If the cost of installing laminate is about the same, then definitely laminate!
Tile in daylight basement (which is what this is) sounds too seventies. 
In my area, many homes that were built during that decade have daylight basements with tile floors, mirrored walls, and wet bars complete with avocado colored laminate counters and disco ball light fixtures. 
To the extent that this basement family room will be used contiguously with the new lower patio space, its floor needs to be as easy-wear and durable as possible. The new doors Coralbrook will be installing should be used as much as possible for access to outdoor living.
Laminate wood flooring would be great for wear, but I also would not be averse to having a smooth stone or matte stone-look porcelain tile floor, using large tiles. But, not glazed ceramic tile. A statement area rug can be added for comfort.
Coralbrook, are you able to find a good wood laminate to coordinate (or sufficiently contrast) with the existing oak floors? I can’t wait to see what you choose.
Yes, the laminate will be an issue because the staircase has to drop down from the original oak wood flooring. It will be a design issue on whether to do oak wood flooring all the way down the stairs, carpet stairs for cost reasons, or bring the laminate up the stairs.
Going to have a discussion on cost with flooring guy. They start the new oak wood flooring install Tuesday morning and then we move into sand, refinish, varnish phase which means no toilet because we cannot go into the upstairs for a whole week!!! Not sure we are going to get timing right to get a toilet installed downstairs before next week because there are several City inspections required before the toilet can be installed - not to mention no walls framed in yet
Did you ever consider getting a Porta-Potty?
Could you do wood/laminate down the steps and then do a carpet runner on top of it on the steps to match carpet downstairs (assuming that’s what you elect)? That seems like it would make a nice transition from the upstairs to downstairs.
I like a carpet runner on the stairs…less noisy, and I think less likelihood of slipping.
I’ll let the buyers put in a carpet runner - it doesn’t look as good when trying to sell the house.
Yes, I have considered a porta potty rental but I seem to buy houses that have no place to put the potty. I can guarantee the delivery guy isn’t going to drop it at the bottom of the driveway (which would be ideal location for next phase of work). And, since there really isn’t a front yard, it would have to sit on the 3’ wide strip of dirt right in front of the house. When you have a porta potty right on the curb it is just an invitation for crazies to start messing with it. Might have to put a pad lock on it or something.
Would definitely vote laminate! It’s very popular, especially for upscale homes and with growing #s of folks who have allergies which carpet worsens and triggers. Looking great!
Have read this entire thread and found it fascinating! Just finished a major remodel of our lake home and wished I would have read this before! Now we are updating our city home to get ready for future sale and will keep some of these ideas in mind. Definitely some regional differences. Laminate is NOT big here at all and would be detrimental for sale in upscale homes. Travertine floors and granite counter tops still very popular and quartz is gaining lots of popularity with young buyers.
Love what you are doing cb! Thanks for sharing your expertise!
I have loaded some pictures of the shower fixtures installed (to cover up the new pipes sticking out) and the final retaining wall.
New oak flooring is getting installed upstairs today. After a long discussion with the flooring guy, he is only going to install the new wood floor everywhere but we are going to hold off for the sanding and refinish for a future date. This lets us continue to have access to the toilet until the plumbing and walls are complete downstairs. Also, we can keep finishing upstairs - I need to get countertops and sink installed soon to try to close up the plumbing upstairs.
We have a big problem trying to do a vent under the kitchen sink.
There is controversy between using an island vent versus a full loop venting system. I would prefer to stick in a simple island vent, but I think plumbing code changed recently that doesn’t allow it. You have to put in a giant ordeal of looping under the kitchen sink that goes under floor out to some vent in a wall somewhere.
We also have to vent 3 things downstairs and all of these things may have to share a single vent going through the roof since we have finished our roofing. Everything always turns into a giant ordeal!
Funny that venting is always an ordeal! I have to give up the idea to put in a double sink in the master bath due to venting requirements. Cost is the big consideration.
cb, baths are looking very nice; and that retaining wall looks like a real engineering feat. I think adding that flat space makes a lot of sense. While buyers might not think a lot about it, I think they would have noticed if it wasn’t there and there was no way to safely move around that area.
I’m hoping that the City Inspector will not have a fit about the retaining wall because there are areas in the middle where the wall is higher than 36", which is the highest you can build without permit. This means that we have to try to put some kind of smaller retaining wall below the middle area or just cross our fingers that it isn’t seen. I am reluctant to spend any more money on the wall.
Oak flooring getting installed today and he did something that I have never seen before. He is inserting pennies about every 2 ft of flooring down the whole line to create a small gap. This allows for expansion, he’s going to allow the floor to sit in place for 2 or 3 weeks before we start sanding, etc. The flooring has already been sitting in a bedroom for 2 weeks getting acclimated.
The landscape designer is coming on Friday afternoon so I might not have some plans to review until next week.
Our flooring guy put in some spacers when he installed our wooden floor–don’t believe it was pennies, but similar. It’s because the wood expands and helps prevent buckling that can occur if there is no room for the wood to expand.
Yes, I can imagine that it would be standard in Hawaii or other places with high humidity, but haven’t seen it here before. Although I have never installed entire rooms with oak flooring, we have just patched up old flooring or added small rooms or areas to match original flooring. San Diego used to be consistent low humidity but we had the freak July rains and humidity this summer so maybe he is being careful.
Don’t kill me on this one, but sometimes I have to make decisions based on budget rather than what would be the absolute best thing. Had a detailed conversation with flooring guy about the staircase yesterday.
I know that I am going to do laminate flooring downstairs because he can get really high grade 12mm thick laminate for about $1/square foot with many choices. Carpet would actually be about $2/square foot. Padding/vapor barrier stuff is about equal between the two. But, carpet installation is way cheaper - about 50 cents a square foot versus about $1.25 sq ft installation of laminate. Laminate is a better choice in this neighborhood and market.
To put solid oak flooring on stairs there are two choices… oak treads and oak risers would be about $2,500 to do staircase between materials and labor. Alternative would be oak treads and then white melamine risers, about $2,000. I don’t like the idea of white risers because it would look weird between upstairs and downstairs.
Laminate flooring on staircase would be less but it will look really odd. As someone enters the house, the stairs will be visible walking around through kitchen and living room. I can guarantee that I am not going to choose an oak coloring laminate - yuck! So, there would be a huge difference in coloring as you see the stairs.
My only reasonably priced choice is to put neutral carpet on the stairs. It is safer to have carpet and a much lower cost. The carpet would provide transition between the flooring upstairs and the flooring downstairs.
I know nothing abt laminate floors but isnt it possible to get laminate flooring that is virtually indistinguishable from wood? If so, I would try to go for a unified look throughout the whole house so that the downstairs does not look like an after thought. I think carpet downstairs would be preferable to two different “wood” finishes.
I know you’ve looked at this seriously and have decided real wood on the stairs and in the family room downstairs is not cost effective, but I strongly believe that having real wood so the upstairs and downstairs would read as a cohesive whole would GREATLY enhance the value of the house in prospective buyers’ eyes. The challenge is to make the downstairs – which you are spending a fortune on – read as an integral part of the home instead of a remodeled add on. Uniform flooring would go a long way toward ensuring that effect. I’d be fine with carpet in the bedroom down there.
I think the carpet on the stairs will also take away from the crisp, sleek contemporary look you are going for which the kitchen.
I think the uniform flooring throughout would add much more value than, say, the glass garage door.
I think unified flooring is mainly a matter of personal taste.
In my house I have white oak everywhere on the first floor but the kitchen, which is light-colored bamboo. It looks great.
Especially on a different floor, I think a different flooring will look fine. Especially if is something a little exotic, like cherry or walnut.
What I don’t like with laminate on stairs is that the nosing never looks right, and the nose is an extremely high-wear area. Even with really good laminate, the top layer can wear through.
OT for a moment but related to earlier discussions. Our home warranty company decided they couldn’t repair our stove because they can’t get the parts. So they offered us either $1337, or replacement with this stove, including removal of old stove and installation of new: http://www.sears.com/kenmore-elite-4.5-cu-ft-slide-in-gas/p-02232632000P?redirectType=SKIP_LEVEL
All the (other) old appliances are white. No idea at this time what we’d want to do if we completely redid the kitchen next year, which is one of my potential plans. DH thinks it would be hard to pass up this expensive of a stove.