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HI! Clueless here. We'd like to put hardwood flooring in our new house (new/used house--it's not a "new" house)...but right now it has laminate flooring. We're not fans of the cheapish laminate look/feel, so question #1: what is the best way to take out laminate flooring and how do you dispose of it? Can you recycle it? Do people want old laminate flooring (like donations/ freecycle, etc.? I'd like to keep it out of the landfill).
Question #2: For people on a budget but want something quality, what would our best bet be for hardwood flooring? (what type of wood, that is?)
Question #3: Is Lumber Liquidators a reputable company? Their prices are good and they beat others prices--so they say...What are some good companies? Is Home Depot/Lowes flooring quality? For a smallish townhome 3 bed, dining room, living room, hallway, is 3K doable for materials and installation? Am I way off?
I have no idea what to even begin with. I am beyond clueless and I don't want them to see that and take advantage of my naivete . Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Laminate comes up easily; we've always thrown it out in the dumpster but actually if you put it in bundles the recycling trash pickup would probably take it.
The last time I used the big box stores for flooring/countertops I learned they were very overpriced on the installation.
I doubt 3k will be enough money for hardwood for your townhome. I paid 5k for a very high quality 12mm laminate for a 3 bedroom house. There are some beautiful, high quality durable engineered woods and laminates and also bamboo that you might consider.
HI! Clueless here. We'd like to put hardwood flooring in our new house (new/used house--it's not a "new" house)...but right now it has laminate flooring. We're not fans of the cheapish laminate look/feel, so question #1: what is the best way to take out laminate flooring and how do you dispose of it? Can you recycle it? Do people want old laminate flooring (like donations/ freecycle, etc.? I'd like to keep it out of the landfill).
Question #2: For people on a budget but want something quality, what would our best bet be for hardwood flooring? (what type of wood, that is?)
Question #3: Is Lumber Liquidators a reputable company? Their prices are good and they beat others prices--so they say...What are some good companies? Is Home Depot/Lowes flooring quality? For a smallish townhome 3 bed, dining room, living room, hallway, is 3K doable for materials and installation? Am I way off?
I have no idea what to even begin with. I am beyond clueless and I don't want them to see that and take advantage of my naivete . Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Read the various reviews for a week or two. Decide what you want. Order it and get the guys who install it to dispose of what you have.
Laminate comes up easy. It is not actually fastened to to underlayer. And it goes generally to the landfill unless it is real good stuff and pretty new.
For hardwood, $3000 is WAY off for a "smallish" home. What is smallish? Assuming around 1500 sq ft, that's $2 per sq foot, which won't even buy you the wood plus trim pieces, let alone the installation. And you may need to install a subfloor - laminate is a floating installation, which can go over most existing surfaces. Hardwood needs a plywood subfloor, which is additional materials plus labor costs. Depending on your square footage, you could be looking at 2 to 4 times that $3000.
I will find out about this "subflooring" you speak of. It's less than 1500sq ft. house I know that. minus kitchen, so really dining room, living room (average size I dont' know the exact measurements) one large bedroom, and one medium, and one very small office type bedroom. Ugh I don't know measurements. this is by far not a big house. I've been in big houses. this is a starter home.
Budget: 5K.
most likely slab since there is no basement.
Time: we close on the 15th but don't need to be out of our current place until Sept. 1, so we have a good 2 weeks of having an empty place to work with so we'd like to get this stuff done before moving in. easier that way isn't it?
we like the way Bamboo looks. we'd really like to improve the flooring but tha'ts pretty much our budget.
thanks for all the advice folks! I'm in MD by the way.
Bamboo installs just like laminate and engineered wood. You don't need subflooring. There are some hidden costs such as the liner between slab and new floor, removal of the old floor and new quarter round. I recently put new laminate in a 900 square foot space. You need to buy about 10% extra for cutting, and I recommend you keep an extra box just in case the floor somehow gets damaged for future repair.
New quarter round for the edges costs about $1.50 per linear foot for combined install and materials. Removal of old floor costs about $1.00 per foot and is so easy you can do that yourself. I would shop for flooring and price it out a few ways. Me buy the flooring and pay for installation (I have paid $1.50 sq ft for install), and also get a quote for someone to provide and install. There are pretty good places in my area that do both and the cost is quite similar to getting the flooring yourself and finding an installer.
Shop on-line. Look at what is out there, read reviews and see what prices are at different places. Then you can make more of informed decision. Many places will install it for you or you can hire someone to do it.
For us, we go to Home Depot because I get a 10% discount there (veteran).
Cat
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. Any help would be appreciated!
