<p>Looking to replace all carpeting and vinyl flooring. We’d like to have the entire job done by professionals. Obviously, we are concerned about the cost, since we don’t plan on being in this house much past 10 more years and know we would most likely not make the money back in the sale of the house (Pittburgh area). Might even consider high quality laminate…just know for sure that this old flooring has to go!</p>
<p>Another option instead if actual hardwood is tile that looks like hardwood. I was looking at options to replace my bathroom flooring and saw that in a store. It really looks just like hardwood, but is stone. Have no idea if it is cheaper or more expensive than actual hardwood, though.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t put wood in the bathrooms.</p>
<p>Naildown, staple, glue, or floating? There are a lot of nice engineered wood floors that aren’t nailed down. Check the prices at Home Depot or Lowes. In our area installation runs about $2 per square foot whether nailed, stapled, glued, or floated. I take it that the expensive part of the job is all the cutting and fitting together.</p>
<p>If you go for a floating floor, pay for the leveling material and a good quality underlayment. They make a huge difference.</p>
<p>There are also nice sheet vinyl flooring designs that look very much like wood. Personally, I would NOT put wood floors in bathrooms OR kitchens or laundry rooms, especially if you tend to not immediately mop up every little spill or drip. I know people who have had to replace their wooden kitchen floor several times due to unnoticed spills–expensive & messy to redo.</p>
<p>One nice thing about sheet vinyl is how easy it is to care for and dishes tend not to crack when dropped on it. Many also come with extended warranties as long as 25 years, so if it doesn’t hold up, you can have it replace for free before you sell your home. </p>
<p>I think prices also vary greatly by the area you live in & how much competition there is vs qualified professionals available to do the job.</p>
<p>I’ve had hardwood in my kitchen for 12 years. Had it refinished twice. Looks great; I love it.</p>
<p>We put in about 500 sq feet of 1 1/4" red oak flooring, finished on site and had some existing red oak floors refinished at the same time-about 400-500 sq feet. It was about $5000 to do all of that if that gives you a ballpark figure.</p>
<p>My suggestion would be real wood through out most of the house, with porcelain tile in the bathrooms and tile or stone in the kitchen. You can certainly put wood everywhere, but make sure that the wood you select can stand up to water and find out what you would have to do to refinish it eventually. I hate sheet vinyl and vinyl tile and would never put it anywhere, given a choice. (Well, I did put sheet vinyl in my chicken coop…) </p>
<p>It is virtually impossible to give you a set price range on any kind of flooring. It completely depends on which kind you pick. The materials cost and the installation cost can vary wildly. I would suggest going to a good flooring company and getting some prices per square foot <em>installed</em> of a few types of flooring you like. I would then do the same thing at a place like Home Depot (they have installers). That will give you some idea of how much you would have to budget for each type. Note that you can buy tile or flooring at a discount place and then hire an installer. Sometimes that is the cheapest alternative…that is, unless you want to do some of the tiling yourself. 
I’ve done that. We hired someone to do the underlayment, which was complex because we were tiling over an old, rough floor made of rough boards and very uneven. Once he had created a stable surface, I tiled the room with tiles purchased at an excellent price from Home Depot. The whole thing cost less than half what it would have cost if we had gone to a flooring place.</p>
<p>Our house is a bit over forty years old. There’s always some surprise when redoing a floor (and we’ve redone them all). I prefer to have the Home Depot guys in for the first estimate. In our area they do installation only, and are very clear about the work they’d need done before they can proceed with installation. Leveling is extremely important if you want the finished job to look good. Beware the estimate that glosses over this crucial task. Just my experience of course.</p>
<p>There’s nothing to equal site-finished hardwood, imo. I would not go with pre-finished. You end up with beveling and inevitably crumbs and dirt land in between the planks. </p>
<p>It will be an investment for 2,000 sf and so my advice would be to think really carefully about what type of wood and what stain will really last and not go out of style quickly. Some flooring fads end up dating your house pretty quickly. We put in Brazilian Cherry in our last house and it was very pretty but I’m glad we sold when we did because now that look is somewhat out of style and consumers are catching on that super dark floors show a lot of dust. </p>
<p>Usually, the narrower planks are cheaper and for a reason. They usually just don’t look as good as wider planks. I personally really like the hardwood in our current home which is wide planked (5" inch or so) site-finished oak in a warm neutral stain. It’s a floor that enhances but doesn’t scream out for attention. </p>
<p>Good luck. I think any investment in quality hardwood is a good move.</p>
<p>Oh, I would just add that hardwood in a bathroom isn’t probably good idea but it’s lovely in a guest bath.</p>
<p>We have oak…and love it. It’s in all the areas except the bathroom…oak in the kitchen too. It looks great! </p>
<p>If I were doing wood floors now, I would look at bamboo. It is really pretty. Friends have it and it is gorgeous.</p>
<p>While many people have good luck with wood in a kitchen, I personally would not go that route. If everyone in your house is good about wiping up spills after themselves, wood won’t be an issue. In our house, however, there are several members of my family that wouldn’t notice a bright red spill on a white floor unless they slipped in it and broke something…:D. We won’t have wood in our kitchen.</p>
<p>The finishes used on hardwood floors really prevent damage even in a kitchen. We are just this year having our KITCHEN floors redone after 17 years. The finish the guy used was called Street Shoe…and was what was used on bowling alley lanes.</p>
<p>The key is the finish. 1/2 of the houses on my street have hardwood in the kitchen.</p>
<p>If you don’t wipe up spills, you will have stains on ANY floor!</p>
<p>We don’t have wood in the kitchen, bathroom or laundry. We have tile in those rooms.</p>
<p>We had wood in our other home’s kitchen and the males in the household were NOT good about cleaning up spills…or picking up those lose ice cubes that sometimes fly out of the fridge door when using the water/ice dispenser. </p>
<p>We have site-finished wood through-out the rest of the bottom floor. We have carpet upstairs, but will change that to wood when carpet needs replacing…but the bathrooms will still be tile. </p>
<p>I would guess that 2,000 sq feet of hard wood is going to cost about $15,000…depending on wood, type, and any options like diagonal installation, etc.</p>
<p>If you don’t wipe up spills, you will have stains on ANY floor!</p>
<p>Absolutely. But if a spill sits on tile overnight, it doesn’t hurt it.</p>
<p>Interesting . . . I’ve had wood in several kitchens without ever having a stain problem. My one tiled kitchen got several cracked tiles from heavy things falling on them. And the grout would get yucky. I have always found wood floors in the kitchen were very practical. Sometimes I have inadvertently left standing water on a wood floor and been worried but found there to be no resulting stain. I guess the stain and finish play a role. The number of coats, etc.</p>
<p>Our first floor is hardwood, including the kitchen and powder room. I love it and have had no problems with damage or staining, even with 3 rough and tumble boys and 2 dogs. We’ve been here almost 13 years and the floors still look great.</p>
<p>I love my hardwood floors…but do agree that this could be a $15,000-$20,000 investment.
I have carpet in bedrooms, tile in 3 bathrooms, but harwood in my kitchen and hall guest bath. So far so good after 10 years with the wood in the kitchen and bath. I too, would not put the wood in a bathroom that is used a lot.
My sister just bought a house with marble tile everywhere, and she plans to rip it out and put in hardwood…good thing she has plenty of $!
I have seen a house with bamboo floors…they look really nice and are very “green”!</p>
<p>My neighbor put down laminate in his rental. I got down on my hands & knees to look at it & I couldn’t tell. Granted this was when it was brand new, but if you put down rugs, it won’t get much wear.
If you don’t expect to recoup the outlay, reducing your initial cost seems prudent.
[Cost</a> Comparision: Solid vs. Engineered vs. Laminate Hardwood Flooring - Compare Pros and Cons](<a href=“http://www.costowl.com/home-improvement/flooring-solid-vs-engineered-vs-laminate.html]Cost”>Cost Comparision: Solid vs. Engineered vs. Laminate Hardwood Flooring [2023]: Compare Pros and Cons - CostOwl.com)</p>
<p>I live in the South, so hardwood floors not used. I have engineered, glue down, 5" planks in maple. They are hand rubbed, and can be refinished 3 times. I put them everywhere but bedrooms and main baths. I have two area rugs in kitchen, so I don’t have to worry so much about spills.</p>
<p>Replacing the old tile floors with wood has made such an improvement in appearance.</p>
<p>You might want to peek under that carpet, and maybe even the vinyl. We recently pulled up carpet in the bedrooms and hallway to find absolutely beautiful oak hardwood floors with the mitered corners and everything that had no wear. I think the original owners carpeted over them, and people had been carpeting over them since. So for the cost of refinishing we were set.</p>