We are considering redoing all our first level in hardwood. However, we have a couple major reservatonand I was hoping that you could give me some options.
One issue is that we have a traffic pattern that cannot be avoided and is the only way you enter the house from the garage. It’s goes right through the FR to the kitchen, and unfortunately the two entryways on either side of the FR do not line up. They offset about a foot. Our driveway is asphalt, and that blacktop residue is horrible. I currently use rugs that get filthy, even when we try to remember to take our shoes off. It’s embarrassing to look at, the carpet surrounding the runners get dirty too. I just read the asphalt dust also ruins hardwood…so…I’m trying to figure out a solution. The kitchen is tile, the entry from the garage is the same tile. The FRi s rectangular, living area portion 2/3, then walkway, then the remainder where we have other furniture rarely used.
How badly do your rooms echo? This bothers me. We would be spending $$$ more in thick blush area rugs in the FR, which is ok.
I know it will give our house a much updated and refreshed look, but the blacktop residue is really bothering me. I don’t want to live with runners that angle askew anymore.
It does need to be redone, but even when it’s newly blacktopped, thousands of steps add up. Both exits from the FR are tiled. What do you think of tiling the 1/3 of the FR in similar tile and the 2/3 wood where we live in the Room. Somehow a cool transition. With any new flooring I know we would insist no shoes of family members. But the blacktop comes up easily off the tile. I’d love to just do a tile ‘rug’, but like I said the doorways are offset 10".
Personally, I’m not a fan a fan of mixing flooring in one room.
For us, shoes get left in the garage so even the tiled entry from the garage to the rest of the house helps a lot.
i think my suggestion would be to get real hardwood floors which could be refinished down the road if needed and then insist on no shoes past the threshold from the garage. I think that would be sufficient unless there is some dynamic i’m not understanding.
We have hardwood through out the first floor and an asphalt drive. Only entry to front or back doors is to walk up on that drive. I’ve never had a problem with asphalt dust. Are there different types of asphalt? We have ours seal coated regularly, but even then, not regularly enough. Could you have a driveway company out to check on options for the asphalt problem? If not, I think 1/3 tile to hardwood transition could be really nice.
Good idea, I would love to do the driveway, but we don’t want to spend so much money updating the house, not just flooring, and a new driveway. Our driveway is huge, a wrap around. I measured it and its 3,000 Sq ft. It would cost about $25,000+ to dig out the blacktop and replace. Another 20,000 on flooring…etc.
$20,000 on flooring?? We redid a room in hardwood and refinished the rest of the downstairs that was hardwood (all but one room is hardwood) and it cost nowhere near that!
I don’t think that figure is too far off. Co mama has a large house; mine is smaller, but I recall it costing $15,000 for floors and painting common areas, many years ago.
My friend redid in a top of the line white oak, and hers cost a lot more than mine.
Wow. We had a floor that had to have the subfloor built up to handle the hardwood (previously was carpet) and then had to blend the edges to the existing hardwood and then refinish the floors. Didnt paint. But the cost was waaaaay less than that
The first floor that would be engineered hardwood is 1500 Sq ft…this does not include my kitchen, bathroom, laundry room and front and back entrances…which are tiled. The one I was pricing cost $9.75 Sq. Ft. Installed. This comes to about 14,000 and as we know it’s always more. The carpet upstairs would come in about 5,000 or so.
I do appreciate taking shoes off and I know that will help alot, but I also know it will still happen. Very frustrating.
The wood guy said since we want the wider planks, and do to the expanding contracting of wood, they always recommend the engineered if possible.
So you are replacing 1500 feet with wide plank hardwood. Thats a lot. That said, if the area opens to the kitchen, you might consider doing that is wood as well. We love ours.
I know, it makes us cringe to be honest. We won’t replace the tile, we love it. We redid the front entry and the kitchen in this tile and it coordinates with the backslash. The wood will be lighter and blend in, like we originally did with the carpet color. Just no good solution.
Did I miss something - what happened to the first Conmama!!!
We have almost all hardwoods except for the kitchen floors. I have never noted a problem with discoloration from the asphalt driveway. I don’t know your part of the country, but here and from watching so much House Hunters (!!), hardwood is the overwhelming choice of what people want - especially on main floors. They are easy to clean and adding an area rug in your main living area warms the room up, is nice on your feet and provides a good decorative element.
I’ll bet if you ask a wood floor supplier they can recommend a wood floor with a finish that is particularly easy/easier to clean and remove residue.
I have hardwoods in every room of my house except the bathrooms and laundry rooms, I also have an asphalt driveway but the company that put ours in recommends you not seal it as the temperature changes causes more cracks when it’s sealed. My driveway is 15 years old and looks great, while those who have sealed theirs are full of cracks. It’s the sealant that your shoes are picking up and trekking into the house.
Our main floor is hardwood except for the front foyer, poweder room, and mudmroom…which are tile.
So…our kitchen, breakfast room, living room and dining room are hardwood…and we love those floors. We have area rugs in all of the rooms.
We also have runners in front of the sink and stove in the kitchen.
We have a rug in our entry where folks can wipe their feet, sounds like you will need something similar near your entry door. In addition, we (family) do not wear our outdoor shoes in the house. This cuts down on grit and the dirt that can be brought in on shoes.
Last summer we had our floors refinished for the first time in 21 years. Really, they wore well.
In HI most homes (including ours) have no shoes policy. We have small throw rugs by all entryways in our home and most of the grit ends up there. Our hardwood floors are 24 years old and still look great, IMHO. It is slightly darker by the front entry and between the kitchen and dining room but looks fine.
There is a finish on our floor which is the same one that is on the wooden floor that’s at the shopping malls–it has lasted well. Ours are white oak floors. We kept sheet vinyl in the kitchen and both bathrooms, which was a good thing as our washer and dryer are in the kitchen, and it has overflowed several times, so the wood likely would have been ruined.
We have regular white oak, not engineered wood. It looks great and it “seasoned and acclimated” in our house for weeks before it was installed. It was installed with spacers so it could expand as needed without buckling. It looks great and we have never had any trouble with it.
We have hardwood and our house definitely has echo/acoustic issues that were not there when we had carpeting. This despite having rugs and runners all over the place. But we also have vaulted ceilings everywhere and that’s a big part of the problem. I really dislike the empty sound of our house and it makes it feel so much less homey, although the wood is lovely.
