wood floors

Drove into the big city to look at flooring stores in person. I wanted to see the products first hand. Monday night, Tom had a co worker friend over for Monday night football. They hung out in the torn up room sitting on uncomfortable regular chairs for two hours watching football on the big TV. I was embarrassed by the condition of the room and that I didn't have a good comfortable chair for our guest. I set myself the task of finding the floors this week. There was also a sale going at one of the stores if I order the stuff this week.

I went to the first store and spent over an hour browsing the selections and asking questions. The sales clerk showed me a more in depth view of the web site on his computer so I could continue browsing once home. He also showed me the instructional sight where the installation guide is located. He gave me a few samples to take home.

While I was in the store I called my mom for advise. She wasn't free to come down and look with me so I asked her opinion over the phone. I took a picture of a couple of floor colors and sent them to Tom over the phone. He responded with "call me". I called and got his take on the products.

What I was finding is up to $2 I could get laminate, which Tom took off the table. He wants the real thing. Laminate looks lovely, but over time you can see the edges and know its laminate. I looked at engineered hardwood which is a veneer on plywood. Those prices ran $2.50 to $4. Tom wants something stiff and hard that doesn't flex underfoot because of the pool table and just the general feel of the floors. He doesn't want something light. He wants a medium to medium dark color. He would prefer solid hardwood, one solid piece, but they start at $4 and go up in price. I am hope with a sale we can get the price into the range we want of under $4, closer to $3. Its a struggle to find anything.

I leave the first place with my samples and drive clear across town to another place my mom thinks might have something for us. It is a large high end flooring store. The clerk shows me one item in my price and it is a veneer. He offers to check the board out to me but I pass as I don't want to have to return it later, do the long drive again just to return a sample. He has no small pieces.

I decide I should stop at Lumber liquidators while I am in town. I should have done it after the first store as they are only blocks away from each other. I have to drive all the way back across town, very inefficient use of time and gas. I spend another 45 minutes browsing as LL is busy. I also talk to some other customers and listen to the sales clerks give advise. LL is much more hands on as they cater to the DI Yer.

I found out that if we float a floor we can not refinish it later. A sander would just bounce all over the place and do more damage than good. You can't nail into fiber board, the nails wont hold. Luckily my sub floor is plywood, I park the knowledge away for future use. I had been wondering what keeps a floating floor together. With Laminate the pieces lock together with an edge that grabs so they don't come apart. With these products there is no edge so I was wondering what hold them together. You glue the edges, put a line of glue on the tongue before you shove the groove into place.

I have done glue. The early laminates were glued. It is messy and can leak through to the surface and mar the surface finish if you are not careful. Gluing is not my favorite. Nailing seems to be our best choice. I have done it. You rent a special angle nailer that sets the nail at just the right angle in the tongue just below the surface so it doesn't interfere with the groove part sliding into place. The nails are hidden from the surface until the final few rows. The nail gun is bulky and wont fit up next to a wall. You have to either hand set those last strings of boards or surface nail them.

I head home with my samples, getting out of town before rush hour is upon us. I call a friend while on the road. She just happens to be heading towards me on the freeway going home herself. We stop to meet so I can show her my selection and hear her news. Before we know it over an hour and a half has passed and we have to rush away having other obligations we both need to be at.

When Tom gets home from work he wants to see my samples. The end result of that conversation is he want to spend the extra money and get the solid floors. I am tending towards Maple over Oak. If I can catch that sale I can pull this off within budget. I am off to make some phone calls this morning to the first store.