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Does anyone have any experience with changing out carpet or tile for laminate wood flooring? I'm trying to get an idea of the rough cost of changing flooring of a 1000' house on Oahu.
It is an easy DIY project. I purchased the laminate from Costco for about $1.50 p/sq.ft. The Costco floor already has the pad attached to the bottom so it saves the cost of buying pad separately and make for an easy install. The laminate is a wide plank with beveled edges so it really looks like the real deal. I believe it is on sale right now, $8.00 off per 20 sq.ft box? I installed my floors for the first time and they turned out great. They are full floating floors so there is no nailing or gluing, just click them together. For a thousand sq.ft and a weekend you should be able to do this project for under $1500.
I'd personally get from quotes on laying down 1000 sq ft of laminate flooring. It is back-breaking work and you'll need to buy circular/table saw to cut the laminate, jamb saw to cut the door frame and mitter saw to cut the baseboards. After doing 2500 sqft of laminate flooring in 2005 (first timer), I've been just hiring professionals to lay it down because it jsut isn't worth doing yourself.
But people do live for experience in life. So should you decide to DYI... As for pricing, you can price the laminate and the vapor block underlayment (rolls of foam like sheet) per sq ft, figure 15% waste. You should follow instructions (like taping the vapor block and glueing kitched and bathroom flooring, leaving correct expansion gaps) because once water get into your flooring, it is history.
oh, some other things that will affect your cost that I forgot:
- baseboards
- nail gun (to nail the baseboards)
- If you have staircase, then you need the nose pieces (term might be wrong, but stair case parts are expensive)
- transition pieces is you have tile portions in your house
- of course, the basic laminate installation tools
what else?
can't remember since I last did it in 2005, but I do still remmeber very clearly the promise that I will never ever lay laminate myself again.
That price seems high, even for HI.
In SF bay area, it can be done for $4k + materials ($2k) = $6k (I've done it many times).
It can even be cheaper ($3K) if contractors of unknown qualify are used.
The Waterfront (housing complex) is in the process of remodeling units and replacing CVT with the hardwood stuff. If you can find out who their contractor is they are really good at it and can give you a comparable price, I'm sure. I'd be asking contractors anyway. Not that md7 doesn't have experience, but most people will do internet searches which you can do yourself. If we were still there my better half could give you a quote.
After doing 2500 sqft of laminate flooring in 2005 (first timer), I've been just hiring professionals to lay it down because it jsut isn't worth doing yourself.
I agree, it's no fun doing it but unless you have no need for the thousands you will throw at the contractor then it is something everyone should consider doing themselves. It's one of these things where you do not need previous experience.
Consider picking out your product and pricing it if you purchased it yourself. Over a certain amount they might deliver it free. Then you can get quotes on just labor or material and labor.
Thank you for the info. If I go ahead with laminent, I will definitely hire someone to install it.
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