I don't mind fake wood floors, but I don't like laminate. They always sound clattery and are readily apparent as laminate.

For resale purposes, depending on how soon you want to sell, wood is the choice. However, you could always replace whatever you do now with wood then if you choose. (We did that in our old house...replaced carpeting with floating bamboo flooring just before we sold.)

There are some other products you might want to investigate.

One is cushioned sheet vinyl...not the cheap stuff of yesteryear, but the higher quality stuff like Flexitec...it comes with like a 20 year warranty. It is extremely easy to clean, soft under foot, looks decent and no clatter.

The other is luxury plank vinyl which looks more like wood than the sheet stuff. It is not as cushioned, but it too is easy to clean and durable. The drawback though is it can scratch and cannot be refinished like a real wood floor. We have amtico which was very expensive...more than wood...but we've been very pleased with the performance. We are careful though to make sure we have felt under all chair, sofa and table feet so the vinyl doesn't get scratched.

Another option is to look at cork flooring. It is wood, can be very durable, very attractive and soft under foot. GF has that in her kitchen and is very happy with it...but she did test it first...she brought samples home and walked on them in spike heels to see which ones dented most.

This is a tough call. How much is laminate compared to a medium grade carpet....installed twice. If you got carpet now, most likely 7 years from now you would want to replace it again before putting the house on the market or be prepared to offer a credit so buyers could replace. If you go this route
I would put in a low to medium grade...no point investing in top of the line with a pet and lots of traffic.

You could do laminate with an area rug and that seems like the logical choice for your needs...but yes it might turn potential buyers off...but then again carpet might too. And you have to factor in the cost of the floor and rug. I had laminate in my kitchen for years and really liked it...super easy to clean.

In the last few years we have put a lot of $ into our house...things we couldn't do with 3 kids in college. Like you, we thought we would be here another 5-7 years, possibly longer. Now we are thinking of retiring sooner and moving away...I might have gone with less expensive finishes if I'd known we wouldn't be enjoing them as long.

Well, if I were looking at your home with the expectations that you say buyers likely will have, I'd view a laminate or vinyl floor, or carpet, as a project for me, something I'd have to "fix" by adding real hardwood when the house became mine. Or pass it up for one with no projects.

I admittedly am biased toward site finished hardwood floors. They are durable, especially with the new generation of finishes (compared to the old wax finishes), they are gorgeous, warm, not hollow sounding. etc. I have oak floors laid in 1983 which were refinished once in maybe 1997 or so and the finish they used still looks PERFECT! I do try to not come in with muddy feet and if I need to use the bathroom when gardening, I've been known to slip on those paper shoe covers, but not often, I usually just slip off my garden clogs.

The finish can be rebuffed without a full sanding, if necessary, but so far the Swedish finish doesn't need it. I just think you won't regret wood.

We have site finished solid HWs, plus 2 very active children AND a dog. Our entire downstairs, with the exception of the mudroom and master bath, is HW. My kids use the 3 sets of French doors, rather than the entrance through the garage ALL THE TIME. :) The HW is completely easy to clean...just a damp mop will get it looking pristine. I mean, you wouldn't want to soak the floor, but they really aren't finicky at all. Do be careful what you choose, I have a couple of friends with engineered wood and they have trouble with scratches.

I vote for site finished hardwood floors. This is our third house with HW floors throughout the house (except for bathrooms). The first 2 houses came that way, but the third had carpet upstairs, which we replaced with site finished HW before we moved in. When house hunting I adjusted my offers to include removing any carpet or faux wood.

In my experience, the HW is WAY more durable than the laminate. If a spill gets in the joint of the laminate, the base layer swells. It is difficult to cover a scratch. In sunlight, it fades. The corners can chip, if you drop something heavy, and it dents, too.

Nancy

If I decide to put in wood, I'd want wide plank pine.

Looming in the background is, at some point we'll need to gut & reconfigure the tiny master bath, which is still in its original 70s state. Not only is it unattractive, it won't accommodate two adults trying to get ready for work. Bringing it into the 21st century will cost the price of at least two wood floors. I'm thinking it's smarter to sink money into the master bath & master closet reconfiguration than to sink money into premium flooring for the family room.

What do you think, o wise ones, in your collective wisdom? I sure appreciate you all helping to see all the angles.

I've never heard anyone walk into a house and say "I wish it didn't have real HW floors". They can be "easily" refinished to match new décor or trends by you or any future buyers. You can't go wrong with the classic 2-1/2" oak. Depending on your market and price point wood might not be considered a premium. It might be the expected standard.

I'm not sure pine floors will meet your criteria for durable. I've never lived with them, but understand them to be a soft wood that will wear more than oak or some other hardwood.

Are you asking about the bath update as an either/or to the floors? I'd try to do both and economize where you can in your choices for them. If I looked at a house with nice wood floors and a master bath that seemed inadequate, it would be a project house to me and depending on price and my desire for the house, I'd likely look for something that didn't have any major projects. No matter how nice the bath, if it had a vinyl wood-look or laminate floor in a main living area, I'd know it would have to come out.

Cheaper flooring now and new flooring when you put it up for sale. I hate laminate I have it in our bedrooms and its cold even threw socks,but if you have a fenced backyard people with pets might like it. Put the real monney in to the upgrade on the bathroom not doing that would likely turn people off more than replacing a roomful of flooring.

As a person house hunting at the moment I would prefer to buy your house with carpet in your family room. I do not want to pay a premium for a floor choice you just put down for resale that I do not like. I just donâÂÂt I tell you. All I would expect is that the carpet be clean and not horribly worn until I decide what to put down myself. In fact, I would LOVE to come across a family room with carpet because all I would have to do is cut it in stripes and roll it out. Fast, easy and cheap prep before my choice goes down. Can I find a house like that? Nooo, everyone is putting down really cheap glued down wood flooring or butt ugly cheap ceramic tile that they want a premium for. If you decide against the carpet then I would do some sort of floating floor. To me even if I hate the floor the fact that itâÂÂs floating and can be removed in a flash is a HUGE selling point to me.

I am in the same situation that you are in--same room size, same 20 yo Berber carpet, dog just died though :-(. A consideration that I have is that we live in the Midwest and I am not sure about a "cold" floor for the winter time. What is your climate and is this an issue?

We also have a vaulted ceiling and I worry about echoes and noise also. I hate to think of spending $$$ on hardwoods and then have to spend more for a rug, drapes, etc to buffer the noise. Our stairs come out of our great room so this another expense for us as well.

I'll be interested to read the other responses.

jterrilynn, more sensible thinking from you! I loved your comment about using quality but simple design in a 70s home in the other thread.

Very good point about removability. I don't like being stuck with previous owner's design decisions either. I haven't ruled out carpet. There is plenty of red oak flooring in the rest of my house for the hardwood lovers, which is now very amber as the previous owner stained it Minwax Golden Oak -- talk about being stuck with PO's design decisions!

Maybe a floating engineered wood in the FR would be a good choice: less costly than on site installation, cleanable, less annoying underfoot than laminate. And removable, if potential buyers don't like it.

lol, mmomof2! Do you have petrified grape jelly in your carpet too? Yes, the noise factor & cold floors are why I haven't ruled out carpet. I bought a carpet cleaner a couple of years ago. It works very well if you get to the stain quickly enough. And, oh my gosh, the dirt it pulled out... You know it's bad when, after four passes, the waste water is black already. Hmmm, that reminds me why carpet isn't at the top of my list...

This post was edited by awm03 on Sun, Sep 15, 13 at 21:23

Well, you aren't really stuck with the PO's golden oak stain ... which brings us back to the great thing about real HW floors ... they can be sanded down to bare wood, re-stained and new top coat added.

If your DH likes lying on the floor, I would use carpet. Once you want to move you can pick what is in vouge at the time. Maybe w to w will make a comeback!

chispa, re refinishing the orange floors: honestly, I don't want the expense and hassle of refinishing 6 rooms, a hallway, stair steps and banisters. We'd need to pull up a perfectly good stair runner that extends down the hall, and there's the problem of the 48 screws the PO used to fix squeaky boards in the MBR. You know, more projects than $$$, priorities... The old floors have aged/ambered rather nicely after 17 years. Now there are days when I think they're not bad, a bit old fashioned, which is nice. Not my favorite, but I can work with them.

Anele, the sofa is something my husband uses to prop pillows against so he can lie on the floor and watch TV :) He wants a nice, cushy carpet!

Here's a picture of the orange floor. #2 common grade red oak. I don't want it in the FR, though.

Wow, I think that's pretty!

thank you, jterrilynn. Not a neutral floor color, have to be careful with wall colors!

Well, you could also go to the time, trouble, expense of having hardwood installed, only to have a buyer not like IT or the color and prefer carpet or something else. A turn off for me would be a dark hardwood floor...while they are beautiful, they show dust like crazy...just like my new espresso furniture.

You will go mad trying to predict what buyers will like/want. Sounds like DH wants carpet and that is probably your cheapest route..and easily replaced if necessary before you sell. I dont think buyers will balk as much at brand new carpet even if they want hardwood because they can move in and live with it for awhile and not feel they immediately have to pull it up. I'm in no way implying you would sell your house with gross carpet!!!

You seem to have answers and excuses for all our suggestions! I'm saying that with a grin on my face ... we all do it!

I think you either do carpet or match the hardwood you already have in most of the house. When you start adding too many floor materials it starts to look bad and I think for most buyers mismatched flooring throughout a house is a major negative.

Your absolutely right about a hodge podge of flooring, chispa. With carpet I can get a color similar to the abutting kitchen tile, which would help.

Answers and excuses: sorry, this is probably frustrating for you. I see more of the big picture design-wise, time-wise, & where we are financially. At least you guys helped me with one decision: no laminate! And I'm rethinking floating engineered wood now -- might be the best choice.

I would install #1 Grade red oak flooring, not stain, with a clear satin poly or other appropriate finish that would blend with your older floors. You may thinkl they will not "match", but they will look good when new and even better as the new floor ages to blend with the old. If your budget allows, put an area rug over the main part of the floor for hubby to lounge on (after waiting the appropriate amount of time). There are some VERY AFFORDABLE 100% wool rugs from Overstock.

My reason for this suggestion is that I have a similar situation. The floors in the original portion of my house are about 40 years old and are a lesser grade (probably #3); a bedroom is #1 clear grade added about 30 years ago; my kitchen is #1 clear grade added about 18 years ago; and my FR was added 6 years ago. Kitchen and family room have openings to the old 43 year old DR; they "blend" well and look nice together. I think they "work" is because they are natural with no stain, and all take on a golden hue.

The reddish golden look is more difficult to work with, but I make it work out. Greens, reds, and yellows are my best colors.

Tuesday, do you mind posting pictures of the newer FR floor and the old 40 year old floor? Just a section of the floors would be fine. I'm interested to see what #1 grade red oak with clear satin poly looks like. Thank you.

I am in the process of renovating a condo and was thinking about using pine beetle flooring. I know it is softer but is there a finish that would make it harder.

The look of the pine beetle flooring is beautiful but I worry about the issue of pine being soft.

Wow, that's a great option I'd never heard of before: clearing out a forest fire hazard and using it for flooring. Thanks for mentioning it.

I'm still considering eastern white pine planks (which, in my heart, is what I want). With those, tung oil is a common finish. Not that it makes the floor harder, but it can be touched up so readily. You have to accept the dings & dents & scratches as part of the look of the floor -- the floor becomes rustic whether you want that look or not (I do!). But at least with a tung oil finish, the look is an attractive rustic, as opposed to just looking beat up.

I assume tung oil would be an option for pine beetle flooring too, with the same pros (easy touch up) and cons (soft finish). Do some internet research on tung oil or Waterlox to see if that appeals to you.

Here's a video about Waterlox, a popular finish for pine floors. It's a tung oil/resin mix.
Waterlox floor finish

Here is a link that might be useful: Pine Beetle Flooring

I would compromise and install a very good prefinished real hardwood floor. No one wants the mess & aggravation of refinishing a floor in a house that's occupied.

With the extremely durable factory finishes available that are treated to limit being affected by sunlight & abrasion, and the limited availability of skilled tradesmen claiming to be able to install a wood floor from scratch, especially a wide plank, I'd want to select a product and know exactly what I could expect the finished outcome to be.

You can check the Flooring Forum and read all the posters complaining the stain color on the floor was not what they expected when they hired guys to install a from-scratch wood floor.

Any type of premium vinyl flooring is not stable. Over time, with changes in humidity, the vinyl will shrink and the seams will open. In addition, it's a soft material that can be cut by a stone on the bottom of a shoe or ripped by a high heel missing an end cap. In addition, light colors tend to permanently stain from asphalt driveway material (petrol-chemical) that can be tracked in the bottom of athletic shoes. The only vinyl flooring I would ever consider installing is referred to as VCT (vinyl composition tile as opposed to solid or luxury vinyl) and is used mostly in commercial installations.

Tough call! I love the hardwood in our living room, dining room, and hall, but I'm not sure I'd want it in the family room.

I don't like laminate at all - as I buyer, I would consider that to be an immediate "this needs to be fixed" issue.

If you go with hardwood, you'd want to put rugs at the doors to contain anything that comes from outside; I guess the same would be true of new carpet (you sure don't want a big muddy patch at the door to the garden).

Instead of expensive area rugs, you can get carpet store remnants and have them bound.

Our local hardware store is selling a very nice engineered plank. Antique Impressions is the brand. They make a good looking pine plank and a beautiful white oak too.
Antique Impressions. Don't care for the beveled edges though, and it's not a floating floor.

We have an excellent local source for wood & installation:
Kellogg Flooring, so we could go that route for either a traditional wood floor or their own engineered planks.

And DH still wants carpet.