Hardwood floors in the bedrooms and kitchen? Any thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[Edwin-S]

I'm planning on doing some long needed repairs on the house I "own", including replacing the existing stucco and wood siding with vinyl and replacing the windows; however, the flooring also could use replacing. I have been thinking about installing a hardwood floor in the living room, dining room, hallway, but I'm trying to decide whether to include the bedrooms and kitchen. I was originally going to install carpet in the bedrooms but I started thinking of expanding the hardwood to the bedrooms because, at present, I can get a fairly good deal on some natural red oak flooring. Regularly the price of the flooring would be 9.50/ft^2, but I can get it for about 6.25/ft^2. I'd like to know if anyone has hardwood flooring in their kitchen or bedrooms and what you think of it. If you were going to do a floor job, would you still go with hardwood in the bedrooms or kitchen or would you replace it with something else? If you have hardwood in the bedrooms do you find it to be uncomfortably cold in the morning? Do you find that your hardwood floor stands up to normal use in the kitchen? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Jim Mcc]

The only negative to wood floors is they are cold in the winter if you're barefoot. And as far as the kitchen, you just need to be careful about spills(wiping up right away).

 

[Jacinto]

Edwin,
I grew up in a bedroom with hardwood floors (due to allergies) and while it's not as fun as carpet for getting on the floor and playing, or even to do some push-ups, it was great for working on dance moves! It's definitely colder, both temperature-wise, and just "feel" of a nice cozy bedroom.The kitchen in our current house is hardwood, and we've had no issues with it. Things tend to get dropped once in a while in kitchens, and I see a little ding in the hardwood as preferable to a cracked or chipped tile, which is what we had in the kitchen of our old house. I have also noticed the slightest bit of warping right next to the dishwasher, and wonder if that's due to the heat and humidity levels of the air being released from the appliance. We're due to refinish the hardwood floors sometime this year, so everything will be sanded smooth again (another benefit of hardwood).

 

[Charles Smith]

Better check that dishwasher. My last one recently went -- the pump developed a leak and took the linoleum tiles with it. I let them install the replacement directly on the plywood. (As it happens, I was also about to have the kitchen floor redone with ceramic tiles -- which I do hope never to crap or chip!! -- but that old dishwasher would have created quite the mess regardless.)

 

[Stan]

I have no experience with hardwood floors, except for the fact that I own a 60 yeard old house that still has the original, unfinished hardwood underneath wall to wall carpet. I never knew it was there, even the carpet installers that replaced my carpeting about ten years ago were shocked, it was in absolutely perfect condition. Not sure what it is, but it was a very light colored wood, neighbors whose homes were built at the same time told me it was oak. Also being that age, it's very thick, I'm guessing 3/8 of an inch or more.
Someday I'll pull up the carpet and get them finished, but right now I own a Black Lab and she'd probably scratch it pretty badly.
The rooms you mention shouldn't be a problem, my only question would be about hardwood floors in a kitchen, but Jacinto seems to think they're ok. I just expected you might get water stains, lots of dirt and other stuff since it's usually the busiest room in the house. Maybe the finishes are better now, so it won't be a problem.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I've never had hardwood floor in a kitchen, but we have hardwood flooring our current master bedroom, and had them in two of the three bedrooms in our previous home. The winters get cold in Michigan, but the floors never feel cold to me getting up in my bare feet -- and we keep the furnace thermostat low at night. The ceramic tile in our bathroom feels colder, but still doesn't bother me. I guess it is just what you are used to.

 

[Edwin-S]

Thanks for the responses. I'm still thinking about it, but I am still leaning toward doing all the rooms, except the bathroom, with hardwood.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

Good luck. Man, the last time I refinished my hardwood floors I swore the next time I would just installed prefinished hardwood.

 

[Edwin-S]

Good luck. Man, the last time I refinished my hardwood floors I swore the next time I would just installed prefinished hardwood.

The stuff I'm looking at has a polyurethane finish. It is produced by a Quebec based company.

 

[Jeremiah]

I don't have hardwood but I work for a remodeling company and have seen a variety of ways. Personaly I don't like hardwood flooring anymore because it's cold and shows a lot of dust if you like to have your doors and windows open. I like the look, but not the use, I like the cozyness of carpet now.
One customer has it everywhere but the bedrooms, it's durable so spills are OK in kitchen, it will scratch though so don't drag stuff around if you can help it. Her daughter has tile everywhere but hardwood in the bedrooms.
It's mostly just preference, you really can't go wrong.
Look into heated floors, some customers use it for the bathroom tile and it's nice, depending on the seasons of where you live it might be a good idea.

 

[KeithAP]

Originally Posted by Jim Mcc /t/319936/hardwood-floors-in-the-bedrooms-and-kitchen-any-thoughts#post_3914856
The only negative to wood floors is they are cold in the winter if you're barefoot. And as far as the kitchen, you just need to be careful about spills(wiping up right away).

Don't they also produce more noise when walking on them?

-Keith

 

[Al.Anderson]

I have hardwood in my bedroom and livingroom/family room. My wife and I don't like it for the bedroom, it's cold, but worse it's uncomfortable on the feet. (The pads we've used under area rugs are thinner than what you would typically use under w-2-w carpet.)

 

[Edwin-S]

Don't they also produce more noise when walking on them?
-Keith

I never noticed any noise on the one I walked on in a recent open house. If they are noisy then I think someone didn't do the installation right.

I have hardwood in my bedroom and livingroom/family room. My wife and I don't like it for the bedroom, it's cold, but worse it's uncomfortable on the feet. (The pads we've used under area rugs are thinner than what you would typically use under w-2-w carpet.)

There have been a few comments about them being cold. I went out and looked at carpet on the weekend. I found some good quality carpet that I liked the look and feel of, so I've decided to go with carpet in the bedrooms. While talking to the salesman at the carpet store, I asked what he had in his house. He said they had hardwood in the kitchen, but he and his wife were replacing it with a heavy vinyl tile made to look like stone. It's called Duraceramic. He said hardwood in the kitchen looks good, but it also comes with some problems. He said, in his case, they dropped a can of salmon on the floor and, even after wiping it up, they couldn't get rid of the smell because some of the juice went down into the cracks between the floorboards. I took a look at the stuff and, for fake stuff, it actually looks a lot like actual stone, except it's a lot warmer to the touch, allowing a person to avoid underfloor radiant heating pads. A bonus is that it is easily replaceable if a tile gets damaged. The cost of the material isn't any more than the wood I was going to buy and it looks like it would be more suitable for a kitchen environment.
After thinking about it, I've pretty well decided to change the plan and go with hardwood in the living, dining room and hallway, carpet in the bedrooms and Duraceramic or Armstrong Alterna in the kitchen, front entrance, bathrooms and rear entrance.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Don't they also produce more noise when walking on them?
-Keith

None of the hardwood floors in our house are noisy. We have them in the master bedroom, living room, dining room and main entry/hallway.
For those of you complaining about the floors being cold, what do you have in your bathroom? I find the ceramic tile in our master bath colder than our hardwood floor (but neither bother me).

 

[DaveF]

A topic I'm interested in. Looking at new build here, and hardwood through the first level is standard. While I'd prefer wood over ceramic in the kitchen, I'm OK with vinyl too. But for the living spaces, I just don't know. I'm used to carpet, I'm fine with carpet, and area rugs are very expensive.

On the other hand, hardwood might be better with our cats than carpets (given the issues we have from time to time).

I'm also wondering if actual wood is the way to go, or one of the many synthetic variations?

 

[Jeremiah]

The laminate hardwood flooring has come a long way in the past 5 years but it just feels a little off when compared to real wood flooring, nothing offputting but just a little different. I would see the difference on pricing and installation and if there is a big difference decide if you want to go cheaper and put the money to something else or pocket it.
My mom has cats and she was telling me how they tear up the carpet when they chase each other.

 

[DaveF]

Hardwood: gorgeous but fragile. More difficult to install right and more work to care for Vinyl: less attractive. Indestructible. Trivial to care for. I would consider going back to synthetics over natural wood and granite counters. The real stuff is something of a nuisance.

 

[ChristopherG]

Originally Posted by DaveF
Hardwood: gorgeous but fragile. More difficult to install right and more work to care for
Vinyl: less attractive. Indestructible. Trivial to care for.
I would consider going back to synthetics over natural wood and granite counters. The real stuff is something of a nuisance.

What is the concern with granite counters?

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

Hardwood: gorgeous but fragile. More difficult to install right and more work to care for Vinyl: less attractive. Indestructible. Trivial to care for. I would consider going back to synthetics over natural wood and granite counters. The real stuff is something of a nuisance.

Fragile?

 

[Jason Charlton]

Originally Posted by ChristopherG
What is the concern with granite counters?

Probably the annual maintenance/sealing that is recommended for most granite countertops. Solid Surface material countertops (like Corian, Silestone, etc.) are much more "maintenance-free" than real granite.
When we actually get around to gutting our kitchen (my boys will be off to college in a scant 14 years...) my preference will be for a solid surface material rather than real granite.