Flooring - Which is best - Need avice

[CountDorkula]

We are removing the carpet from our living/family rooms and we are going to install some sort of hardwood flooring. Our current foyer has engineered hardwood and it is scratched to hell and back. This will be replaced too. 

 

We have a 90Lb Pit Bull Mastiff who runs all the time chasing after any toy/ball he finds in sight. 

 

We have looked at basically anything that is sold in Lowes and Home depot and trying to read reviews on the internet is as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

 

What have you used?

If you care to share what was the Price/SQ Ft.

 

We have about 900 feet to do. 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[Buffalo_Gal]

We installed a  square edge hardwood floor from Armstrong. Square edge means no bevels. It is perfectly flat and smooth just like a site finished floor, but with the positives of pre-finishing at a plant. We looked at it at Home Depot but ordered from someplace online that was much less expensive (the site no longer exists!)

We ordered 1100 sq ft to account for 10% waste. It was Bruce by Armstrong (very traditional looking) and our installer had almost no waste.

We do have a dog, but he is small so the nails are not horrible.

[sherpa]

I used to travel to South America a few times per month, so I got quite familiar with hardwood flooring, and when we built the house we are in now, I purchased it there and had it shipped.

The point is that if you have a heavy dog, you need a hard wood.

There is an international scale called the Janka hardness scale.

 

Here's a link:

http://tinytimbers.com/janka.htm

Scale down the page and you can see ratings for the various species.

 

If it was me, I wouldn't get anything softer than red oak, about 1300 on the scale.

Pre-finished means it probably has beveled edges. I prefer it sanded and finished on site.

I was never a fan of the tight grain on oak, so I bought a slow growth South American product, but that's personal taste.

I liked it so much I got a contract to provide it for a 24 unit condo building here.

 

In the US it's called Amendoim, Ybyraro in South America.

 

Amendoim

 

Edited May 29, 2018 by sherpa

[FappyTheClown]

Heated marble, like a bawse.

[CountDorkula]

1 hour ago, sherpa said:

I used to travel to South America a few times per month, so I got quite familiar with hardwood flooring, and when we built the house we are in now, I purchased it there and had it shipped.

The point is that if you have a heavy dog, you need a hard wood.

There is an international scale called the Janka hardness scale.

 

Here's a link:

http://tinytimbers.com/janka.htm

Scale down the page and you can see ratings for the various species.

 

If it was me, I wouldn't get anything softer than red oak, about 1300 on the scale.

Pre-finished means it probably has beveled edges. I prefer it sanded and finished on site.

I was never a fan of the tight grain on oak, so I bought a slow growth South American product, but that's personal taste.

I liked it so much I got a contract to provide it for a 24 unit condo building here.

 

In the US it's called Amendoim, Ybyraro in South America.

 

Amendoim

 

Thank you for this!

[apuszczalowski]

With a dog that size, probably concrete, but even that's probably not going to withstand the abuse, lol

[DC Tom]

14 minutes ago, CountDorkula said:

Thank you for this!

 

Keep in mind that the janka rating measures the durability of the raw wood.  How it's finished can make a huge difference - an epoxy resin finish on poplar will be far more durable than unfinished jatoba (neither of which you should ever see, btw - it's an extreme example to illustrate the point).  Janka's useful, but not the end- and be-all.

 

Given your dog...go with hardwood, not engineered wood.  Hardwood can be sanded and refinished.  If you can get it prefinished I suspect you'll be better off - polyurethane takes as long as 30 days to fully cure (as opposed to fully dry), so laying an unfinished floor and finishing in situ would require banning the dog from the room for a month or living with the marks he puts in uncured polyurethane.

[plenzmd1]

I know nothing bout hardwood but two things

 

1) I always assumed it was a fortune for hardwood as they make such a big deal out of it in home sales. Our current house was hardwood down, carpet up when bought it. Once we decided to do upstairs , I was schooled at how little it cost. I just assumed it was much more than it was based on the marketing. And yes Tom, I was/and still are, an idiot!

 

2) we put a trex like product down in a covered porch about 12 years ago, after about 6 the thing was useless. Paid up and put Ipe down and that poop is the real deal.Beaides still being perfectly straight and not warped even one little bit,  I feel better about it as I have a fireplace out there, and that stuff just ain’t gunna catch on fire!

[Captain_Quint]

I went with 7" planks, Angelim (Brazillian hardwood). It's an inch thick, so you can easily sand/refinish if you had to. It's been maintained for years, with very little wear on it. Hard as hell to cut/put screws into.

 

The wide planks are nice if you have might have moisture issues underneath since they won't cup like 3". Popular in the south because of that. 

[Jon in Pasadena]

We have been very happy with a quality bamboo flooring product. I'd have to look up the brand and cost/sqft, but I'm sure it turned my knuckles white at the time.

 

If you go with bamboo do not cheap out and go with an inferior product. It will cup and you'll end up replacing it and hating me.

[apuszczalowski]

17 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

I know nothing bout hardwood but two things

 

1) I always assumed it was a fortune for hardwood as they make such a big deal out of it in home sales. Our current house was hardwood down, carpet up when bought it. Once we decided to do upstairs , I was schooled at how little it cost. I just assumed it was much more than it was based on the marketing. And yes Tom, I was/and still are, an idiot!

 

2) we put a trex like product down in a covered porch about 12 years ago, after about 6 the thing was useless. Paid up and put Ipe down and that poop is the real deal.Beaides still being perfectly straight and not warped even one little bit,  I feel better about it as I have a fireplace out there, and that stuff just ain’t gunna catch on fire!

Carpet over the hardwood, cause you didnt want to ruin the hardwood or thought it would be a selling feature in the future, lol. Like putting plastic over your furniture to protect it.

[plenzmd1]

^^^^^^Downstairs was all hardwood, upstairs was carpet.

[dpberr]

With a dog that large, have you thought about tile, especially the tile that looks like the wood?

 

 I see that being used in a lot of high traffic areas where wood won't cut it but they also don't want the usual 12x12 tile look either.

 

I don't think there is a wood out there that's going to stand up to the wear and tear of a Mastif who'll live a long wonderful life.  

 

 

[CountDorkula]

45 minutes ago, dpberr said:

With a dog that large, have you thought about tile, especially the tile that looks like the wood?

 

 I see that being used in a lot of high traffic areas where wood won't cut it but they also don't want the usual 12x12 tile look either.

 

I don't think there is a wood out there that's going to stand up to the wear and tear of a Mastif who'll live a long wonderful life.  

 

 

 

Yes we have. We found this grey-ish looking wood floor tile we were going to use in the kitchen to break up the kitchen from the rest of the house.

Just not sure how i feel about doing the entire downstairs like that.   

[mead107]

Tile that looks like wood

[WhoTom]

At our previous house, we spent big bucks on bamboo flooring. We found that it scratched and dented pretty easily.

 

At our current house, we went with an oak laminate for about half the cost of the bamboo. We have two dogs who run around and drop their big Nyla-bones all over the place, and not a scratch in sight.

 

 

[CountDorkula]

13 minutes ago, WhoTom said:

At our previous house, we spent big bucks on bamboo flooring. We found that it scratched and dented pretty easily.

 

At our current house, we went with an oak laminate for about half the cost of the bamboo. We have two dogs who run around and drop their big Nyla-bones all over the place, and not a scratch in sight.

 

 

We looked at doing the Pergo flooring. We strongly considering it.

 

My Father in law did it in his basement, I like the way it turned out. 

[Nanker]

Go Old School: Quarter sawn white oak. 

 

[Augie]

9 hours ago, dpberr said:

With a dog that large, have you thought about tile, especially the tile that looks like the wood?

 

 I see that being used in a lot of high traffic areas where wood won't cut it but they also don't want the usual 12x12 tile look either.

 

I don't think there is a wood out there that's going to stand up to the wear and tear of a Mastif who'll live a long wonderful life.  

 

 

 

This is exactly what I was going to say. We rented a beautiful house in Hilton Head a couple weeks ago. Fabulous floors! It took me a while to realize they were not wood but tile..... and virtually indestructible. You need something extremely durable in a rental.

 

A less expensive option might be vinyl plank flooring. We saw some commercial uses of that in FL and found that it’s extremely durable and they have stuff that looks like wood and is really pretty good looking. It doesn’t have that hollow click when you walk on it, too (unlike laminate). 

.

 

We have wood almost through the entire house, and a 60 pound dog. It’s a good thing we love her so much, because our floors are trashed. I’m not sure how many times real wood can be refinished, but I’m pretty sure there’s a limit. Also, we had the wood floors re-done in our last house and that’s a GIANT and messy undertaking (not too mention expensive). 

 

I’m sure they have a wide variety of finishes available. THAT doesn’t look like tile. 

Edited May 30, 2018 by Augie

[RaoulDuke79]

We did both of our upstairs bathrooms with Adura Max vinyl tile. I have a 100 lb. golden retriever who walks onnit occasionally, but not a high traffic area. It's somewhere between $4 -10 a square foot depending on the size and pattern. 

 

https://www.mannington.com/residential/aduramax

[Augie]

34 minutes ago, RaoulDuke79 said:

We did both of our upstairs bathrooms with Adura Max vinyl tile. I have a 100 lb. golden retriever who walks onnit occasionally, but not a high traffic area. It's somewhere between $4 -10 a square foot depending on the size and pattern. 

 

https://www.mannington.com/residential/aduramax

 

The vinyl plank flooring we saw in a Hospice facility was so nice we put it in my mom’s condo. I think it had a 50 year warranty, and the stuff in hospice had all kinds of equipment rolled, dragged and spilled all over it. And it looked pretty darn good! 

[RaoulDuke79]

5 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

The vinyl plank flooring we saw in a Hospice facility was so nice we put it in my mom’s condo. I think it had a 50 year warranty, and the stuff in hospice had all kinds of equipment rolled, dragged and spilled all over it. And it looked pretty darn good! 

Yeah they say it holds up well. I want to say the stuff we put in has a 30 year warranty, but don't quote me on that.

[Fadingpain]

On May 29, 2018 at 10:27 AM, CountDorkula said:

We are removing the carpet from our living/family rooms and we are going to install some sort of hardwood flooring. Our current foyer has engineered hardwood and it is scratched to hell and back. This will be replaced too. 

 

We have a 90Lb Pit Bull Mastiff who runs all the time chasing after any toy/ball he finds in sight. 

 

We have looked at basically anything that is sold in Lowes and Home depot and trying to read reviews on the internet is as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

 

What have you used?

If you care to share what was the Price/SQ Ft.

 

We have about 900 feet to do. 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Especially with that horse--I mean dog--running around your house, you should nail down real hardwood floor planks.

 

I.E., don't go with click together engineered products and for God's sake, don't use anything made by Pergo or anything close to their stuff.

 

 

[apuszczalowski]

13 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

^^^^^^Downstairs was all hardwood, upstairs was carpet.

I still see from time to time new houses where they are putting in carpet, usually its hardwood in the living areas, tile in the kitchen and bathrooms, and if they use carpet, its only in the bedrooms (sometimes stairs). I have even seen a few basements with carpets.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Solid hardwood.  You can sand/scrape it later.

 

 

Get the real thing, thicker the better where the nails set.  Nothing beats the classic.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2018 by ExiledInIllinois