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There is no way to give you an estimate without some numbers like sq ft.
You say laminate/hardwood.
These are very different products. Laminate is cheaper than hardwood.
Neither is good for a place that is going to get wet.
Step 1. Go to home improvement store such as Lowes/Home improvement and look at the laminate/hardwood flooring. Also look at Bamboo. Get samples and take them to your home so you can look at them further.
Step 2 Measure the area you are flooring. Draw it on a piece of paper. Add up the total length and height. You don't have to be a skilled pro to do this, if you are off it does not matter a great deal. In fact it is good to err on the over side. Now you can calculate sq footage.
There are many places to buy the material from. Try and get a coupon or discount.
Lumber liquidators is an example of one that is supposed to be cheaper.
The trouble with most discount flooring is selection.
The material you buy will be priced by the square foot. It’s ok to be approximate right now. If you know your measurements are perfect you will need to sometimes add as much as 10% for cuts.
Here is an example of a laminate product you might find. This is just some Pergo from Lowes. Pergo is the brand name that laminate flooring is known by,
But you can only buy it by the case. Each case contains 20 square feet. So say for a 300 sq foot area. You add 10% making it 330. Divide 300 by 20 which equals 15 cases.
At $52.04 /CA-Case this comes to about 780 bucks for just the flooring.
With the hardwood/bamboo you will have to include adhesive. Which would probably add up to close to around another 100 dollars.
Step 3 Doors. In the same fashion measure the width of your door and look at the doors for sale at Lowes/home depot. Find one you like.
With whatever door you get, it may be a good idea to get a new frame to match it. Many people don't do this.
You can find all this stuff online to price it of course.
These are very different products. Laminate is cheaper than hardwood.
Not always. Some patterns of the new Dupont laminate flooring are over $4 a square foot. I can find a lot of hardwood flooring for less than that.
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Neither is good for a place that is going to get wet.
The new Dupont laminate flooring is recommended for bathrooms. You have to seal the edges with caulk, as they cannot get wet, but water on the surface is ok. I installed some in one of my bathrooms.
I've also seen a type of oily hardwood installed many times on the show "Bath Crashers" on DIY Network. The host specifically states that it has properties that makes it ideal for a place that gets wet. I can't recall its name, but it is very dark, almost ebony in color.
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Step 1. Go to home improvement store such as Lowes/Home improvement and look at the laminate/hardwood flooring. Also look at Bamboo. Get samples and take them to your home so you can look at them further.
Three paragraphs in a forum posting is not sufficient to instruct somebody on how to do a good job of selecting and installing flooring.
Bamboo is a little tricky in Las Vegas because of the low humidity. Almost every sample I've seen in stores has failed due to shrinkage. I have about 1000 square feet of what I think is one of the best engineered bamboo flooring products on the market, and I'm seeing some slight cracking in about 2-3% of it after six months. I've talked to flooring installers who have seen 100% failure with other bamboo products.
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Lumber liquidators is an example of one that is supposed to be cheaper.
They sell absolute crap. Stay away from them. If I were shopping for hardwood flooring, I'd hang out at some of the forums where the professional installers hang out, and find out what brands they recommend. IIRC, Bruce is considered to be a quality product, and is sold at Home Depot. I wouldn't be surprised if Home Depot and Lowes only stock the low-end Bruce products, but you could probably special order anything from them.
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With the hardwood/bamboo you will have to include adhesive. Which would probably add up to close to around another 100 dollars.
Hardwood floors can be nail-down, glue-down, or floated. All of my bamboo flooring is floated. My stairs have solid bamboo treads and are glued down. BTW, only weekend hacks use Liquid Nails. Pros and knowledgeable DIYers use PL brand adhesives from Loctite.
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Step 3 Doors. In the same fashion measure the width of your door and look at the doors for sale at Lowes/home depot. Find one you like.
They only stock the lowest-end, crappiest contractor-grade doors at Home Depot and Lowes. Anything decent has to be special ordered and takes five weeks to deliver. I know this because I ordered doors from Home Depot on January 3rd and didn't get them until around the middle of February.
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With whatever door you get, it may be a good idea to get a new frame to match it. Many people don't do this.
It's called a pre-hung door, and unless you are on a very tight budget, they are recommended as they are so much easier to install.
No offense, but your advice on home improvement is terrible.
Not always. Some patterns of the new Dupont laminate flooring are over $4 a square foot. I can find a lot of hardwood flooring for less than that.
The new Dupont laminate flooring is recommended for bathrooms. You have to seal the edges with caulk, as they cannot get wet, but water on the surface is ok. I installed some in one of my bathrooms.
I've also seen a type of oily hardwood installed many times on the show "Bath Crashers" on DIY Network. The host specifically states that it has properties that makes it ideal for a place that gets wet. I can't recall its name, but it is very dark, almost ebony in color.
Three paragraphs in a forum posting is not sufficient to instruct somebody on how to do a good job of selecting and installing flooring.
Bamboo is a little tricky in Las Vegas because of the low humidity. Almost every sample I've seen in stores has failed due to shrinkage. I have about 1000 square feet of what I think is one of the best engineered bamboo flooring products on the market, and I'm seeing some slight cracking in about 2-3% of it after six months. I've talked to flooring installers who have seen 100% failure with other bamboo products.
They sell absolute crap. Stay away from them. If I were shopping for hardwood flooring, I'd hang out at some of the forums where the professional installers hang out, and find out what brands they recommend. IIRC, Bruce is considered to be a quality product, and is sold at Home Depot. I wouldn't be surprised if Home Depot and Lowes only stock the low-end Bruce products, but you could probably special order anything from them.
Hardwood floors can be nail-down, glue-down, or floated. All of my bamboo flooring is floated. My stairs have solid bamboo treads and are glued down. BTW, only weekend hacks use Liquid Nails. Pros and knowledgeable DIYers use PL brand adhesives from Loctite.
They only stock the lowest-end, crappiest contractor-grade doors at Home Depot and Lowes. Anything decent has to be special ordered and takes five weeks to deliver. I know this because I ordered doors from Home Depot on January 3rd and didn't get them until around the middle of February.
It's called a pre-hung door, and unless you are on a very tight budget, they are recommended as they are so much easier to install.
No offense, but your advice on home improvement is terrible.
Wow bro thanks.
I don't even know where to start. Basically most of what you said is at least half true. I was intentionally trying not to be overly technical. The whole idea was to tell a person easily how they might estimate to cost of expenses.
It really seems like you worked too hard to find exception to everything I said. I was trying to guide a novice in the general direction of competence, not tell them step by step how to do it . Was this not glaringly obvious?
You said they make some laminate that is meant to go into wet places? Really? Thanks for pointing this out genius. That stuff sucks. DIY network makes money by showcasing companies products on their shows. I would not use that product as it will fail. IMO. That's subjective though since I never used it. It doesn't matter unless the OP is specifically putting it in his batroom, he is not going to spend the money to by that stuff. Most normal hardwood/laminate products don't perform well with water. I would not even trust the stuff that is specifically engineered to perform well.
If a person does not know anything about floor installation, the first step would be to look around at products, don't you think? This way they can, you know get an idea of what they actually like? He might not find something he likes then again he might.
Sure the really fancy high-end stuff comes from catalogs; you don't think it would be nice to have some eyes on the actual product. Touch it maybe feel it. All at a store that is very likely in their area? Aside from the fact that the door at Lowes might be just fine for most people you have a point.
Yeah, sure some laminate is really expensive while some hardwood is really cheap. Thanks for pointing that out captain obvious.
What product to use? I did not specifically name a product since OP does not know if they want Laminate or hardwood. It would be a little presumptuous of me to say "Get the Armstrong flooring!!!"
The poor guy needs to research his options and go look at the flooring in a store. Research some more, find out what will fit their needs. For god sakes it doesn't have to be Lowes or home Depot, go to a ma and pop store if you feel prefer as they really do often have higher quality flooring and can often tell you more information than you need to know about a given product.
Floating vs Gluing vs Nailing. There is no correct answer since all products and surfaces to be adhered are different. People float floors because it is easy and it works. But it does not always work.I definitely would advise anyone that is doing flooring that they may have to add the cost of adhesive. You seem to think it is wrong to tell someone this, lol. I'm glad you just float all of yours that is good to know. The real correct answer is that you should probably read the manufacturer's instructions. Where I see I was wrong is that I made it sound like laminate is not glued down and it most certainly could be.
Sorry you had trouble with your bamboo. Is this the same Bamboo you expertly floated? MY bamboo I got a Lowes has no cracks.
Liquid nails? WTF are you talking about. Did I say use pookie to glue down your floor?
And btw only hacks would nail their floor down. Sure you can nail down full dimensional lumber but what about that high-end Bruce you spoke of? Just veneer over plywood. lol.
And yes I am aware of what a pre-hung door is. Do you know what a pre-hung door is? I just say this because you are wrong to say "That's called a pre-hung door" You don't have to buy the door this way. I could for example custom build my own door frame. I could also leave the exisiting one. Pre-hung doors are not "better" They are recommended for amature hacks like yourself.
My goal in my prior post was simply to give the OP enough information so they could have a minimal amount of knowledge before hiring someone to else install it.
I really appreciate you adding to my information in the very courteous manner that you did. Everything I said was appropriate for the audience. You’re simply being a know-it-all troll and that’s rude. Perhaps you should go back to watching Bob Villa.
I am a professional installer. I simply did not feel the need to tell the OP a bunch of jargon that he is going to hire an installer to handle. I know what I am talking about. If you have a problem with that feel free to PM me any time. Trust me I will exorcise that arrogance from you.
I think part of your problem is that you are relying on the advice of "experts" on the DIY network. They are notorious for doing things wrong. I did the wood ceiling above the Feast buffet at the Boulder Station if you want to see an example of my work.
I am offended, and I think your advice on home improvement is terrible.
Trust me, you probably do not want to get in a war of woods with a journeyman carpenter who specializes in high-end finish work.
Your name fits you. I'm exceptionalbuthumble.
Last edited by Exaday; 03-13-2011 at 10:25 AM..
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