Hardwood Floors in New Homes (cleaner, furniture, living room, cleaning)
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I wonder when carpeting will go out of style anyway.
I thik that ship has already sailed.. carpet has been out for years. It still has it place, but very limited now, as can be seen from the above posts.
I just redid the floors in my home, with only a couple of rooms in carpet, the majority in travertine and hardwood
Carpet is used for a low cost alternative...
I thik that ship has already sailed.. carpet has been out for years. It still has it place, but very limited now, as can be seen from the above posts.
I just redid the floors in my home, with only a couple of rooms in carpet, the majority in travertine and hardwood
Carpet is used for a low cost alternative...
So carpet saves money where hardwood is more expensive?
An old time builder said they used hardwood floors prior to the 1950's as carpeting was to expensive. When man made fibers came along carpet prices started dropping but it still had the aura of classy, expensive, etc.
In my 3 year old and still being built neighborhood, I often hear the remark of I wanted hardwood but it was just to expensive so I went with carpeting.
So carpet saves money where hardwood is more expensive?
Nowadays, yes.
When I bought my last home it was carpeted everywhere.... gross. I ripped it all out, bought a huge number of bundles of Bruce D-4 select and better oak, (about 5K sq feet of it), installed it myself, sanded it and put on 4 to 6 coats of oil-based poly. It only ran about $2/ft^2, but that was because all the labor was me, and I played the 'beat the price game' with HD, a policy they now have put a limit on. Looks 1000X better than carpet, and much easier to clean. The finishing touch was to get carpet (none of this synthetic garbage, used usually hand-knotted wool) that was about 2-3 feet smaller than the room all the way around, and that was the cat's meow (at least for me, so JMHO). Can't really put silk rugs on the floor, as they wear terribly, but between hardwood floors with real oriental (not Chinese) rugs it will outlast you, me, and the next homeowner.
Last edited by SuperSparkle928; 12-15-2012 at 11:03 AM..
So carpet saves money where hardwood is more expensive?
Hardwood is far more expensive than carpet. I did three bedrooms in hardwood for about $8k, the three much larger rooms done in expensive carpet was just under $6k. The travertine was much more square footage than the other two combined. The entire flooring project, including new custom base board molding and crown molding throughout is rapidly approaching $50k. That's for just over 4000sq ft of flooring.
I would have done more wood, but wife wanted carpet in the bedroom, and the living room/dining room is huge, and would have cost a pile of $$, and we never walk in those rooms anyway, so we went with carpet.
I'm kinda anal, and my carpet has to always be perfectly vacuumed with perfect lines. No footprints allowed..! You can do that when you only have two people living in a large home.
Hardwood is far more expensive than carpet. I did three bedrooms in hardwood for about $8k, the three much larger rooms done in expensive carpet was just under $6k. The travertine was much more square footage than the other two combined. The entire flooring project, including new custom base board molding and crown molding throughout is rapidly approaching $50k. That's for just over 4000sq ft of flooring.
I would have done more wood, but wife wanted carpet in the bedroom, and the living room/dining room is huge, and would have cost a pile of $$, and we never walk in those rooms anyway, so we went with carpet.
I'm kinda anal, and my carpet has to always be perfectly vacuumed with perfect lines. No footprints allowed..! You can do that when you only have two people living in a large home.
Close to $50K, and got 4K feet of flooring, custom baseboard and crown? There must be gold in them there upgrades. I did 5K ft^2 of real 3/4" solid oak flooring, select and better, for $10K, egg-and-dart crown throughout the entire house, and 12" custom baseboard for another $5k. The footprint of the house is 100' by 36', with 3.5 levels.
I guess it helps drastically when you do it all yourself, and seek out the best prices from distributors (like a factor of 3 or more). Requires the skills/intellect of a Rhesus monkey to do it yourself (that makes me qualified ). Just my opinion.
To digress....
The only thing I had a hard time controlling the cost on was in the 3-season porches, where the porcelain tiles were not cheap, and the epoxy grout was expensive. But it would go below freezing there, so the standard ceramic floor tiles and regular grout would not cut it. Also, although they are beautiful, I did one real tin ceiling in white, and other than feeling like Michelangelo, it was a horrible amount of work.
Back to our regularly scheduled topic about hardwood floors.
The finishing touch was to get carpet (none of this synthetic garbage, used usually hand-knotted wool) that was about 2-3 feet smaller than the room all the way around, and that was the cat's meow (at least for me, so JMHO).
I like that look as well. The house I grew up in (a post WWII tract home with hardwood floor) was done up like that by my parents. To me it says "home". I have wall to wall in my current house (1970's tract home without hardwood) and have no plans to change though, too $$ and, oddly, I enjoy vacuuming.
Anecdotally, people who came from poor backgrounds often like carpet because they identify it with "classy" and not cold. Bare floors make them think of poverty, being cold. A few first-generation mothers I knew absolutely favored carpet as being a step up in the world.
They also insisted on a separate dining room. Again, moving up in the world.
I always lived in old studio apartments until age 42. Old, beat-up hardwood floors. Carpet seems very dirty, especially in a studio. My current small house has hardwood/tile everywhere except the bedroom. I like carpet in the bedroom, because you will be getting around with bare feet (and no shoes). I also have pets. Carpeting would be disgusting.
So carpet saves money where hardwood is more expensive?
Carpet can be laid right over plywood/OSB (even the sub-floor plywood)...
and NO ONE will know what is underneath it.
Actually, this has become the practice of corner cutting bargain builders.
Then, 20 years later the second buyer comes in and asks about the costs of hardwood floors.
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). Just my opinion. 
