Flooring advice needed.

[sandyriver]

Deciding to remove the carpet in the living room and replace with hardwood/laminate flooring. The house is 5 yrs old and we would like to continue live here but you never know what may happen tomorrow, right?

I would like some tips here -

1] I have a 6 yrs old boy and a 3 yr old girl, would you advice on hardwood or laminate?

2] The installer charges me $ 2.00/ sq ft. Is that reeasonable?

3] The hardwood he has is $ 5.00 / sq ft. is that ok? he says he buys it direct. The hardwood looks good and it also comes with the underpad for that price.

4] lastly- if I buy my own flooring both for hardwood or laminate, which brand do I go with?

thanks.

[Drthorne]

are those prices supplied and installed?

[patrob]

Deciding to remove the carpet in the living room and replace with hardwood/laminate flooring. The house is 5 yrs old and we would like to continue live here but you never know what may happen tomorrow, right?

1] I have a 6 yrs old boy and a 3 yr old girl, would you advice on hardwood or laminate?
2] The installer charges me $ 2.00/ sq ft. Is that reeasonable?
3] The hardwood he has is $ 5.00 / sq ft. is that ok? he says he buys it direct. The hardwood looks good and it also comes with the underpad for that price.
4] lastly- if I buy my own flooring both for hardwood or laminate, which brand do I go with?

Just avoid laminate...maybe good in the basement but not main floors.

Depends on the installers, some are not worth that money...some are real butchers & then there are real installers that care about what they do & those are worth the $2, also depends on the installation...if simple/straight

The only 'underpad' that goes under the hardwood is wax paper...it's not really any type of underpad...so I question what your installer told you

Depending on your budget, there is the cheap hardwood & then there is the better kind...Vintage hardwood has excellent quality & is ranked at the top...Mirage is also very good but costs more money...

[sandyriver]

yes Dthrone, these prices are supplied and installed. Is it too high or low?

Patrob, are you saying $2 for installation is high?
and yeah he did mention something about wax paper too. Thanks for pointing this. Will enquire more about it. The flooring samples had some padding underneath it and he said that was flooring pads for the laminate ones.

He didn't actually mention the brand of hardwood floor for the samples he had bought. I am actually inclined towards Bruce hardwood flooring.

Any inputs on the brand and where to buy them in the GTA?

[patrob]

Patrob, are you saying $2 for installation is high?
and yeah he did mention something about wax paper too. Thanks for pointing this. Will enquire more about it. The flooring samples had some padding underneath it and he said that was flooring pads for the laminate ones.

He didn't actually mention the brand of hardwood floor for the samples he had bought. I am actually inclined towards Bruce hardwood flooring.

Any inputs on the brand and where to buy them in the GTA?

The price for installation depends on what has to be done, if the sub-floors have to be fixed, nosings raised, etc. So it's hard to say but does not look out of line. You don't want to get someone who is cheap either...there is a reason...good installers are not cheap

I think that you should look at few diff. brands before deciding. Bruce is not considered the best out there or even close...but it is cheaper. But sometimes trying to save $1 on the wood where you only have 500 sq. ft., that's only $500 & you could get much nicer wood IMO...you only do floors once...don't just go for the cheapest stuff

[issy]

consumer report by ctv , suggest using the ARMSTRONG laminated flooring
whick was better then some of the hardwood flooring out their ...
ARMSTRONG goes make a BRUCE Laminated flooring ....please check
out their site...

http://www.armstrong.com/resflram/na.../laminate.html

[michael_wong_e]

thats kinda high the price

[patrob]

thats kinda high the price

What price is high