Need Help Deciding On Flooring

Unregistered

I live outside of Atlanta. I have two big dogs and 4 cats. With these animals I occasionally end up with vomit on the floor and I have to worry about thier nails scratching it. I don't have a lot of money to spend and I have to replace this low grade crap carpeting that my house came with. There is about 1200 sq feet. I'm hoping to spend less than $2000. I probablly won't be in this house longer than 2 years and I want something that will look good when I go to sell it.

I'm trying to decide on laminate vs hardwood. I've helped install hardwood, but I know the finish of that can even scratch. I've heard bamboo flooring holds up better. Is that true?

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks,
Kayakingdiva

Floorwizard

For 2000 your going to need to get a cheap lam.
not sure how hardwood or bamboo would fit into that budget. But a super cheap lam will.

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

Don Benham

Bamboo would be sweet. But not for $2k
Get a cheap laminate. Be careful. Move soon.

Don

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Benham Flooring
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Look, I know the voices in my head aren't real, it's just that lately they've had some really good points.

tuman84

Well, hardwood for 1200sq.ft is definately going to cost you way more than $2,000.

Also, $2k isnt going to get you fuzzys (floorcraft's) favorite laminate which is Pergo Select.

However check out www.eurolaminate.com, thats where i get my laminate, the only thing they can improve on is the molding prices but other than that, i havent had a bad experience w/ them yet.

They carry this china stuff which isnt as bad as Shaw is, if you dont plan to live in your house more than 5 years then u can go with that, it will definately cost you less and hold up quite well for couple of years.

Other than that, the Kronotex Dynamic Clic 2 Clic is pretty good.

Good luck.

Floorwizard

it's consumer report's favorite too!
Actually it's the most impact resistant IMO, my fav actually is Quickstep.

but yes your right, it will not fit into the budget.
If Tuman's lam will fit into the budget, might as well try it.

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

Unregistered

Hardwood sells for about $.99 a sq foot and I don't have a problem laying it myself. I just am not sure how much the rental of the nailer and sander will be plus how much a good finish would cost.

I have thought of another question. How does any laminate hold up to having weight set on it? I have a 120 gallon fish tank which weighs about 1200lbs. And it takes up 8 sq feet of floor space. Would that be bad for a laminate to support that much weight?

Thanks again,
Kayakingdiva

Mike Costello

99 cents a foot is cheap for wood. You may want to take a good look at it. I am gonna go out on a limb and say its gonna be pretty rustic..

Sanding and finishing is not as simple as it seems either. You will have to rent a drum sander.It is a tough tool to master.

The laminate should hold up fine under your tank. Just be careful when your cleaning to not allow too much water to get on your new floor. I put mine on boards (stained to match the floor) to distribute the wieght.

tuman84

Most hardwoods are stained to the color you want, they will usually get oak and stain it any other color you want it to be.

I have done some jobs with Foresbec hardwood floors, these guys are in Canada and their wood is expensive but you get what you pay for...if you want maple wood for example, they give you actual maple, non of that stained crap.

I have never seen $0.99/sq.ft hardwood flooring....EVER...not around here at least.

richied

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/ sells 2nds for.99 ft. Non 2nds start at $1.19 ft. unfinished or $1.99 pre-finished.