Author Topic: Anyone know anything about floors? (Read 532 times)

pas · « **Reply #15 on:** October 18, 2006, 03:04:57 PM »

Cocobolo floors or bust...

lbpesq · « **Reply #16 on:** October 19, 2006, 05:25:35 AM »

Greg:

My drummer, the floor guy, said to stay away from Pergo - it sucks. He said there is no reason to use Pergo as there are lesser priced hardwoods that are no more expensive than Pergo. My bass player chimed in that he hates the sound of walking on Pergo.

Bill, tgo

bigideas · « **Reply #17 on:** October 19, 2006, 10:18:39 AM »

what about bamboo? that stuff is little strips laminated into flooring boards, but man alive its hard.

bsee · « **Reply #18 on:** October 19, 2006, 10:41:07 AM »

I don't know about for flooring, but laminated bamboo is a fairly hot combo for wood baseball bats in the amateur leagues because of how hard it is. Supposedly it is a little harder than the hardest maples.

Bradley Young · « **Reply #19 on:** October 19, 2006, 10:44:35 AM »

Forget Cocobolo, I want African Blackwood.

http://www.parquetnoble.co.za/

Bradley

jacko · « **Reply #20 on:** October 19, 2006, 11:24:51 AM »

Greg.
In the 'now' unlikely event that you go with the laminate, you need to make sure your floor is absolutely dead flat first. We had a slight warp in the underlying chipboard floors which translated to a big hump in the pergo. movement over this in the last 8 years has resulted in the tongue on a couple of boards splitting. means the laminate boards move independantly of each other now. Mrs j is trying to get me to break into my series savings to lay down hardwood floorboards. Some chance!

Graeme.

bsee · « **Reply #21 on:** October 19, 2006, 12:08:58 PM »

I may be reflooring soon as well. The issue I think I would have with wood is the extra thickness. Wouldn't it throw everything else off, meaning redoing cabinets and a bunch of trim?

keith_h · « **Reply #22 on:** October 19, 2006, 12:22:06 PM »

Bob,
Ideally you would want to have your cabinets and base board on top of the flooring. Depending upon the thickness you might be able to get away with butting the flooring to existing cabinets and base boards and then using 1/4 round trim to hide the gaps. To transition a room with hardwood floor to a room without I would just use a threshold similar to what you do with tile.

Keith

adriaan · « **Reply #23 on:** October 19, 2006, 02:19:31 PM »

Graeme,

Aren't you supposed to have felt or some other damping material under the pergo? Should take care of (1) minor unevennesses in the floor underneath it, and (2) contact noise.

slawie · « **Reply #24 on:** October 19, 2006, 05:25:38 PM »

+1 Keith
I have had cork tiles in my house for 23 years and the warmth of the floor is great. Not only that that there have been a number of glasses etc. dropped that survived the fall. One word of advice though if you get cork avoid the stillettos that will pit the surface, because cork is usually coated in a couple of coats of urethane.
Slawie.

edwin · « **Reply #25 on:** October 21, 2006, 02:49:53 AM »

I have hardwood in the first floor of my 1957 ranch house. Like every other house in the neighborhood, it was covered with wall to wall carpeting for most of its life, so a slight sanding and then the really toxic covering was all it took to get it up to snuff. In the basement I did a Pergo style floor in my studio room to cover up the asbestos tile that looked like it wouldn't take any real abuse. It's not great, but I didn't need it to be and at the time was cheaper than real wood, as that would have required turning the house into a superfund toxic waste cleanup site. Now, the asbestos is well covered up and I have a pretty decent surface. However, my vote is for real wood. I have seen some great bamboo recently.

Edwin
PS I like the LEDs in the threshold idea!

bassman10096 · « **Reply #26 on:** October 22, 2006, 05:13:14 AM »

I just got finished tearing Pergo out of a bedroom in my house. It was in place for 6 years (hardly a lifetime considering it's quite expensive). The two problems that caused it to fail: (1) It buckled in any spot where the under flooring was less than 100% perfect flat. I've installed many floors and have never seen a material so finicky about its foundation. (2) You can't underestimate how important it is to keep any liquid off the floor. Any place where even a small amount looked like it spilled across a joint between planks, the material swelled and began delaminating.

Pergo is a synthetic nightmare. And not cheap. For the small difference in cost, spend the money for real wood or tile. There are a lot of Pergo owners who wish they had...

811952 · « **Reply #27 on:** October 22, 2006, 09:40:41 AM »

You don't need (or want) felt if you're glueing it down. Modern construction adhesives designed for flooring cure to a very rubbery consistency. They don't lose adherence as the floor expands and/or contracts, and they make it quiet to walk on. I wish I'd slathered the stuff on when I built my subfloor (and used screws instead of nails), because I've got a few squeaks where I didn't. Glueing the bamboo down with Bostich's Best glue sure quieted things up a lot. I nailed it in some strategic spots to keep it in place while the glue cured between our sessions of floor-laying. Be aware that, at least with the Bostich's Best, floor glue is the snottiest, stickiest, gooeyest stuff I've ever seen, and it is like a magnet for things it's not supposed to get on. Plus, NOTHING removes it once it's cured. Don't ask me how I know this.

As for the leveling, it is unbelieveable how a perfectly flat and level subfloor really isn't either. Minor imperfections in it manifest themselves as major imperfections once the flooring goes down. Don't ask me how I know this.

I think we were able to get our bamboo (which is wonderful) for around $1.85/sq. ft. from a wholesaler in Highland, Illinois. They even delivered to our road (but not to our house - you've never seen a Honda Element so loaded with Bamboo!) for free, because it was almost on their normal truck route. If you shop around, use The Internets and make enough calls, you can find good stuff very reasonably priced. And yes, get samples from as many vendors as possible before you commit...

John

keurosix · « **Reply #28 on:** October 22, 2006, 08:07:49 PM »

I have to second the gripes of the laminate floors. Go with real wood. I've seen too many buckled floors to mention, and walking on them feels like walking on a trampolene. If the house reacts with the weather (as all wood does) and the clearances are too tight at the edges, the floor can lift up and create a pocket below, which moves as you walk on it. I have oak floors in my house now, and had them in my last house too. I just love real wood.
Kris

tbrannon · « **Reply #29 on:** October 22, 2006, 09:07:50 PM »

I had Pergo in my first house. Never again- for all of the same reasons the guys have listed above.

If I have the opportunity to install flooring again and wood is a viable option, I'll go with real wood.