I have a standard Foyer, Living Room and Dining Room that currently have 3/4" subfloor with builders grade (and stained) carpeting on it. My wife and I would like to put down hardwood floors and wonder about the ability to do it ourselves.
The questions on this are numerous.
First, I've read about pre-finished flooring, which sounds like a great idea to us. Is there a reason not to consider this?
Second, we want very low maintenance and long wear, especially for the foyer. What sort of wood should we use? I'm thinking we'd like a lighter colored wood with a second, offset border color of say reddish cherry.
Given the above, how hard is it to do two-tone installs? How does the second tone work? My thinking is it should be about a foot in from each baseboard. I'm just confused about how it works on the vertical portions. On the horizontal that seems obvious. Just run the second color.
Also, what about floor layout? My floorplan is like this (assuming you're not using proportional fonts):
K-D F-L
The foyer (F) opens to the north and east and has stairs along the west wall. The living room opens north and west and the dining room opens west and south.
If this is not a huge undertaking, what do I need to know before beginning? I don't have a pneumatic hammer gun but can borrow one and I'm willing to buy one if needed. I have most everything else, though also lack a full-sized table saw. I have a power 10" mitre and a standard manual 16" mitre saw.
*** RTH ***