DIY Hardwood floors?

[PatchonGSD]

Has anyone been brave enough to do this? I've seen a couple tutorials, and it looks easy enough for a diy floor project and certainly seems more reasonable price-wise. Just looking for someone to speak from experience on it?

[FlyAway]

Are you talking about pre-finished, or site finished?

[PatchonGSD]

Site finished (I believe) is what I'm talking about. I think that was part of how to save the big bucks.

[San]

Hubby used to be a flooring specialist, he says for a newbie, "best to get a pre-finished, engineered wood, floating floor system with click-lock. Site-finished wood flooring is a lot more complicated and it usually requires solid wood." I have no idea what that means, LOL.

[Lucy Dog]

Have you considered laminate? Cheap, easy to install, and looks just like hardwood. Good option for people with dogs.

[PatchonGSD]

Originally Posted by San

Hubby used to be a flooring specialist, he says for a newbie, "best to get a pre-finished, engineered wood, floating floor system with click-lock. Site-finished wood flooring is a lot more complicated and it usually requires solid wood." I have no idea what that means, LOL.

Me either, I'll relay this info to my husband for a translation, LOL. Thanks for the info!

[Daisy]

I was not happy when my husband insisted on laminate that looked like wood due to our pets. I wanted the real stuff, or at least pergo. But, it looks great and I can't tell. So I'm happy.

[PatchonGSD]

Originally Posted by Lucy Dog

Have you considered laminate? Cheap, easy to install, and looks just like hardwood. Good option for people with dogs.

Originally Posted by Daisy

I was not happy when my husband insisted on laminate that looked like wood due to our pets. I wanted the real stuff, or at least pergo. But, it looks great and I can't tell. So I'm happy.

Yes, I did consider it, but I was worried that it might scratch and scuff more easily. Am I wrong?

[jocoyn]

I had a real engineered wood laminate (came with a house-Bruce flooring) and I think the laminate with the imitation wood top is better with dogs.

My daughter has some with a different top layer that you can't tell any wear after two years with kids and a fat beagle mix with long nails. The issue with real engineered wood is you have max two sandings and you are done and my engineered wood took a beating. She is looking up exactly what she got for me to use; it was also CHEAP and easy to install. I thought it would look chintzy but it looks great.

The real stuff. My dad refinished ours when I was a kid. Took a real knack to operate the sander (particularly near the wall) but, being the engineer and perfectionist he was, he mastered it but it is one of those rare times I remembered him cursing.

[Lucy Dog]

Originally Posted by PatchonGSD

Yes, I did consider it, but I was worried that it might scratch and scuff more easily. Am I wrong?

I've got some laminate flooring in my house and it never scratches. Just make sure not to go cheap and to get the thick stuff. People have no clue that it's not wood. Very easy to clean and it shines up real nice.

If it does happen to scratch... just buy more and install it. The stuff goes together like a puzzle without much thinking involved besides some simple measuring. It's very easy to do.