Ok, where do I begin? Need new flooring.

18 years ago

Hello,

I have been reading, researching, shopping around, lurking, etc. I just become more and more confused with this. I am looking for a basic hardwood floor for two of my first floor rooms (kitchen/family room). I plan to expand to finish off the rest of the first floor when I have the money to do so. I have 2 1/4 in Gunstock in my large foyer/bathroom already, but I plan to pull this up when I complete the job. I have a med to dark oak finish on my fireplace mantle and my kitchen cabinets. Would like to go with a lighter floor to compliment this darker wood. I have small kids, and two small dogs. Looking for the most durable, but affordable wood I can find. I am so confused by the different heights, widths, and types of wood. I really need some guidance. I have put this project off for the last 3 months due to my inability to make a decision. Any instight? Thanks in advance.

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Comments (4)

jacobfloors
18 years ago
Hi
what kind of sub floor do you have??(that will afect on what floor you can install engineered or solid) and are you live in a humid area?
when you say dark...dark like ebony or dark like mocha or deep reddish?
bigdoglover
18 years ago
Indecision seems very common with selection of flooring, I'm having the same problem but with looking and talking to people here, have finally zeroed in on only about three possibilities.

The size of your house SORT OF tells you how wide the boards should be, though I think these days there are no set rules. We finally got a couple boxes of (returnable) wood, in a couple different widths, and just laid it out in the rooms. That helped a lot as to determining what width would look best in our particular rooms.

If you have pets and kids you will want to get a durable wood like oak. I've found here that there is a scale that tells hardness called Janka rating, which I have not paid much attention, but for you it will be helpful.

Since you want it lighter, that also narrows it down.

So, see, you are further along than you realized! Now all you have to do is go look at it and decide what you think is pretty. You might take a cupboard door along. I think you are on the right track getting a light floor to contrast with the darker cabinets.

One good rule in all of this selection process is to look at it, lay it down, hold it up to the other materials you will have in the room, and if it doesn't say "yes" then the answer is "no".
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susanlynn2012
18 years ago
bigdoglover,that is a great idea to buy a box of returnable hardwood to figure out the width of a plank and maybe the coloring of a floor! I think will do this!
bigdoglover
18 years ago
Hi Lynn, just a word of warning, -- two of the boxes were very wood, similar to what we will get. The third one we just went to Big Box Store and got a box of their in-stock oak, just to see how we would like oak. Oh my gosh! It was so cheap and flimsy we couldn't believe it, and we could not even seriously consider what "real" oak would look like. So, I'd recommend getting good quality so you won't be thrown off by the cheapo factor.

Also, I think it's a good idea, when you zero in on your final selection, to get a box of it first. We thought we had our cherry all decided upon from a beautiful sample I'd gotten, but when the box of it came, it looked totally different and very disappointing.