Flooring ROI

[matsmom]

If you are planning to sell, I would stick with a nice mid-priced neutral carpet.

[Cancork]

For a good Return On Investment (ROI) laminate is not going to do much. You MIGHT get the cost of the product back...but you won't see a profit because of it. Engineered hardwood can be hit and miss - depending on colour and installation. Hardwood will ALWAYS bring the money back around with a nice little bit of interest but the "buy in" is pretty high. Assume at least $8/sf for medium grade hardwood with installation.

What ever you decide, make sure you have the best underlay or underpad you can afford. It turns out "bad laminate" only feels bad when it is installed over "bad underlay". And BTW, bad underlay is normally the stuff they recommend for the installation. Cork underlay ranks very high in the "good" column. It can be installed underneath any floating floor, ceramic tiles as well as glue-in-place hardwood. Do not nail through cork as it will shred or deteriorate because of the hundreds of nails tearing through it.

A cork floating or glue down floor is a great investment. Cork is considered a "luxury" floor covering. A floating floor is a DIY project. If you wish to have a permanent "wood floor" then cork glue down tiles will do that for you. They too are a DIY project but with a lot more effort required than a floating floor. Cost of a floating floor = $2.29/sf - $3.99/sf. Cost of glue down cork = $1.28 - $2.99/sf + $1.00/sf for adhesive and finish.

[vermonter16]

Hardwood is always better but we chose to do engineered wood. It was in our price point and we were able to do it ourselves. It took two days to do one level of a townhouse. The biggest pain was ripping out the carpeting and vinyl tile in the kitchen.

[ray lynn]

Lynn Wholesale Flooring 301-931-9663

[vermonter16]

Engineered wood might be a happy-medium.