I do this stuff for a living. Depending on the amount of traffic you will have on it will determine how it will look in 5 to 10 yrs. I suggest shopping around a little bit more first. I myself will get a quote from home depot and then go over to lowes and have them match it and then beat it by 10% like they advertise. Or vice versa. You will get your best price this way. But I wiill suggest only buying the flooring that already has the padding on the back of it. It will be cheaper in the long run and alot easier to work with.
beo.
beo.
They can't tell the difference, usually ! On the lower end properties, it's visual appeal that sells. An empty place always looks better, even a quick-ass Shitty coat of white paint on the walls, and a cheap new carpet does wonders.
I'm no expert, but I say empty is way better !
I looked at a condo recently for step-daughter, it was shown with owner absent. Two dogs in cages, cat roaming around, cluttered with big furniture, smelled bad.... no sale, and price has dropped about 15% since.
Empty, new paint ( even shit-job), new carpet ( cheap)... it sells... on the low end.
Wait until you have the floor for more than one year. As the seasons and temperatures change these floors tend to expand and buckle very easily. Personally I think they look cheap, not just the flooring itself but also the trim and borders, the overall look is not attractive.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Well I finally decided to put this stuff down, borrowed a truck on Sun.( shit is pretty heavy), brought it home, let it sit 48+ hours to acclimate, ripped up old carpet,pad,tackstrip etc,, snuck it into the condo dumpsters at 2am (filling them) knowing they get emptied in a few hours.
It takes a bit to get the hang of it, but I got down about 120sf ( of the 380 I'm attempting) the first day, My goal was to get half of it down, but a neighbor asked me to stop at 10:20 pm, I agreed. It's noisy cutting and hammering, so request was reasonable.
It looks very good ( the 22' by 6' I got in) before quitting early. I find a combination of jigsaw/circular saw/handsaw to be quite sufficient, you don't need a chopsaw, but I'd use it, if I owned one. Kneepads are highly advised. Always rip the toungue off boards facing walls.
I'd do a photo, but lack a digital camera, maybe I'll borrow one from my next -door neighbor, I could use the learning experience of that !
I live in a condo complex with 4 units in my building, Lady on one side works normal day job... so good to do my noisy construction work when she is gone, but the guy on the other side works graveyard, and sleeps during the day... I have to do it sometime !
The graveyard guy is a good friend, but I guess I have conform to the norm and make my noise while he needs to try to sleep. I likely will do the upstairs (and stairs) in this Harmonics laminate material also, over the next couple of weeks.
What are reasonable hours for construction-type noise ?
I found a forum to ask questions about flooring... I'm Doug21 there.
http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/phpbb2/index.php
It takes a bit to get the hang of it, but I got down about 120sf ( of the 380 I'm attempting) the first day, My goal was to get half of it down, but a neighbor asked me to stop at 10:20 pm, I agreed. It's noisy cutting and hammering, so request was reasonable.
It looks very good ( the 22' by 6' I got in) before quitting early. I find a combination of jigsaw/circular saw/handsaw to be quite sufficient, you don't need a chopsaw, but I'd use it, if I owned one. Kneepads are highly advised. Always rip the toungue off boards facing walls.
I'd do a photo, but lack a digital camera, maybe I'll borrow one from my next -door neighbor, I could use the learning experience of that !
I live in a condo complex with 4 units in my building, Lady on one side works normal day job... so good to do my noisy construction work when she is gone, but the guy on the other side works graveyard, and sleeps during the day... I have to do it sometime !
The graveyard guy is a good friend, but I guess I have conform to the norm and make my noise while he needs to try to sleep. I likely will do the upstairs (and stairs) in this Harmonics laminate material also, over the next couple of weeks.
What are reasonable hours for construction-type noise ?
I found a forum to ask questions about flooring... I'm Doug21 there.
http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/phpbb2/index.php
As long as moisture will not be a problem you made the right choice Doug. As some of you know I used to own a small floor covering chain. Laminate floors are everywhere now. There are good grades and shitty grades. The buckling that Joey talks about is due to poor installation and subpar underlayment and moisture barriers. I hope you remembered to leave the 1/4 inch gap between the wall and the flooring. If you haven't picked out the trim, then I would recommend that you use real wood trim and not the matching laminate. You can stain the wood trim to match the laminate and save a bunch of money and have nicer trim. Don't nail the trim too tightly against the laminate as you have to allow the laminate the ability to expand.
I like the way the main room turned out. I found putting back the old moulding to be much easier, just sand it off, patch up any defects, and re-paint it, instead of new stuff and coping saw and those nasty corner cuts.
I order the transistions , stairnose,and 1/4 round and SHIT from the manufacturer, but that takes a week to get, it looks right, though.
Stairs are a real pain to do. You have to cut the tread flush, then cut the laminate many times with 1/16" adjustments ( at least I have to), to get it right.
I hate stairs :
http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/stairs-measuring.htm
Ive done two interlocking glueless laminates floors in my home and both are performing perfectly.The key really is having the right tools and being precise.Its really a snap and they look good.Easy to clean,maintainence free more or less.
Paying a little more for the good laminates is a good idea.
