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99 232 baja
02-13-2005, 01:49 PM
I know this has nothing to do with BOATS, but people seem to always have the answers here. Has anyone ever put down a nail down hardwood floor? easy? type? any tricks I should know? I am pretty handy around the house and almost always do-it-myself,is this something I want to tackle?

Mohavekid
02-13-2005, 02:02 PM
They are'nt too hard to put down, just take your time and fit it all dry first.
Depending on where you're located determines what type of finish you can get on the floor. Finish in place wood with good varnish lasts longest, but here in Cali, we can't use good varnish because of pollution controls.
The wood also requires special care in cleaning, no wet mops. I got about 10 years out of mine before having to completely re-do them.
Good luck.

mike37
02-13-2005, 02:08 PM
I know this has nothing to do with BOATS, but people seem to always have the answers here. Has anyone ever put down a nail down hardwood floor? easy? type? any tricks I should know? I am pretty handy around the house and almost always do-it-myself,is this something I want to tackle?
don't do it
go with one of the new type floors
they look like wood but very esay to maintain and easy to install

CARRERA
02-13-2005, 02:31 PM
don't do it
go with one of the new type floors
they look like wood but very esay to maintain and easy to install
Costo has the new type mention above. That is what I installed and it was very easy.

Mandelon
02-13-2005, 02:33 PM
You can rent the nailers at tool rental places. PUtting it down is fairly easy, but a nice finish is a little tougher. Gotta have a dust free environment for the last coat.

99 232 baja
02-13-2005, 03:31 PM
thanks for the help. The reason I want a nailed down floor is because it is more solid than a floating floor, The floating floors I have been on feels like it they are floating and I don't want that . Cost is more for nail down pre finished but that doesn't matter seeing how much flooring(floating/nail) costs. The difference is about $500-$750,which isn't much.

TOBTEK
02-13-2005, 03:39 PM
we have real Hardwood floors in the entry, living and kitchen....personally I WOULD NEVER AGAIN! They look beautiful, BUT show every dust partical. My wife has over watered the plants once or twice and you can see where the water has traveled :( . Dont even think about rolling anything on them, I just moved the big screen to a different room and you can see the rollers all the way from spot to spot. DO you have pets? water bowls are a good time, pets take a drink and drip all over the floor......NEVER AGAIN! TAVERTINE in the new casa for sure! Just my experence ofcourse :squiggle:

mike37
02-13-2005, 03:40 PM
thanks for the help. The reason I want a nailed down floor is because it is more solid than a floating floor, The floating floors I have been on feels like it they are floating and I don't want that . Cost is more for nail down pre finished but that doesn't matter seeing how much flooring(floating/nail) costs. The difference is about $500-$750,which isn't much.
well go for it
but if you are on concrete make sure your vapor barrier is good or you will have expansion problems
and make sure you let the wood acclimatise for the recommended time for your area

OutCole'd
02-13-2005, 03:40 PM
Have you picked a brand yet? Prefinished all the way, install it and your walking on it the same day, no waiting for a stain & sealer to dry, plus you can't beat the warranty.

SHOTKALLIN
02-13-2005, 04:01 PM
Ever have a spill? Pipe break? I will never have hardwood floors again. Its too easy to scratch them without even trying. Go tile or don't go at all. There are lots of things you can do with tile as far as making it extra custom. It all depends on how you lay it and what sizes you use. You can even lay a mosaic medallion in the foyre(sp) for that extra over the top look. :D

CARRERA
02-13-2005, 04:11 PM
Have you picked a brand yet? Prefinished all the way, install it and your walking on it the same day, no waiting for a stain & sealer to dry, plus you can't beat the warranty.
That's what I'm talking about........

99 232 baja
02-13-2005, 04:14 PM
Have you picked a brand yet? Prefinished all the way, install it and your walking on it the same day, no waiting for a stain & sealer to dry, plus you can't beat the warranty. no not yet, still looking into it.Prefinished alll the way , I like LESS labor if possible. I love tile but I live in Mich. tile really only works in the kit & bath here. They would be to cold in the winter.

SHOTKALLIN
02-13-2005, 04:19 PM
Thats what socks are for :D

Parker Dreamin
02-13-2005, 04:58 PM
We just had real hardwoods installed, nailed down. We did it to match the rest of our house.....start to finish it took about a week. Looks great, but you do need to be carefull. The fridge is on wheels and can leave marks if you are not carefull. I think the real hardwoods look much nicer then the pergo type flooring. Like anything nice it does cost to keep it looking good. Just my .02

THOR
02-13-2005, 05:01 PM
we have real Hardwood floors in the entry, living and kitchen....personally I WOULD NEVER AGAIN! They look beautiful, BUT show every dust partical. My wife has over watered the plants once or twice and you can see where the water has traveled :( . Dont even think about rolling anything on them, I just moved the big screen to a different room and you can see the rollers all the way from spot to spot. DO you have pets? water bowls are a good time, pets take a drink and drip all over the floor......NEVER AGAIN! TAVERTINE in the new casa for sure! Just my experence ofcourse :squiggle:
I am with Tob. I had Cherry wood (real, not fake) and now have the 20" Travertines in my house now. It hides dirt and dust much better. A little colder in the winter, but it looks way better.

mbrown2
02-13-2005, 05:26 PM
I have about 500 sqft of solid cherry downstairs (library, formal living, formal dining)....my brother and I installed it; nailed onto a 3/4" ply/substrate....not that hard...kind of like tile, once you get the square right, go to town.
However, the rest of the downstairs in Limestone...I would not put wood in high traffic areas...all the areas I put it in is low traffic, they are beautiful, but you have to be easy on them.

coolchange
02-13-2005, 05:33 PM
I've laid a few hundred thousand feet of wood. The first few rows are the most important. Figure out which way your gonna go, square up the room, figure your straight start line and snap a line. For amatuers I would rip a plywood sheet into 10" strips and nail it down to get a unmovable start line and lay out of it. Its practicaly impossible for a beginner to keep the rows straight. Watch if you go around a corner, your gonna want to hook it. Check your rows every few feet. Get help and have someone feed you that knows what theyre doin. A good floor guy can lay over 200 feet a day alone. :D
Sand and finish- NOT FOR AMATEURS. Think about Distressed for a high traffic area. Sand it flat then HAND scrape it for a look that appears to have been there for decades. Prefinished floors make me want to hurl, but thats because I have put down floors that went in for over $50 a foot.

al cole'holic
02-13-2005, 05:41 PM
I have done several jobs with a buddy using pre-finished 3/4" real wood flooring that is very nice and goes down awesome without a hassle. It is tounge and groove stuff but you do not have to lay a subfloor down. The system uses Duck Glue that you trowel down and run in the groove as well. I was amazed at how nice it really comes out and how solid it feels in the end. Amigo's Flooring is a huge warehouse of flooring here in the SoCal area and they carry a buttload of different finishes and sizes, check into it as an option! :D

ROZ
02-13-2005, 05:52 PM
Every type of flooring has pros and cons... I would never put hardwood in the kitchen because you're not suppose to use cleaners on it. Damp mop only. Bacteria will flourish there. Eventhough thavertine is nice, it's the most porous product out there; even doulbe sealed. If you go travertine, don't go with the mexican shiet. The stuff fron Turkey is much better becuase it has less imperfections that the mfg has to fill. I know a guy who distributes Arizona tile and a couple other brands. His house has turkish travertine, double sealed with the best sealer available. A few years ago a small piece of thanksgiving turkey fell onto the tile. It was picked up within about 30 seconds and still stained the tile. My cousin has double sealed mexican travetine in her house. Her son knowcked over someone's glass of red wine and stained the tile. probable sat on there for 45 seconds... I'll be retiling here very soon and will likely go with a highend porcilin travertine looking tile for the kitchen. Expensive, but looks like the real deal without the hassle of worrying everytime I set my kid loose with a cup of juice or someone spilling wine when we have a party. The rest of the house will be an engineered wood floor... My house is currently 80% tile. Eventhough the house is 72 degrees, the tile floors are chilly; Hopefully hardwood will solve that..
The guy who started the thread should check Mandelon's advice plus check out engineered real wood flooring. Real wood is relatively easy to lay down, and pay someone to sand and finish, but engineered real wood flooring is the way to go for a DIY'r looking to save $$
my (done a few floors) .02

OutCole'd
02-13-2005, 07:58 PM
If you are going to go with wood, Engineered prefinished floors are the best way to go I believe. They are much more stable, less expansion & contraction than a solid. Prefishied gives between a 15-25 year warranty on most brands.
Anyone price shopping, PM me brand & color. I sell about ten different brands and can tell you if your getting a deal or not if it a brand I have access too. I do not think it is feasible to ship it from Vegas, but at least I can make sure you do not get reamed.
Also, be leary about buying flooring on the net. Price is great, but I have heard lots of horror stories of people getting a few different color lot #'s for the same product. And colors vary a lot between lot #'s. Also, most brands do honor the warranty if it was purchased on the net, so make sure to do your research.
There is my .02. Have fun. :D

BiggusJimbus
02-13-2005, 10:05 PM
My house is filled with Hardwood Oak. Flat and quarter sawn.
Yeah, you can scratch and dent it or mark it. So what. Still looks absolutely beautiful. If you don't leave water on it for too long, cleans up easy (use a good OIL BASED polyeurathene for the finish). If it get's too ugly, you can get it all resanded and refinished for a few bucks a square foot.
Tile? Hope you like cleaning grout. I don't care for it in the kitchen. Drop a glass and it WILL break. On the wood, it's 50/50. I find standing on tile for long periods of time is more tiring. With the polyeurathene finish, cleaning is a brease. A dust mop and a little soap and water keeps it beautiful.
Tile has it's place, Depends on your style and preference.
If you have kids, well, there are probably not really any good choices.
Here's some of my wood floors...
Kitchen...
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/795Kitchen.jpg
Family room and stairs... Had the floors done, but I built the stairs and did the wood to match...
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/795FR_and_Stairs.jpg
Living Room... Quarter sawn v-groove oak plank. Probably about 40 years old. Really irreplacable, as they don't let oak grow slow anymore. You can really see the boards that we used when we restored the floor. There are boards in this floor a foot wide and 14 feet long with the tightest grain you can imagine.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/795Living_Room_2.jpg
This wood is art. We had ordered carpet for this floor, but when we found this under the old carpet, I knew I couldn't cover it back up. Cost about the same to restore it that the carpet cost. 100 times more beautiful. Carpet ended up in the bedrooms.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/795LR.jpg
Putting in the floors isn't that hard. Finishing them is a learned skill. I was lucky that I had a great floor guy that taught me how to do the finish correctly and I was able to match the results on the stairs with his work.

BoatPI
02-14-2005, 06:30 AM
I have perhaps 2,000 feet of oak engineered flooring at the beach house. It is great, but takes some carefull attention to avoid spills, etc. At the LHC house I elected to install some bamboo flooring. Since this is an adult house, and a dry climate, I gave it a try in the bathrooms. Easy to vaccum and keep clean. But bathroom installation is not recomened due to moisture.
Use lined rugs in the tub/shower area. The finnish is terrific. No one in Havasu had even heard of bamboo. So I did it myself. The strips were 6' long so installation was easier. It is never cold or hot.

99 232 baja
02-14-2005, 06:52 AM
I have perhaps 2,000 feet of oak engineered flooring at the beach house. It is great, but takes some carefull attention to avoid spills, etc. At the LHC house I elected to install some bamboo flooring. Since this is an adult house, and a dry climate, I gave it a try in the bathrooms. Easy to vaccum and keep clean. But bathroom installation is not recomened due to moisture.
Use lined rugs in the tub/shower area. The finnish is terrific. No one in Havasu had even heard of bamboo. So I did it myself. The strips were 6' long so installation was easier. It is never cold or hot. I heard of bamboo flooring just this weekend, suppose to very nice. Yesterday my 14 month old boy spilled my coffee on my off white carpet and it is not coming out, I called the Insurance co. and it is covered my homeowners, which means I will be doing a hardwood floor sooner than expected. Now I will look in to the flooring more. :coffeycup

al cole'holic
02-14-2005, 09:33 AM
I heard of bamboo flooring just this weekend, suppose to very nice. Yesterday my 14 month old boy spilled my coffee on my off white carpet and it is not coming out, I called the Insurance co. and it is covered my homeowners, which means I will be doing a hardwood floor sooner than expected. Now I will look in to the flooring more. :coffeycup
..insurance on a coffee spill?? I would have loved to be working at that insurance company and gotten that call!! :D
You may want to check into a carpet dyeing company if you are looking to keep the carpet but are afraid of the stains and spillage...I too have white shag in the house but because of the traffic/kid factor I am really considering having the downstairs dyed a darker color.

99 232 baja
02-14-2005, 09:38 AM
..insurance on a coffee spill?? I would have loved to be working at that insurance company and gotten that call!! :D
You may want to check into a carpet dyeing company if you are looking to keep the carpet but are afraid of the stains and spillage...I too have white shag in the house but because of the traffic/kid factor I am really considering having the downstairs dyed a darker color.no dyeing here! The carpet is cover under my homeowners,what a relief!! Plus they no longer make my carpet and now the Insurance co. will pay to recarpet the whole house(its the same thru out), they have to match up. I will come out ahead on this deal ,for once.