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Which bring us right back to what I stated previously-
Can't have your cake, and eat it too!
And, if your timeline to stay in this house is several years- why do the floor twice?!
We're not trying to have our cake and eat it too. We understand we're not going to get decades out of whatever we put down. If we can get 3-5 decent years out of it we're ok with that.
Plans change, but right now the thought is to stay in this house forever. Unless we put down tile or hardwood (which wouldn't work well over concrete slab) we're going to change the floor at some point. Friends will be going through our bedroom in June and my wife is mortified of them seeing our messed up carpet. We should also have substantially more free cash flow in a couple years, plus our kids will be less likely to damage the floors, so we can revisit something of higher quality then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by duster1979
Cheap laminate will not hold up to moisture at all. Not at all. In case you didn't catch that, cheap laminate won't hold up to moisture.
If you can't live with the carpet any longer and can't afford decent flooring right now, consider pulling up the carpet, scrubbing the concrete, and just throwing down some inexpensive area rugs until you can afford to do it right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by riaelise
"Cheap" anything won't hold up well. The better laminates will hold up as well as any flooring. I had laminate flooring for over a decade and it's probably still at our previous house.
However, laminates as a whole regardless of price point don't like moisture. If something spills, wipe it up. Wipe up any water. Just like wood, they aren't no/low maintenance. Damp mops may work with wood floors but just use a microfiber mop with a laminate cleaner to prevent streaks.
If you know your tendencies is to let water sit then maybe wood look tile will work for you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kitty61
Is it humid in your area? Laminate right on top of concrete would be a disaster. Put a breathable sub floor in first.
Thanks all for confirming what I suspected. We'll go with the LVP and hopefully find a style that we like
It's not that we "let water sit" per se, it's that we have young kids that use our room and do young kids things, like spill drinks without telling anyone, or come out of the shower dripping wet.
Unfortunately, the suggestion of the concrete floor won't work because my wife would be just as embarrassed of friends seeing that as the ugly carpet, if not more so.
Installing a subfloor would take up our entire budget leaving nothing left over for the actual floor, and may also cause a weird situation where our bedroom floor is a little higher than the master bath and adjoining hallway.
We're not stuck on a wood look, but installing any kind of tile is out because it isn't very DIY friendly and the labor cost would put us way over budget.
Good recommendations but we're out of time. We've already been putting it off for years and the wife is demanding it be done in the next couple months. Saving up another $600-1000+ dollars to add to a project like this would probably take us about a year and there's no way I can hold her off that long lol. So we're stuck trying to keep the final installed costs to around $4 / sq ft (some flexibility, but $8+ isn't going to fly).
Edit: We're already leaning toward low-to-mid LVP (preferably SPC). I asked about the laminate because it's both much cheaper and has more styles that we like.
Thankfully, where we live (Tampa Bay) doesn't get many bad hurricanes, though who knows with the weather patterns changing... We've been here 7 years and have had one significant hurricane that didn't do much other than knock down some branches and take out some power lines. Our house is also at 60' elevation, on a grade, and a couple miles from the gulf so flooding shouldn't be a huge issue though it's obviously a possibility. Replacement cost is worth considering but I think my wife may have nixed the laminate idea because of the water sensitivity.
Bummer! We're both drawn to the shiny red laminates. I plan to get an extra box or two of whatever we purchase. If you don't mind, what brands / models of laminates have you used / recommend?
If your home gets flooded being at a 60' elevation, the entire state has bigger problems than flooring!
We're not trying to have our cake and eat it too. We understand we're not going to get decades out of whatever we put down. If we can get 3-5 decent years out of it we're ok with that.
Plans change, but right now the thought is to stay in this house forever. Unless we put down tile or hardwood (which wouldn't work well over concrete slab) we're going to change the floor at some point. Friends will be going through our bedroom in June and my wife is mortified of them seeing our messed up carpet. We should also have substantially more free cash flow in a couple years, plus our kids will be less likely to damage the floors, so we can revisit something of higher quality then.
Thanks all for confirming what I suspected. We'll go with the LVP and hopefully find a style that we like
It's not that we "let water sit" per se, it's that we have young kids that use our room and do young kids things, like spill drinks without telling anyone, or come out of the shower dripping wet.
Unfortunately, the suggestion of the concrete floor won't work because my wife would be just as embarrassed of friends seeing that as the ugly carpet, if not more so.
Installing a subfloor would take up our entire budget leaving nothing left over for the actual floor, and may also cause a weird situation where our bedroom floor is a little higher than the master bath and adjoining hallway.
We're not stuck on a wood look, but installing any kind of tile is out because it isn't very DIY friendly and the labor cost would put us way over budget.
You're overlooking the easiest solution of all, get a new wife!
Do you have a Floor Decor in your area? They have a nice selection of varying prices of vinyl flooring. We used them and are happy with our purchase. I would buy the underlayment from BestLaminate.com as they had a better price on that as well.
If I were in this situation, I’d put in commercial style, low pile carpet. Choose a pleasant color, and keep it vacuumed. Buy a mid priced product. It is not as if you are adding value to your home with any of the above choices. But carpet underfoot in the bedroom is much preferred to hard floors.
I have the same situation with our small condo, which we bought for our daughter. The existing carpet was all messed by by her pets, and she begged for a new LVP. I researched the LVPs in depth, and invited the best-rated local companies for a quote. The condo is at grade level. What did I find?
1. The better LVPs have thicker protective wearing surfaces (20 mil) than the cheaper ones (5 mil or so). Once that surface is worn down or scratched, you will start having visible areas of damage. These cannot be fixed short of replacement. The click-on planks are not easy to replace without removing much of the floor.
2. There are tons of complaints (check the reviews!) of the click-on LVPs not staying "clicked." The edges then would break off.
3. The condition of concrete slab is unknown until you remove the carpet. It is likely that the floor slab would have to be leveled with special compounds to be able to accept LVPs. This means professional help.
4. The prices for quality LVPs were 3-4 times more than carpet.
So far, I haven't done anything. Will wait until the daughter leaves (she wants to be somewhere else, a silly idea, but that's a discussion for another day) and then decide. I am leaning toward a low-pile commercial-grade carpet, which would conform to the floor surface in its present condition. Suggest you do the same.
Even better, why not buy some second-hand oriental rugs and put them on the most damaged areas? These are cheap or even free on Craigslist.
Do you have a Floor Decor in your area? They have a nice selection of varying prices of vinyl flooring. We used them and are happy with our purchase. I would buy the underlayment from BestLaminate.com as they had a better price on that as well.
We do have Floor & Decor and Lumber Liquidators close by, as well as Home Depot and Lowes. I plan to look at F&D, LL, Lifeproof @ Home Depot, and a couple online places including WeShipFloors' Supercore line, and BuildDirect's products.
I'll check out BestLaminate.com. Thank you
Quote:
Originally Posted by silibran
If I were in this situation, I’d put in commercial style, low pile carpet. Choose a pleasant color, and keep it vacuumed. Buy a mid priced product. It is not as if you are adding value to your home with any of the above choices. But carpet underfoot in the bedroom is much preferred to hard floors.
If you decide to upgrade in a few years, you can.
We're not looking to add value to the home. We're looking to swap out a dirty, ugly floor that we don't like and is in embarrassing shape for a new one that we do like. The carpet is a good thought, except we both generally dislike it, including how quickly it gets dirty or damaged. Additionally, my wife doesn't mind mopping, but she hates vacuuming for reasons that I can't understand, and I don't have the time to keep up with it properly, which is part of the reason (+ kids, pets, etc.) that ours is so messed up. A Roomba only goes so far with carpet... Still, I'll definitely keep that in mind if it looks like going LVP will be too much work / our slab is too uneven.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strannik33
I have the same situation with our small condo, which we bought for our daughter. The existing carpet was all messed by by her pets, and she begged for a new LVP. I researched the LVPs in depth, and invited the best-rated local companies for a quote. The condo is at grade level. What did I find?
1. The better LVPs have thicker protective wearing surfaces (20 mil) than the cheaper ones (5 mil or so). Once that surface is worn down or scratched, you will start having visible areas of damage. These cannot be fixed short of replacement. The click-on planks are not easy to replace without removing much of the floor.
2. There are tons of complaints (check the reviews!) of the click-on LVPs not staying "clicked." The edges then would break off.
3. The condition of concrete slab is unknown until you remove the carpet. It is likely that the floor slab would have to be leveled with special compounds to be able to accept LVPs. This means professional help.
4. The prices for quality LVPs were 3-4 times more than carpet.
So far, I haven't done anything. Will wait until the daughter leaves (she wants to be somewhere else, a silly idea, but that's a discussion for another day) and then decide. I am leaning toward a low-pile commercial-grade carpet, which would conform to the floor surface in its present condition. Suggest you do the same.
Even better, why not buy some second-hand oriental rugs and put them on the most damaged areas? These are cheap or even free on Craigslist.
Virtually the whole visible carpet is damaged. The way the room is setup, there's basically 1 winding hallway-width path to walk that get tread on repeatedly by 4 people every day so it's beaten down, has ground in dirt, stains, etc. Part of it is a literal hallway as well, so it doesn't lend itself well to throwing rugs down.
I'm only looking at LVP with 12+ mil wear layers, ideally shooting for something with 20+, but that may be out of our budget if the online stores aren't high enough quality. I plan to also buy a vapor barrier and/or padded underlayment (depending on if the planks come with padding), concrete leveler, and shoe molding. I'm aiming for $1000 or less, and hoping it's actually under $1200 for our 240 sq ft bedroom.
I read a lot about the potential LVP issues, including the seams, but that appears to be largely due to either a product with a poor quality locking system, improper installation (which we may admittedly do), floors that weren't level enough, or people that put down padded underlayment when they shouldn't have, which allows too much give in the floor.
I understand about the leveling needs for LVP, but I'm pretty sure that's something we can do ourselves with self-leveler. My father in law is very handy and will help out. He used to oversee house construction in the Dominican Republic and is used to working with concrete and similar substances.
We do have Floor & Decor and Lumber Liquidators close by, as well as Home Depot and Lowes. I plan to look at F&D, LL, Lifeproof @ Home Depot, and a couple online places including WeShipFloors' Supercore line, and BuildDirect's products.
I'll check out BestLaminate.com. Thank you
We're not looking to add value to the home. We're looking to swap out a dirty, ugly floor that we don't like and is in embarrassing shape for a new one that we do like. The carpet is a good thought, except we both generally dislike it, including how quickly it gets dirty or damaged. Additionally, my wife doesn't mind mopping, but she hates vacuuming for reasons that I can't understand, and I don't have the time to keep up with it properly, which is part of the reason (+ kids, pets, etc.) that ours is so messed up. A Roomba only goes so far with carpet... Still, I'll definitely keep that in mind if it looks like going LVP will be too much work / our slab is too uneven.
Virtually the whole visible carpet is damaged. The way the room is setup, there's basically 1 winding hallway-width path to walk that get tread on repeatedly by 4 people every day so it's beaten down, has ground in dirt, stains, etc. Part of it is a literal hallway as well, so it doesn't lend itself well to throwing rugs down.
I'm only looking at LVP with 12+ mil wear layers, ideally shooting for something with 20+, but that may be out of our budget if the online stores aren't high enough quality. I plan to also buy a vapor barrier and/or padded underlayment (depending on if the planks come with padding), concrete leveler, and shoe molding. I'm aiming for $1000 or less, and hoping it's actually under $1200 for our 240 sq ft bedroom.
I read a lot about the potential LVP issues, including the seams, but that appears to be largely due to either a product with a poor quality locking system, improper installation (which we may admittedly do), floors that weren't level enough, or people that put down padded underlayment when they shouldn't have, which allows too much give in the floor.
I understand about the leveling needs for LVP, but I'm pretty sure that's something we can do ourselves with self-leveler. My father in law is very handy and will help out. He used to oversee house construction in the Dominican Republic and is used to working with concrete and similar substances.
We do have Floor & Decor and Lumber Liquidators close by, as well as Home Depot and Lowes. I plan to look at F&D, LL, Lifeproof @ Home Depot, and a couple online places including WeShipFloors' Supercore line, and BuildDirect's products.
I'll check out BestLaminate.com. Thank you
We're not looking to add value to the home. We're looking to swap out a dirty, ugly floor that we don't like and is in embarrassing shape for a new one that we do like. The carpet is a good thought, except we both generally dislike it, including how quickly it gets dirty or damaged. Additionally, my wife doesn't mind mopping, but she hates vacuuming for reasons that I can't understand, and I don't have the time to keep up with it properly, which is part of the reason (+ kids, pets, etc.) that ours is so messed up. A Roomba only goes so far with carpet... Still, I'll definitely keep that in mind if it looks like going LVP will be too much work / our slab is too uneven.
Virtually the whole visible carpet is damaged. The way the room is setup, there's basically 1 winding hallway-width path to walk that get tread on repeatedly by 4 people every day so it's beaten down, has ground in dirt, stains, etc. Part of it is a literal hallway as well, so it doesn't lend itself well to throwing rugs down.
I'm only looking at LVP with 12+ mil wear layers, ideally shooting for something with 20+, but that may be out of our budget if the online stores aren't high enough quality. I plan to also buy a vapor barrier and/or padded underlayment (depending on if the planks come with padding), concrete leveler, and shoe molding. I'm aiming for $1000 or less, and hoping it's actually under $1200 for our 240 sq ft bedroom.
I read a lot about the potential LVP issues, including the seams, but that appears to be largely due to either a product with a poor quality locking system, improper installation (which we may admittedly do), floors that weren't level enough, or people that put down padded underlayment when they shouldn't have, which allows too much give in the floor.
I understand about the leveling needs for LVP, but I'm pretty sure that's something we can do ourselves with self-leveler. My father in law is very handy and will help out. He used to oversee house construction in the Dominican Republic and is used to working with concrete and similar substances.
Your not adding value was the point of my suggesting the low pile, commercial carpeting. If wife hates vacuuming, consider replacing your vacuum. I’m recommending considering this—not dictating this. I hate to vacuum as well. I have a great vacuum, but it is heavy and clumsy. I keep thinking we need another, light duty model for everyday pickups.
Good luck with your choices.
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