Hey Surfermom,
Yes we are removing the quarter round trim and the baseboards and putting down 3/8th plywood subfloor, felt paper and then the 3/4 inch maple.
This birch hardwood is stained and scratches so easily. Birch is a fairly soft hardwood and it wasn’t laid properly. Instead of putting transitions at the base of the doorways, which are at a higher level than the rest of the floor, they just made a hilly hardwood floor. Plus some hardwood pieces are only 8 inches long with only 1 staple in them. It makes for a squeaky, wavy floor.
I just noticed you are choosing hickory wood and marble tile. That’s going to look amazing. Hickory is a very strong hardwood. I considered it but I wanted more grain pattern variety so chose maple.
Will you leave it natural or stain it?
What colour is your marble or have you picked it out yet?
Or is that for you counters? I’ was out looking at countertop materials today. Before I had my heart stuck on granite but it’s not very stain or heat resistant so I’m going to keep looking.
Aren’t renovations fun?
I hope you’ll show us a bit of your Reno.
Your project looks as big as ours! We are actually removing the hickory because even it won’t hold up to all the dog traffic. I tried, I tolerated, but the wear is just too much. If you are like us, the labor costs were so outrageous that we decided to give It a go for ourselves.
I want this to last and classic enough that it won’t date easily, so I am looking at everything from travertine, to marble, to luxury vinyl tile. I just want to do this once with material to last; they can use it to make my coffin, as far as I am concerned!
Good luck! I am looking forward to your progress reports! I am away from home but will soon post some “before” photos.
Hey Surfermom,
If you found hickory too soft and not durable enough for your family then you might want to try engineered hardwood or vinyl planks that look like wood. This stuff can even be damp mopped and steam cleaned. It is practically scratch resistant. Some of its guaranteed a lifetime.
Luxury vinyl tiles. Yes. Have a look at those. Theres a nice selection . Home Depot has a bit of a selection but I think you are best off visiting flooring specialists. Go to stores that just sell floors. Ideally you want to touch, and feel what the material is like. Ask about warranty and how easy it is to install.
You should be about to get a decent tile for cheaper than hardwood.
The great thing about many of these types of tiles is that they are perfectly suitable for kitchen and bathrooms since they are waterproof.
Another nice material for kitchen or entranceways are the larger porcelain tiles.
They are very durable and reasonably priced but do take a bit of work. You’ll need a tile cutter for sure.
We aren’t just doing our floors. We are then getting brand new kitchen cabinets and countertops. We did this one year ago at our old house before we sold it.
We always do dIY. They are far cheaper and we trust our workmanship more than more home builders.
Let me know what you decide.
It’s a big decision.
I like doing Reno’s.
Hickory is actually very hard wood. It’s harder than maple. We considered the engineered hardwood and luxury vinyl tiles but went back to maple hardwood. My main reason being that durability is very important but we have cathedral ceilings, and the hardwood floor creates the most beautiful acoustics ever for my singing, keyboard and / or saxophone playing enjoyment and I won’t give that up for anything. It’s priceless!
Another thing I wanted to comment on was durability and maintenance. Here is some helpful info I found. I didn’t realize granite and other natural stone can crack fairly easily with heat stress, too much pressure/ weight etc., and that it can stain very easily.
I’ve now got a granite countertop in my bathroom and anything acidic stains it, even things like peppermint oil or oil of oregano.
There’s a substance called ultra compact Dekton that is heat and stain resistant.
I realize you aren’t getting a countertop but they make tiles out of this substance so it might be worth checking out.
We have the subfloor down in our living room dining room as well as the tar-felt paper. Today we started putting down our new maple. Our dogs are fairly small now and the natural maple doesn’t scratch nearly as easy as the stained birch.
What rooms are you doing?
Have you made any decisions yet?
It’s a lot of work but worth doing
I love picking out the pieces to put down next. It’s fun!
