Hardwood Floors

[Jules]

Do you have them? Do you love them?

Everyone on HGTV seems to want them. Often they buy a house and then learn they’re too old for redoing.

In the east where I grew up, hardwood was the norm. When I sold the family home, the floors were in as good as new condition.

A few years ago when we decided to replace our carpet with a solid floor, it was surprising to learn that we could only get Engineered Hardwood & it very likely it would even able to be refinished. In 15 - 20 years, they’d likely need replacing just like carpet. Wow. We weren’t looking at the lower end products either. We stated that we were willing to pay whatever needed for quality.

What happened to good old fashioned quality that lasts for decades.

Maybe unfinished hardwood will become fashionable again by the time we need to redo our flooring.

 

[Aunt Marg]

My husband said if we had the money, he'd buy solid oak stock, mill it himself, then cut it to size (whatever design look we wanted), lay it, and finish it by hand.

Quality is still available today, just that for most, it's out of people's reach financially.

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

I've had carpet throughout our whole house. These last few years I was having trouble vacuuming and my creaky knees and achy legs were complaining.
My son put down wood flooring for me, the hand made stuff, certainly not top of the line, but I love it. Easy to swish a dry mop around and once in awhile I use a damp mop with mild vinegar water.
It has held up well although that might be a different story with kids and pets around.
I haven't had major spills or scratches but spilled coffee and ice tea came right up the next day.
I did keep the carpet in our living room I think carpeting looks more cozy.

 

[Lewkat]

We had the old fashioned double planked floors in my parent's house. Not a nail used, all tongue and groove. But because of the wear and tear of us kids and friends and cousins, my mom insisted on carpeting throughout. Too bad, but she was the BOSS!

 

[Sassycakes]

We have hardwood floors now in the house we just bought a few years ago. Before we moved here my brother-in-law had a hardwood floor business. He installed hardwood floors in most of the house we owned then and I LOVE hardwood floors.

 

[Keesha]

A few years after having our house built we ripped out all the carpets and put down 3/4 inch maple. It was a lot of work but we love it. We also have maple stairs and balusters we installed . We love hardwood. It’s so easy to clean and always looks nice. Ours need sanding and refinishing soon.

 

[Pecos]

We have hardwood floors and really like them.

 

[Keesha]

Do you have them? Do you love them?

Everyone on HGTV seems to want them. Often they buy a house and then learn they’re too old for redoing.

In the east where I grew up, hardwood was the norm. When I sold the family home, the floors were in as good as new condition.

A few years ago when we decided to replace our carpet with a solid floor, it was surprising to learn that we could only get Engineered Hardwood & it very likely it would even able to be refinished. In 15 - 20 years, they’d likely need replacing just like carpet. Wow. We weren’t looking at the lower end products either. We stated that we were willing to pay whatever needed for quality.

What happened to good old fashioned quality that lasts for decades.

Maybe unfinished hardwood will become fashionable again by the time we need to redo our flooring.

You should be able to still get it. Maybe just shop around. In our area it’s still available.

 

[Warrigal]

Our house, built in 1965, has hardwood flooring throughout. In recent years we decided to remove all carpeting and mats and had vinyl tiles that look like slate installed in the lounge room and kitchen dining area. They have been very easy to look after. Shortly after we got rid of the carpet in the bedrooms. We were unable to match the tiles and decided to just sand and polish the wooden floors. They came up beautifully and feel great underfoot. It is also very safe now with fewer trip points.

 

[Lethe200]

HW is great if you have allergies. Carpets hold an enormous amount of dust and dirt. It sifts through; any rip-out of W2W carpeting will reveal a dusty floor with gritty particles, needing to be thoroughly vacuumed up.

If you are planning for resale, at our ages the buyers are likely to be younger. I have yet to meet a single Gen X/Y or Millennial that is yearning for W2W carpet. HW, whether laminate, engineered, or solid, seems to ALWAYS be their flooring of choice.

The only exception is if you live near a beach or water - in that case, often tile is recommended, at least for the public areas and entryways. Even then, "natural stone" looks, or the real thing (granite, marble) is preferred.

We have both real HW (1940 original red oak) and LVP wood look ("Sussex Oak" luxury vinyl plank). The HW was a DIY refinish job with 1990 oil-based polyurethene. It's still in good shape and can be damp mopped with ease. The LVP is a breeze to keep clean with a Swiffer wet/dry.

There is an actual reason not to use "real" HW. It shrinks and warps. If you live in a climate of extreme temps or seasonal high humidity, solid wood is NOT recommended.

 

[JonDouglas]

We downsized by selling our colonial and moving into a carriage house addition behind the kid's place. We put hardwood floors (treated, real hickory) throughout the open-plan first floor. The floor is shown by the picture below of the kitchen area just after the cabinets and appliances were installed..

We've been a fan of real hardwood floors for decades and haven't had any problems with it shrinking or warping in our NE climate. You do, though, need an experienced installer who knows hardwood flooring, understands how/when to acclimatize the wood beforehand and will carefully install it (versus a "wham, bam, thank you, maam" installation.

 

[Llynn]

I have hickory planks. The wood is warm looking and the finish is quite durable. Yes, I like them.

 

[bowmore]

We also pulled up the carpet that was 12 years old and getting tired and replaced it with hardwood floors. We love tham

 

[Keesha]

We downsized by selling our colonial and moving into a carriage house addition behind the kid's place. We put hardwood floors (treated, real hickory) throughout the open-plan first floor. The floor is shown by the picture below of the kitchen area just after the cabinets and appliances were installed..

We've been a fan of real hardwood floors for decades and haven't had any problems with it shrinking or warping in our NE climate. You do, though, need an experienced installer who knows hardwood flooring, understands how/when to acclimatize the wood beforehand and will carefully install it (versus a "wham, bam, thank you, maam" installation.

That is beautiful! We have ceramic tiles in our kitchen. We didn’t find hardwood too difficult to install. The main thing we learned is to start from an exterior wall. Interior walls aren’t often straight and you definitely need the first piece down to be perfectly straight.

Does anyone know what type of wood this is? It looks like hickory to me but I haven’t actually seen it in person yet.

 

[JonDouglas]

That is beautiful! We have ceramic tiles in our kitchen. We didn’t find hardwood too difficult to install. The main thing we learned is to start from an exterior wall. Interior walls aren’t often straight and you definitely need the first piece down to be perfectly straight.

Does anyone know what type of wood this is? It looks like hickory to me but I haven’t actually seen it in person yet.

View attachment 150054

Given the differences in shading on the floor, it could be cherry. Real cherry reacts to sunlight by darkening in spots not shaded or covered by area rungs.

 

[Aunt Marg]

That is beautiful! We have ceramic tiles in our kitchen. We didn’t find hardwood too difficult to install. The main thing we learned is to start from an exterior wall. Interior walls aren’t often straight and you definitely need the first piece down to be perfectly straight.

Does anyone know what type of wood this is? It looks like hickory to me but I haven’t actually seen it in person yet.

View attachment 150054

It does resemble that of hickory.

Gorgeous entry.

 

[Keesha]

Given the differences in shading on the floor, it could be cherry. Real cherry reacts to sunlight by darkening in spots not shaded or covered by area rungs.

Cherry wood is nice. It could be. It’s hard to tell when you can’t really see the grain. Cherry wood is a softer hardwood and won’t last as long as hickory. What it’s stained with can be deceiving at times.

Here’s some other pictures. The grain pattern doesn’t look like cherry to me but I could be wrong.

 

[Aunt Marg]

Cherry wood is nice. It could be. It’s hard to tell when you can’t really see the grain. Cherry wood is a softer hardwood and won’t last as long as hickory. What it’s stained with can be deceiving at times.

Here’s some other pictures. The grain pattern doesn’t look like cherry to me but I could be wrong.
View attachment 150061View attachment 150062

The yellow paint selection is beautiful.

Makes for a fresh and bright environment.

Colours in the pale yellow and green family give me energy.

 

[Keesha]

It does resemble that of hickory.

Gorgeous entry.

Thank you. It’s a sunroom with 4 windows and a door with a big window in it. It’ even faces south for the most sun exposure. What a wonderful room that will be to paint in.

 

[Keesha]

The yellow paint selection is beautiful.

Makes for a fresh and bright environment.

Colours in the pale yellow and green family give me energy.

I seriously LOVE the yellow and how bright this place is. It would really help with seasonal effective disorder and depression in general I think.

I really like sage green. We had it in our hallway but now it’s 50 shades of grey.

 

[mellowyellow]

Oh boy, I'm loving all the photos, they all look absolutely gorgeous. But I love my carpet, and agree that when the time comes to sell, the younger generation will definitely want wood on the floor.

 

[Aunt Marg]

I seriously LOVE the yellow and how bright this place is. It would really help with seasonal effective disorder and depression in general I think.

I really like sage green. We had it in our hallway but now it’s 50 shades of grey.

That's what I find soothing colours do for me, too, they're make me feel good (inside and out) colours to me.

 

[Keesha]

That's what I find soothing colours do for me, too, they're make me feel good (inside and out) colours to me.

Absolutely. I need soothing colours.
We saw one house with a red leather couch in a room painted all red. That would get on my nerves after a while. Oddly enough though, when I was a kid I had my room wall papered in bright cheerful sunflowers which had a lot of orange and yellow in it but I loved it as a kid. Funny how our tastes change.

 

[Aunt Marg]

Absolutely. I need soothing colours.
We saw one house with a red leather couch in a room painted all red. That would get on my nerves after a while. Oddly enough though, when I was a kid I had my room wall papered in bright cheerful sunflowers which had a lot of orange and yellow in it but I loved it as a kid. Funny how our tastes change.

I've read that the colour red is hard to live with.

I'm not a red person at all. In small doses, yes... very small, but nothing more.

 

[Keesha]

I've read that the colour red is hard to live with.

I'm not a red person at all. In small doses, yes... very small, but nothing more.

I feel the same way. Red isn’t a colour for me except in small doses like red roses or red foil chocolate drop kisses.