Wood Flooring

[Idnar7]

Anyone have any reccos for flooring? Not so much cost but quality/wear. Doing our kitchen/entry. Thanks

 

[M Paquette]

In the kitchen? I'd go with something that tolerates spills, leaks and moisture well, along with the occasional pullout of the refrigerator and less frequent removal and replacement of appliances (workmen dragging stoves about...)

In other words, not wood. There are some tiles that echo a wood-like appearance. That would be my choice.

We have 'engineered wood' on the first floor of our house, except for the kitchen and bath, which are tiled.

 

[savory]

+1 - I would not put wood in the kitchen. (I have had a house with wood in the kitchen and it worked better than I expected but the tile provides more piece of mind, easier cleaning and I expect it will last much longer with the much less degradation). In most if not all of the house, excluding bathrooms, wood will work well. In high traffic areas, you may want to reduce wear with a floor covering of some sort. Especially, if there will be a lot of turning or shuffling of feet. (For example, the type of shuffling that occurs in front of the sink while washing/rinsing dishes)

In the kitchen? I'd go with something that tolerates spills, leaks and moisture well, along with the occasional pullout of the refrigerator and less frequent removal and replacement of appliances (workmen dragging stoves about...)

In other words, not wood. There are some tiles that echo a wood-like appearance. That would be my choice.

We have 'engineered wood' on the first floor of our house, except for the kitchen and bath, which are tiled.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Wood is wonderful! Throughout our house, we installed local cabin grade heart pine, including the kitchen. The only tile is in laundry and baths. If you seal it properly, there is no need to fear it being compromised by water.

Nothing nicer underfoot, and it has worn admirably in the nearly 13 years since we built our house. Just about time for a freshen-up, which will be a light sanding and a few more coats of polyurethane. We started with seven, all applied by yours truly.

Our counters are teak and holly (like on a boat floor) with teak trim, and the cabinets are solid oak. Needless to say, we love wood.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Hermit]

Put oak floors in the kitchen/family room/hall/powder room in our last house. It worked well for us with two teenagers. The wood was pre-finished 3/4 inch oak with beveled edges.

 

[Mo Money]

We have 3/4" oak floors in our kitchen for about 7 years now, heavily polyeurethaned, and they are utterly marvelous. Water is impervious.

 

[samclem]

Anyone have any reccos for flooring? Not so much cost but quality/wear. Doing our kitchen/entry. Thanks

I'm not a fan of wood there. It might work out okay, but it's a worry I'd rather not have, and it's easily avoided. Individual planks can be made fairly impervious to water on their faces (for a time, until the coating is compromised), but the gaps between the planks can't be made watertight. And there must be gaps if it is natural wood (it moves seasonally).

If you aren't going for the House Beautiful look, vinyl works well in a kitchen: waterproof, a little "give" underfoot, won't break/be broken by dropped things.

The new "click" vinyl "planks" are an easier DIY project than sheet vinyl, and any damage is much easier to repair.

Higher end: Porcelain/ceramic

Something unusual: Wood-look PVC planks. (Foresta) It's about as realistic-looking as good-quality laminate, but totally waterproof. I've never used it, but have seen samples. Easy installation (like lamimate)

 

[Theseus]

Did a minor remodel in 2010 that became an expensive project due to replacing a lot of floor coverings. But I digress. Anyway, we chose a high quality vinyl in the kitchen which is more than adequate, but we did put an engineered wood specifically meant for wet areas down in the master bath. Quite beautiful stuff actually, being that it is only simulated spalted maple! I was a bit suspicious of their claim of water not having any negative impact on the material, so I put a scrap piece into a glass of water to see what would happen. Absolutely nothing, left in in there for about 6 months, took it out, left it sit more - still looked like new, no swelling, no discoloration. This stuff available these days isn't grandma's flooring anymore.

 

[MRG]

Another vote for real wood with heavy polyurethane. I've harvested, sawed, and inspectected hundeds of millions of board feet of lumber. It'd be a shame not to use a wonderful material with proper installation and treatment.

Hardwood is more convential, but depending on region, sotfwoods are used and they're beautiful, that's a matter of your preference. Make sure you know what you're buying and treat it well!

We have T&G Red Oak through our home incluing kitchen and guest bathroom. After 10 years it needs a few hours of sanding and poly, we've done nothing but normal cleaning to date.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[eta2020]

Logic tells me to go with tile.

Heart tells me to go with real wood. It will take more upkeep but you can not beat feeling and atmosphere of it.

I don't know what I would select. Depends on style of house.....

 

[Jack_Pine]

We have wood through out current house and love it. We are also going to build our retirement place in the next year. We just had this discussion and will do wood everywhere but the kitchen.

Too many spills/water on the floors to keep it in good shape.

 

[eta2020]

World of Architecture: Tree House In The Forest, Mill Valley, California

Hey you have a house ....that lives between redwood forest somewhere in Mill Valley CA and yes hardwood make sense.

But I would think in most case tile is better.

 

[Dash man]

We have ceramic tile in the kitchen and Brazilian Cherry throughout the rest of the house except for the bathrooms. Love them both, but we did have to replace three tiles when they cracked.
Just a word of caution. Whether you use wood or tile in the kitchen, it may block in your dishwasher in when it raises the floor unless you also tile under the dishwasher, which may require you to raise the countertop with some plywood and matching trim for your cabinets. Makes it tough to replace the dishwasher. Ideally you'd do this before cabinets are put in.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[TrvlBug]

I was a bit weary of the oak hardwood floor in the kitchen when we bought our house 17 years ago (it was 8 years old). Love, love, love it and wouldn't have anything else in the kitchen now. We are in the process of remodeling and will be sanding and re-staining it for a fresh look. It's the only thing in the kitchen that we'll be keeping! It's warm and giving underfoot. We have two kitties and have replaced all of our appliances, the fridge more than once.

 

[Live And Learn]

Wood is wonderful! Throughout our house, we installed local cabin grade heart pine, including the kitchen. The only tile is in laundry and baths. If you seal it properly, there is no need to fear it being compromised by water.

Nothing nicer underfoot, and it has worn admirably in the nearly 13 years since we built our house. Just about time for a freshen-up, which will be a light sanding and a few more coats of polyurethane.

+1 on wood being perfectly fine IF and only if you polyurethane it. You'll need to purchase real or engineered wood which will accept polyurethane. Laminate will NOT and many of the thinner woods will not.

 

[MichaelB]

A lot has to do with climate. Idnar7's profile say Minnesota, where it some might say it gets a bit chilly much of the year. Going barefoot on a tile on a hot day in the south is refreshing, but tile floors are just too cold for me in those long cold winters.

+1@ Samclem that wood suffers from seasonal gaps, I think that is their biggest drawback. The stain factor hasn't affected us. I can stain anything (just ask DW) but so far our wood kitchen floors look nice. As others pointed out, coat them and you'll have a great floor.

 

[H2ODude]

Clearly a matter of personal preference. I like the hardwoods we have throughout, including kitchen. Lived in FL 18-19 years and really tired of tile. Had it in kitchen and it's hard on feet and not very forgiving. Of course DW wanted white tile with white grout and keeping it clean (in spite of polymer additives) was a challenge.

If you have wood and it's looking tired, refinishing can do wonders. It's a pia moving everything out but the results are wonderful. I actually laid down hardwood upstairs, turned out well. That was when I was 56; my knees couldn't do that again. Please don't flame me but I have yet to see manufactured snap together that floats my boat. Just looks too perfect!

 

[Jack_Pine]

Just a note, we just re-finished and it looks great. Makes us think more about no more wood in the kitchen, though...YMMV

 

[RetireBy90]

We replaced our final kitchen couple years ago and have had leaks ans spills, bit didn't cause any problems.

 

[travelover]

I have oak floors throughout the house, but I used ceramic tile for the kitchen. While polyurethaned floors may resist the occasional slopped water, if your dishwasher fails and floods the floor, it will ruin any real wood.

 

[Jack_Pine]

I have oak floors throughout the house, but I used ceramic tile for the kitchen. While polyurethaned floors may resist the occasional slopped water, if your dishwasher fails and floods the floor, it will ruin any real wood.

Bingo, or water line malfunction to ice maker, etc.......

 

[Mulligan]

The variety of flooring options anymore is incredible. I saw a recent Property Brothers show and they installed vinyl wood flooring in kitchen. And it certainly fooled all the visitors on the Open House. Many of them commented on the "beautiful wood flooring" in the kitchen that they were walking on.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Bestwifeever]

We put wood floors in about 18 months ago through our first floor and love them; the old floors of carpet in dining room and living room, commercial vinyl in kitchen, ceramic tile in powder room, and hardwood in family room addition really broke up the flow in our small old house (not to mention the awkward gold-toned threshholds between the surfaces!). They have a polyurethane finish and are very easy to care for. Hardwood floors are pretty much the standard where we live in the Midwest.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Our house has hardwood everywhere except the kitchens & bath. We put in the wood looking vinyl planks & they looked good for 2 years. Then all of a sudden they started to separate by the seams in some places. However, you could fix them which my hubby did but it involved removing the pieces all the way to the baseboard & relaying. We love how they look & hold up to water but would not have chosen them if we knew that would happen. Tile is too cold & if you drop anything it breaks.

 

[pb4uski]

We have bamboo in our kitchen. No problems at all. We tiled out entry but live in snow country so have a lot of snow in that area.