how I got screwed on the concrete job. Staining looks cool and under any other circumstance I would have chosen to do that. However, it's going to be wood for me. Guess I'll need to level it first and moisture barrier laid down, then lay down the laminate?

I'm still interested to know how the floors SOUND- not so much how they look...

Post by **gullfo** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 3:31 am

i've done it three times now in finishing off basements over the past 15 years or so, and i intend to do it to my basement here as well. its not much more complex than sanding a wood floor except you want to be sure the floor is as flat, crack-free, and clean as possible - use self-leveling cement and repair cracks if necessary. there's a variety of products to use to "grind" and "polish" the floor and the staining process does require ventilation and protective gear since you are going to splash some acid wash around in the process. you then neutralize it and you no longer have the acid active and no deterioration. overall with rented equipment and a couple of days you can have a pretty nice floor.

this is a good set of steps to do it:
http://www.concretenetwork.com/shop_sma ... plies.html