[marc]

Are current home is about 3 years old, and we are very unhappy with this flooring they put in. It crappy pre-finished bamboo from lumber liquidators. Wife thinks we should leave it for 10 years, since we have 2 small kids. I was thinking we just need to get real hardwood flooring installed. What do you guys think? Some type of pre-finished again or go with real hardwood flooring where they install/sand/finish. I would assume if we go with the 2nd option we would have to move out for a few days?

Any places that you all might have used and have good luck?

Thanks for the advise

 

[dorylvr59]

You can get some really nice pre finished hardwood. You probably did not get first quality flooring from lumber liquidators. I work in a flooring company and have heard numerous horror stories about them. If you go with unfinished the sand and stain process makes a horrible mess. There would be dust in every nook and cranny you can imagine. Unless you want to completely move all your belongings out. Research some stores in your area. I'm sure you could find some decent pre finished. Make sure to as for first quality versus cabin grade.

 

[saltontherim]

was store manager for Lowes for 8 years and worked for them for 15. I have bought and installed laminated prefinished flooring. Never had an issue and easy to install, DIY and no mess. No nail or glue down, free floating. Thats the way I would go. You can do the 2 and 1/4 nail down flooring but like said its messy, if it was new construction would be easy, sanding, staining and finishing, that can be very expensive but like I said its very nice..

 

[LightEmUp]

I was a flooring installer for over ten years. My house has both laminate and hard wood. I have 3 tanks on each floor. When one of my skimmers decided to wet skim and not tell me it ended up overflowing on the laminate. Before I could vacuum it all up the floor instantly turned into a sponge, destroying the floor. I dropped a 5 gallon bucket on the hardwood, which was sealed with lacquer, no discoloration or warping what so ever. I will always spend the extra cash and time to have true hard wood flooring.

 

[anthonydrew]

I Work At Usa Flooring On Capital In Raleigh. I Ca Hook You Up. Prefinished Wood Is Real Wood. You Can Get 3/4" Solid Wood That Is Prefinished. Bamboo In General, Scratches And Dents Very Easily. Especially On Some Of The Cheaper Brands. But I Don't Recommend Bamboo Even FromThe Better Brands.

 

[Blackbeltmom]

Personally, I like my tile. You can get porcelain tile now that looks hardwood. If I was putting a floor down now, I would for for tile again, but go with the wood look. They didn't have it when we put ours now.

I like the tile. Easy to clean and durable. Water on it is not an issue. I also have 3 large dogs and two kids -- a 64 and 22 year old(LOL).

I had wood before. I hated it. Wouldn't do it again. We will probably always have large dogs and they are hard on wood. Too much trouble to have to sand and refinish if they scratch or mess it up. When I had the hardwood, I had one dog with some health issues who peed on the wood in the kitchen numerous times(when we weren't home, he learned to let himself out of the kennel) when he didn't make it to the doggie door. This really messed up floor.

Just my opinion.

Wood is gorgeous, but I would do it again.

BTW, good bamboo floors are supposed to be 25% harder than oak and 12% harder than maple. Bamboo had not gained popularity when we put down out tile. Still probably would have gone with tile.....

 

[marc]

Thanks everyone for the info. The Bamboo floors we have are the worst. We are very torn as to what we should do. With having 2 young kids in the house not sure if we should spend the money to replace the floor or not, but it to the point now it embarrasing when we have company & friends over. Also I have told the wife if we are going to do it we need to do it now before I get my new tank, or otherwise plan to wait several years.

I just don't want to spend all the money to have it replaced for kids to make a mess of it. One of them moved a lego block on the floor and another 3 foot scratch. ugh

 

[marc]

I Work At Usa Flooring On Capital In Raleigh. I Ca Hook You Up. Prefinished Wood Is Real Wood. You Can Get 3/4" Solid Wood That Is Prefinished. Bamboo In General, Scratches And Dents Very Easily. Especially On Some Of The Cheaper Brands. But I Don't Recommend Bamboo Even FromThe Better Brands.

Thanks, I will talk to my wife and see what she wants to do. The floor is to the point, if you look close at it, looks like parts are starting to flake off. Also never looks clean. I think the builder just went with whatever was cheap at the time, and looked good, but would not hold up.

 

[atech4him]

We have hardwood and a son with legos. Just an idea, we bought an area rug and a small coffee table for him to play with them on. That's his spot. My floor doesn't get scratched, and he has a warm spot to sit and play. It's worked well for us.

Now, as for the hard wood. I love not vacuuming carpets. I've seen the tile hard wood, very nice stuff. My floors are about due for refinishing ... but not until I save up to replace the current tank. Then I will tear down for a week and go for it.

Good luck in your choice.

 

[marc]

We have hardwood and a son with legos. Just an idea, we bought an area rug and a small coffee table for him to play with them on. That's his spot. My floor doesn't get scratched, and he has a warm spot to sit and play. It's worked well for us.

Now, as for the hard wood. I love not vacuuming carpets. I've seen the tile hard wood, very nice stuff. My floors are about due for refinishing ... but not until I save up to replace the current tank. Then I will tear down for a week and go for it.

Good luck in your choice.

Thanks for the info. We do have nice size area rug, and table for them to play on, but to be honest it just not the legos, it any toy they have. I brought in one of those 5 gallon buckets from lowes, put it down on the floor and pushed it maybe 2 inches, it was about half full of water, and had nice scratch in the floor.

I have not seen the the tile type of floor I will have to look into it. Thanks for the info.