I am going to be installing new wood flooring soon and have just begun to look at the different types out there. I would like to hear opinions and experiences that you all have had. The only thing for sure is that it has to be real wood, probably red oak. Thank you.
The pre-finished stuff has a much harder finish than the stuff finished on site. Also price varies by how well the prefinished piece fit together.
Check the local flooring and woodworking places. You can get good prices and better than average quality than you will find at the big box stores. You can also find many different species of wood at these places also.
If you are in the MA/CT/NY area, this is the place to go:
IMO, it you can lay the floor and finish on site, you will get a better job than the pre-finished flooring. I've used Mannington because I had to use an engineered wood floor over a slab. Much as I like it, the CT hardwood would be better.
I've always preferred maple, and wide planks. might be more $$ though.
We have a lot of tongue in groove pine flooring. We like pine. It's less expensive, it fits in with the country styleof our home and with use it develops a "distressed" look (which we want.) Yet it wears very well. Be sure you let it sit in the house for at least two weeks before starting work.. Check that the boards you get are as straight as possible. We fastened our first project with construction cement but used deck screws on subsequent installations, countersinking the screws in half inch holes and then putting a piece of dowelling in the hole to simulate a "pegged" effect. With power tools and a template made from an old board it goes quickly. I also cut staggered lengths to create a random effect.. We then stained and finished with three coats of clear urethane. It looks just great. Some people like to sand it. We didn't find it necessary. The biggest problem was the odd board that just wouldn't go. Sometimes you can rig a temporary wedge that will force the board in. If it was too bad, I just scrapped the board and used another. Be happy to e -mail you a digital picture if you're interested.
One problem I had with pine is that you need a flexible urethane for the finish. I used one that could not flex with the relatively soft pine. Disaster.
well.
"pegged"
necessary.
Sometimes you
Thank you all for the responses.
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