Let’s talk about wood, shall we? As we mentioned on Tuesday, we decided to go with solid oak hardwoods for the four bedrooms and the hallway upstairs since many rooms downstairs along with the stairs themselves have a nice medium toned oak already (pretty similar to the hardwoods in our first house that ended up being super dog/kid friendly).
As for where to get it, first we looked on craigslist to see if anyone had a large quantity of something in the right tone/amount (no dice) and then we headed to Lumber Liquidators, since we’ve had luck with them when it came to buying hardwood floors for half of our first house back in 2007 and it’s also where we got the cork flooring for our kitchen in 2011. They always have a ton of selection, and tend to have lots in stock along with all of the underlayment & tools in one place, so they’re pretty much a one stop shop for us now that it’s our third time to the flooring rodeo.
Clara walked right in and made herself comfortable (the girl’s right at home on wood flooring, what can I say?) and we had a look around.
She also had some fun on the tiny set of display stairs. According to the guys who work there every kid who enters the store does that as some sort of unspoken toddler rite of passage.
We ended up grabbing six different samples to hold up against the stairs to see which one would be the best match (we tackled this “sampling phase” right before ripping out all of that nasty upstairs carpeting). Since the sun was setting, we waited until the next morning to take them to the new house so we could judge them in natural light.
We decided to try stripping the carpet off of just the top stair so we could be sure the wood under there was still in good shape (if it was completely damaged we’d have to refinish them, which would mean that we could be less careful about picking a matching wood tone for the upstairs). Thankfully the floor under the runner was in great shape (after we pulled about a hundred staples out by hand) and we loved the medium brown tone (not too yellow, not too dark, not too light). Basically it’s the Goldilocks of hard wood.
For a bit more on why we love not-too-dark-not-too-light-not-too-yellow-not-too-red-toned oak, it’s probably 50% personal preference (some people love it redder or more golden) and 50% practical (if you go too dark with hardwoods we hear that every spec of dust and pet hair can be seen, and if you go too light we’ve heard that wear and tear is also easier to spot since it’s such a light surface). And since we had practically the same tone of oak hardwoods in our first house for years (and it worked well for us – we loved how it looked with our furniture, etc) that ended up swaying us.
Can you tell from this bad iPhone picture of all the samples (sorry!) which one works the best with the stairs?
Yup, it’s the bottom left guy. He was the only one in almost exactly the same color and with the same variety of grain (some dark grain and some light grain). It was also the same thickness (2 1/4″) as the hardwood downstairs. So although we loved some of the wider board options, it felt true to our house and nice and cohesive to go with the one that was the right color, had the right amount of wood grain, and was the same width as the rest of the wood flooring in the house.
It took everything in us not to keep going down each step with the crowbar and the pliers, stripping that stained old carpet as we went. But we knew we had a date with the carpeting upstairs (it’s more important to rip that out and lay the new hardwoods before we move than it is to get it off the stairs, which can be done at any time). In the bad news department, that top step took us about 20 minutes to wrestle free (which means we have about three hours worth of work in our future). But stair runner, you have been warned. We’ll be back.
So after judging those samples in the nice natural light of the morning, we returned to Lumber Liquidators a day after our first trip to officially put in our order. We were armed with the square footage for all of the areas we needed to do, so now that we had picked our Hardwood Bachelor (he accepted our rose and everything), it was pretty straightforward.
Here’s a close up of our winner winner chicken dinner. It’s called Lono Oak and it’s a solid wood floor (it’s not engineered, and it’s 3/4″ thick so it can be refinished many times) and it comes with a 25 year warranty. Most hardwood flooring is in the $4-7-ish range, but LL’s list price was $3.69 per square foot.
Here’s where I smiled sweetly and asked my favorite negotiating question, which is “what’s your best price?” Then you just stand there. Resist the urge to mumble “uh, not that I’m trying to be tough” or “I’m sorry, forget it” Just stand there in silence and wait to see what they say. If they can come down, they’ll tell you. And if they can’t they’ll say they can’t and you can smile and say “just had to ask.” John hates this step, so it’s always my job. And before I threw out my favorite line, I also mentioned how this was our third big order from them so we’re definitely loyal repeat customers.
Boom: 10% off our entire order for those two sentences. So that took the price per square foot down to $3.29 and also scored us 10% off other things we grabbed like a special type of underlayment to work with our subfloor (more on that when we get to the installation process). Speaking of installing it, we’re going to attempt to do it all ourselves, and we better get started soon if we hope to move in 2.5 weeks! Plus we want to paint all of the blue/mauve trim (and maybe even the doors?) while the carpet’s out but before the floor goes down. So… yeah. Tick tock, Petersiks.
Meanwhile Clara was busy spicing up their brochure displays…
We left feeling pretty excited about our big upstairs flooring overhaul. Especially since we asked how much it would cost to hire their guys to install all the flooring and they said it would be around four thousand bucks! So assuming we can do it (knock on hardwood) it’ll definitely add up to some serious money saved.
So our hardwoods are ordered and we have a whole mess of blue trim to paint. We’d like to buy a paint sprayer and try our hand at that, so we’ll keep you posted. Should be interesting…
More Flooring Projects
If you would like to read about other flooring projects we’ve done, please check out the posts below:
Wow – impressive that you will tackle this. Recommend buying quality knee pads, your future self will thank you.
We had hardwood installed (by contractor) in our current house before move in, when you get your order, start distributing it into various rooms and opening packages to allow it to aclimate to avoid future shrink/warp (the George Costanza effect).
Growing up in New England, we had hardwood floors and my Mom made carpet rectangles for the stairwell tread portion to minimize excessive wear on the stairs (and to avoid slips and falls), these rectangle carpet things allowed the side of each step to show and the riser was left as hardwood. Very nicely done by my Mom, she is my hero.
Good luck and truly best wishes on this job.
I’m so excited to see them installed! We actually bought the exact same flooring from Lumber Liquidators earlier this year and installed it in 2 rooms at our house. The installation really isn’t too bad, it’s just the first couple and last few rows that are a pain since you can’t use the big flooring nailer. I even wrote a blog post about our installation: http://lombardolagniappe.blogspot.com/2013/02/our-new-wood-floors.html
Can’t wait to her how your experience with them is!
So exciting! This is the FUN stuff. *uh, to some of us, anyway* lol
When we built our two story, we insulated between floors. It really helped the sound issues. Don’t know if you have that option while the floor is out, but if you do, it’s sure worth it.
I love Lumber Liquidators! We bought all the hardwood for our house their in two separate occasions there. Luckily our previously discontinued flooring was brought back just in time for us to buy more.
I’m pretty sure you two can handle the installation. My boyfriend and I installed ours in our living, dining, 3 bedrooms, and a hall way that leads to our loft. The nice thing about the pre finished wood is that once its in its in. here is the link
Also, are you going to reuse the existing base boards? I found it handy to keep a small piece of the base board moulding near by so that I could make sure the expansion gap between the wood and the drywall wasn’t bigger than the moulding. Oh, and we got our floor nailer at Harbor Freight for around $80. That’s a lot cheaper than Home Depot or Lowes and it works just fine.
So smart! Love the tips Nikki! We definitely plan to reuse the existing baseboards!
xo
s
Megan F.says
When I read the first sentence “Let’s talk about wood, shall we?” my mind automatically started singing it to the tune of “Let’s talk about sex, baby” by Salt-n-Pepa.
“Let’s talk about wood, bay-bee. Let’s talk about you and meeee”… haha
Hahaha! That would be quite a surprise for someone later…
xo
s
Julie F.says
But seriously, I don’t know if you’ve ever consider leaving a small note or a testimony of your presence when you cover something up in your house, like a floor of a wall. It’s very personnal, it feels like having a little secret between you and your home. :)
Oh yes, we did that with our first house. We slipped a note and a photo back behind a cabinet before the counters were installed :)
xo
s
Mariangelessays
So exciting!
Little tip, we also got our flooring from Lumber Liquidators and did the whole taking samples to the house and comparing thing but before we purchase it, we went to their website and checked to see if it they had in stock the quantity we needed and then WE MADE A DEAL!!!
This is how it works, go to the lumber liquidators page, enter zip code, then click where it says MAKE A DEAL ON LOCAL ITEMS, hopefully they have your product in stock like they did for ours, click and email an offer. We got our flooring $1 cheaper per sq ft!!!! :) I hope it helps someone!
Ooh, I did the very same thing you are doing just a few months ago in my house!! We ripped out the carpet, same as you did, and we installed prefinished hardwood floor from Lumber Liquidators, just like you are! We did about 1,000 sq ft of hardwood. We did it in the downstairs tho, we just put down new carpet in the upstairs. Here’s an in-progress pic from ages ago: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2fnmNQtEU/T_4T4PAWICI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/2KHSYWjeEDE/s320/floor6.jpg
In case you need tips, some of the things I learned:
1) the floor nailer will not reach all the way up to the wall. You will need a nail gun to do those boards. The nail gun you use needs to have some real chops, and the nails need to be monsters to get through the wood and into the subfloor. It’s a good idea to get something that will allow you
2) You can face nail some boards close to the wall if they will be covered by trim. No need to waste time trying to toe-nail those.
3) It goes WAY faster if Person 1 lays out the boards and taps them into place with a rubber mallet ahead of Person 2 with the floor nailer.
4) Mildly warped boards are not a big deal. The floor nailer does NOT mess around, and you can straighten warped boards with it (if you’re careful).
5) The floor nailer does NOT mess around. Respect it.
Love the oak flooring, we have just replaced our carpet with blond oak vinyl strips on our concrete slab and I am beyond thrilled with how easy they are to maintain. I love the graininess of the oak and I cannot wait to see your installation process.
My hubby and I put solid hardwood throughout most of our house last fall. Neither of us are very experienced DIYers but even we were able to figure it out so I’m sure it will be a breeze for you guys! We also purchased from Lumber Liquidators and are super happy with how things turned out, although it was a TON of work! Took us several months, but that included removing a couple hundred square feet of ceramic tile (can you say *dusty* omw) from our concrete subfloor, leveling and prepping the floor (by FAR the hardest part) and installing, while Hubby was still working full time of course, so it was slow going!
Love it! We have installed 3/4in hardwood in 4 rooms at our house. You save SO MUCH MONEY but it is definitely a lot of handwork and very tedious. We used a staple gun for hardwood floors, this was recommended by many installers. Good luck! I can’t wait to see the finished product! You can do it!
We also used Lumber Liquidators for our laminate flooring and we LOVED their product and got it at a great price…..However, what we did not know was that every 2/3 years, they change the locking method with their products, so the old product and the new product do not click together. Therefore, if you need to replace a few panels, you need to redo your ENTIRE house….the old flooring becomes extinct. We kept 75 sq. ft. extra in our attic, but it wasn’t enough when we had a flood.
You may want to order extra boxes in case there is ever a problem!
Ahhh! That’s so frustrating! Thankfully their hardwood is an industry standard, but that laminate changing-every-three-years thing is crazy! Wish they would cut that out!
xo
s
Lizabeth Wolchkosays
I saw that you guys are looking to buy a paint sprayer…I am trying to sell my late brother’s. Please email me and I will get you the make and model and you can make an offer. It is currently in Pennsylvania, but a road trip is planned. Long story…
Love the color of your soon-to-be floors! I’m picky when it comes to my wood colors…I’m not a fan of red or yellow tones–chocolate-ish goodness all the way for this girl! :)
I am SO psyched to see your progress/future posts about this. My hubs and I are in the exact same boat: We just bought a house four weeks ago and hate the upstairs carpet. Good luck with the installation! :)
Awesome flooring choice and I bet it’ll look amazing when it’s all done.
Oh and my hubby is “that person” in our marriage, in fact recently he scored $100 off a new power wheels jeep for our sons 3rd bday!! He was in the Navy so his first question is always, do you give a veterans discount? When that doesn’t work he just asks flat out, how much of a discount they’ll give!
wow im so shock by the price in australia for the same product you would be looking at so much more we just did our floors with hardwood and it was over $60.00 sq meter!!!!
Just a warning: I bought a 1940’s house last year that had floors a similar brown oak color. I had them refinished and once they were stripped, they were a much lighter golden color.
I read you daily but almost never write a comment. I know I’ll never be able to afford a house (I live in Barcelona – Spain) but if I ever can, I would like to have a house with only one floor (like your two previous ranches).
But the fact is that your new two-stories house is my favourite by far, with a high difference with the other two that were only one floor.
Yes, my perfect house is one with only one floor, but I love love love your new house, and I’m eager to see what you do with it. It looks great with big spaces and with great distribution. And your oak wood with white trim will be to die for, I’m sure!
Congratulations for your new adventure, be sure I’ll follow you.
We had a carpet runner on our stairs too, which I pulled up after having a really bad fall (and ended up with a huge hematoma on my butt). I also pulled up the carpet on the upstairs landing and it has sat that way for, oh, a few years now. The plan is to install hardwood upstairs ourselves, so I’m very excited to see how your experience goes.
I just spent a week or so catching up since New Year’s — Wow, so exciting! I **LOVE** that you did your own crown moulding in the “last” house — I was discouraged by someone I know who’s done it, and hated it, but I think I see a miter table saw in my future someday. AND I am SO EXCITED to see how you tackle this hardwood install!! SOOO!! EXCIIITEEEEEDDDDD! (Can you tell I really mean it?)
(:
Looks like fun! I just finished installing 320 ft.² of three-quarter inch Hickory flooring in our house. It turned out beautiful! It did take me multiple days to get it done though. I used this floor nailer that I bought on Amazon, it worked like a dream, never jammed one time. Super easy to use too, just thought that might help.
You need a paint sprayer!! We got a Wagner factory refurbished on amazon 2 years ago for around $100 bucks. Amazing! You would love it. Especially if you sprayed the house before you put down your hardwoods ( less to plastic off. It is fun to run and you will use it on tons of other projects I’m sure! It’s amazing on furniture. Just be sure to get the one that sucks the paint directly from the bucket. Good luck!
That color you chose looks great. You’re right about dark floors showing every speck of dust and hair…I learned that the hard way.
It’s really not that hard to install hardwood floors, since you built a deck successfully, you guys should have no problem with this. Rent a pneumatic nailer and buy extra nails, have your table saw ready to go, use a laser level to establish your straight line for your first row and you’ll be fine :)
Excited to see how you install the flooring…especially since we’re buying a house with many of the same needed updates…so we’ll be right behind you guys – glued to your tutorials. We have very little experience with this stuff but are motivated- especially after watching you guys! Talk about tight timelines; with baby #2 coming in August, sometimes I feel faint just thinking about the to-do list! Yikes.
Can’t wait for the wallpaper removal…Hear THAT’S fun!
That is so exciting! I hope that you guys are able to install it yourselves because we’re hoping to do the same. Lumber Liquidators seem to have the best price too. Keep us posted, my husband and I are moving into our new house during the same week so we’re anxious and excited too :D
Did you ask them about the use of the flooring gun for free? We installed oak flooring (similar to what you purchased, I love it) in part of our downstairs when we built our house in 1996. We are getting ready to install it in the rest of the downstairs and was amazed to find that it is still the same price. The local company we bought it from will even deliver and unload it for ten bucks and we get free use of their flooring gun. Sold! My husband installed it the first time and did a great job. We did have professionals do the sanding and finish due to a time crunch. I really enjoy your blog and getting inspiration for my household projects.
Thanks Janet, we’ll have to check that out! We had a bunch of conversations with them about how many times it can be refinished (many since it’s 3/4″ thick) so I know they said it could be done a ton, but I’ll ask specifically about that ingredient :)
Those are pretty. When we redid our last house we put in 1 inch thick solid oak flooring. We chose that because it could be refinished 6 or 8 times before you had a problem. We did the natural oak so no stain at all and just a polyurethane coating to protect it. After 10 years it didn’t need any work. We’re currently in the process of reclaiming cypress for our floors in our new to us house. Kids are not impressed! We’ve got about 1800 sf that needs to be done but reclaiming cypress for flooring use takes alot of time! I love what y’all are doing and look to your blog for inspiration! Please keep us all inspired!
We just hit the Lumber Liquidators right here in the #RVA and they hooked us up with flooring – for our two boys’ rooms. Goodbye carpet from 1989; hello oak floors! It’s taking forever but so pretty that it’s worth it!
We used Prosource Flooring and got an amazing deal on flooring. My husband has a graphic design business and haggled with them until he got a membership – it should be easier for you guys. We found the florring we loved at Lowes on sale so Prosource beat that price and we only paid wholesale.good luck with the install!
For using an airless sprayer for trim I’d recommend buying a fine finish tip. We bought a size 310 and it worked great for trim. Did our whole basement trim, door jams and interior doors with it. It was especially handy with the interior doors. Worked great.
Here’s my two cents on paint sprayers (which you’ve probably heard from other readers) – they’re definitely faster and apply a nice, even coat. BUT they use up way more paint than the traditional roller/brush method AND they’re kind of a nightmare to clean. Will be interested to hear about your experience. Good luck!
Will you guys be offering a discount with Lumber Liquidators anytime soon? We are doing our master bedroom soon and that would be HIGHLY convenient ;-)
I have a Wagner 518080 Control Spray Max HVLP Sprayer that I love. Currently $111 on Amazon. It is by far the best time saver I’ve had for painting furniture and I get a better finish than I could manage by hand. Even if you go with another brand, definitely look at HVLP as they’re safer than their high pressure cousins.
Hey there. Just wanted to know how you decided on prestained vs. unfinished and stain in place? Sorry if it’s mentioned somewhere…I looked around a few other posts, but couldn’t find it. Anyhow, I totally get the pros of already having it stained…that’s my gut reaction to do it that way, but I’ve heard something about stuff getting in the cracks easier or something w/prestained. Would love to hear your thoughts, etc. Thanks so much! Love all the stuff you guys do! Can’t wait to see the new place come together. so fun!
We just had them installed in our first house and were very happy with them, they were more cost affective, and they saved us time (they could be walked on right away without any drying time for stain or poly). We haven’t had any issues with anything getting in cracks (they should be laid really closely so there’s not like a little space for things to fall into or anything). Hope it helps!
Sorry if you guys have addressed this in a previous post – but how do you determine how much wood you need? I believe at one point I heard to add 10% to your SF, but what about if you want to do the whole thing on a diagonal? Would that increase your extra percentage?
Good question! I would give the square footage to your supplier and tell them if anything unusual is planned (ex: diagonal) and hopefully they can help you calculate it.
Look forward to seeing your new floors! Best of luck with the project.. Maybe also try craigslist for a paint sprayer, I found one awhile back while doing the trim in my home.. I have now used it for my baseboards, door casings, and exterior trim.. Well worth it.
You don’t happen to have 5 boxes left over do you :) We put this down in our house and a certain someone didn’t want to lay it in the kitchen and now that said person has changed his mind LL has discontinued it :(
Kit says
Wow – impressive that you will tackle this. Recommend buying quality knee pads, your future self will thank you.
We had hardwood installed (by contractor) in our current house before move in, when you get your order, start distributing it into various rooms and opening packages to allow it to aclimate to avoid future shrink/warp (the George Costanza effect).
Growing up in New England, we had hardwood floors and my Mom made carpet rectangles for the stairwell tread portion to minimize excessive wear on the stairs (and to avoid slips and falls), these rectangle carpet things allowed the side of each step to show and the riser was left as hardwood. Very nicely done by my Mom, she is my hero.
Good luck and truly best wishes on this job.
Lisa says
I’m so excited to see them installed! We actually bought the exact same flooring from Lumber Liquidators earlier this year and installed it in 2 rooms at our house. The installation really isn’t too bad, it’s just the first couple and last few rows that are a pain since you can’t use the big flooring nailer. I even wrote a blog post about our installation: http://lombardolagniappe.blogspot.com/2013/02/our-new-wood-floors.html
Can’t wait to her how your experience with them is!
KathyG says
So exciting! This is the FUN stuff. *uh, to some of us, anyway* lol
When we built our two story, we insulated between floors. It really helped the sound issues. Don’t know if you have that option while the floor is out, but if you do, it’s sure worth it.
Nikki Kelly says
I love Lumber Liquidators! We bought all the hardwood for our house their in two separate occasions there. Luckily our previously discontinued flooring was brought back just in time for us to buy more.
I’m pretty sure you two can handle the installation. My boyfriend and I installed ours in our living, dining, 3 bedrooms, and a hall way that leads to our loft. The nice thing about the pre finished wood is that once its in its in. here is the link
Also, are you going to reuse the existing base boards? I found it handy to keep a small piece of the base board moulding near by so that I could make sure the expansion gap between the wood and the drywall wasn’t bigger than the moulding. Oh, and we got our floor nailer at Harbor Freight for around $80. That’s a lot cheaper than Home Depot or Lowes and it works just fine.
Good luck, can’t wait to see the progress!
Nikki Kelly
YoungHouseLove says
So smart! Love the tips Nikki! We definitely plan to reuse the existing baseboards!
xo
s
Megan F. says
When I read the first sentence “Let’s talk about wood, shall we?” my mind automatically started singing it to the tune of “Let’s talk about sex, baby” by Salt-n-Pepa.
“Let’s talk about wood, bay-bee. Let’s talk about you and meeee”… haha
YoungHouseLove says
Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be! Or is it “that make me?” Man I’m bad at song lyrics…
xo
s
MeganF. says
Haha, my neuroticism made me look it up. It IS “may be” — I think your other suggestion might have been a Freudian slip :D
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Julie F. says
http://24.media.tumblr.com/60a544d1e03b6af30766f4f44cb1cd9d/tumblr_mmro5wt4aS1qe5k3wo1_500.png
You should do this when you redo the flooring :P
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha! That would be quite a surprise for someone later…
xo
s
Julie F. says
But seriously, I don’t know if you’ve ever consider leaving a small note or a testimony of your presence when you cover something up in your house, like a floor of a wall. It’s very personnal, it feels like having a little secret between you and your home. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we did that with our first house. We slipped a note and a photo back behind a cabinet before the counters were installed :)
xo
s
Mariangeles says
So exciting!
Little tip, we also got our flooring from Lumber Liquidators and did the whole taking samples to the house and comparing thing but before we purchase it, we went to their website and checked to see if it they had in stock the quantity we needed and then WE MADE A DEAL!!!
This is how it works, go to the lumber liquidators page, enter zip code, then click where it says MAKE A DEAL ON LOCAL ITEMS, hopefully they have your product in stock like they did for ours, click and email an offer. We got our flooring $1 cheaper per sq ft!!!! :) I hope it helps someone!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Lynn says
Ooh, I did the very same thing you are doing just a few months ago in my house!! We ripped out the carpet, same as you did, and we installed prefinished hardwood floor from Lumber Liquidators, just like you are! We did about 1,000 sq ft of hardwood. We did it in the downstairs tho, we just put down new carpet in the upstairs. Here’s an in-progress pic from ages ago:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ2fnmNQtEU/T_4T4PAWICI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/2KHSYWjeEDE/s320/floor6.jpg
In case you need tips, some of the things I learned:
1) the floor nailer will not reach all the way up to the wall. You will need a nail gun to do those boards. The nail gun you use needs to have some real chops, and the nails need to be monsters to get through the wood and into the subfloor. It’s a good idea to get something that will allow you
2) You can face nail some boards close to the wall if they will be covered by trim. No need to waste time trying to toe-nail those.
3) It goes WAY faster if Person 1 lays out the boards and taps them into place with a rubber mallet ahead of Person 2 with the floor nailer.
4) Mildly warped boards are not a big deal. The floor nailer does NOT mess around, and you can straighten warped boards with it (if you’re careful).
5) The floor nailer does NOT mess around. Respect it.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, thanks Lynn! Great tips all around!
xo
s
mel says
Love the oak flooring, we have just replaced our carpet with blond oak vinyl strips on our concrete slab and I am beyond thrilled with how easy they are to maintain. I love the graininess of the oak and I cannot wait to see your installation process.
Shawni says
My hubby and I put solid hardwood throughout most of our house last fall. Neither of us are very experienced DIYers but even we were able to figure it out so I’m sure it will be a breeze for you guys! We also purchased from Lumber Liquidators and are super happy with how things turned out, although it was a TON of work! Took us several months, but that included removing a couple hundred square feet of ceramic tile (can you say *dusty* omw) from our concrete subfloor, leveling and prepping the floor (by FAR the hardest part) and installing, while Hubby was still working full time of course, so it was slow going!
Maria says
Love it! We have installed 3/4in hardwood in 4 rooms at our house. You save SO MUCH MONEY but it is definitely a lot of handwork and very tedious. We used a staple gun for hardwood floors, this was recommended by many installers. Good luck! I can’t wait to see the finished product! You can do it!
Ali Feldman says
We also used Lumber Liquidators for our laminate flooring and we LOVED their product and got it at a great price…..However, what we did not know was that every 2/3 years, they change the locking method with their products, so the old product and the new product do not click together. Therefore, if you need to replace a few panels, you need to redo your ENTIRE house….the old flooring becomes extinct. We kept 75 sq. ft. extra in our attic, but it wasn’t enough when we had a flood.
You may want to order extra boxes in case there is ever a problem!
YoungHouseLove says
Ahhh! That’s so frustrating! Thankfully their hardwood is an industry standard, but that laminate changing-every-three-years thing is crazy! Wish they would cut that out!
xo
s
Lizabeth Wolchko says
I saw that you guys are looking to buy a paint sprayer…I am trying to sell my late brother’s. Please email me and I will get you the make and model and you can make an offer. It is currently in Pennsylvania, but a road trip is planned. Long story…
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Lizabeth! We actually went out sleuthing this afternoon so I’m afraid it’s too late. But thanks so much for the generous offer!
xo
s
Beth says
I love how Clara’s doll follows her wherever she is…it really is better than a garden gnome.
YoungHouseLove says
Ah yes, that poor naked doll.
xo
s
Gabbi @ Retro Ranch Reno says
Love the color of your soon-to-be floors! I’m picky when it comes to my wood colors…I’m not a fan of red or yellow tones–chocolate-ish goodness all the way for this girl! :)
Sarah says
I am SO psyched to see your progress/future posts about this. My hubs and I are in the exact same boat: We just bought a house four weeks ago and hate the upstairs carpet. Good luck with the installation! :)
Judy Sheldon-Walker says
What a fantastic project. I cannot wait to see the finished product.
Alyssa says
Awesome flooring choice and I bet it’ll look amazing when it’s all done.
Oh and my hubby is “that person” in our marriage, in fact recently he scored $100 off a new power wheels jeep for our sons 3rd bday!! He was in the Navy so his first question is always, do you give a veterans discount? When that doesn’t work he just asks flat out, how much of a discount they’ll give!
George says
wow im so shock by the price in australia for the same product you would be looking at so much more we just did our floors with hardwood and it was over $60.00 sq meter!!!!
Colette says
George, pretty much everything is cheaper here in the US. I’m from Perth and every time I go home I am gobsmacked by the cost of things.
Autumn Beach says
Love it! SO exciting!
Sandi says
Just a warning: I bought a 1940’s house last year that had floors a similar brown oak color. I had them refinished and once they were stripped, they were a much lighter golden color.
marichucky says
I read you daily but almost never write a comment. I know I’ll never be able to afford a house (I live in Barcelona – Spain) but if I ever can, I would like to have a house with only one floor (like your two previous ranches).
But the fact is that your new two-stories house is my favourite by far, with a high difference with the other two that were only one floor.
Yes, my perfect house is one with only one floor, but I love love love your new house, and I’m eager to see what you do with it. It looks great with big spaces and with great distribution. And your oak wood with white trim will be to die for, I’m sure!
Congratulations for your new adventure, be sure I’ll follow you.
Colette says
We had a carpet runner on our stairs too, which I pulled up after having a really bad fall (and ended up with a huge hematoma on my butt). I also pulled up the carpet on the upstairs landing and it has sat that way for, oh, a few years now. The plan is to install hardwood upstairs ourselves, so I’m very excited to see how your experience goes.
Matthea says
I just spent a week or so catching up since New Year’s — Wow, so exciting! I **LOVE** that you did your own crown moulding in the “last” house — I was discouraged by someone I know who’s done it, and hated it, but I think I see a miter table saw in my future someday. AND I am SO EXCITED to see how you tackle this hardwood install!! SOOO!! EXCIIITEEEEEDDDDD! (Can you tell I really mean it?)
(:
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, so glad! Good luck Matthea!
xo
s
reny says
i love clara’s outfit! my babygirl actually has that shoes (newborn size). never had the chance to wear them though. she grew big too fast.
Heather Charnock says
Looks like fun! I just finished installing 320 ft.² of three-quarter inch Hickory flooring in our house. It turned out beautiful! It did take me multiple days to get it done though. I used this floor nailer that I bought on Amazon, it worked like a dream, never jammed one time. Super easy to use too, just thought that might help.
http://www.amazon.com/NuMax-SFL618BR-Pneumatic-Flooring-Stapler/dp/B0032JTDPE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368797252&sr=8-1&keywords=Floor+nailer
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Heather!
xo
s
Katherine says
You need a paint sprayer!! We got a Wagner factory refurbished on amazon 2 years ago for around $100 bucks. Amazing! You would love it. Especially if you sprayed the house before you put down your hardwoods ( less to plastic off. It is fun to run and you will use it on tons of other projects I’m sure! It’s amazing on furniture. Just be sure to get the one that sucks the paint directly from the bucket. Good luck!
Sherry in BC says
The floors are going to be amazing…can’t wait to see what you think of paint sprayers…..I have been pondering one for a while.
Jess says
That color you chose looks great. You’re right about dark floors showing every speck of dust and hair…I learned that the hard way.
It’s really not that hard to install hardwood floors, since you built a deck successfully, you guys should have no problem with this. Rent a pneumatic nailer and buy extra nails, have your table saw ready to go, use a laser level to establish your straight line for your first row and you’ll be fine :)
There is a trick my husband used when he did ours: you buy 1/4″ pine or poplar or whatever Lowes/HD has and cut them down into splines (extra tongues) and glue them into the groove side with wood glue. You do this when you need to change the direction of your laying. There is a good explanation and pics here:
http://www.handymanclub.com/projects/articletype/articleview/articleid/6340/how-to-install-hardwood-floors
Good luck!
Lexie says
Excited to see how you install the flooring…especially since we’re buying a house with many of the same needed updates…so we’ll be right behind you guys – glued to your tutorials. We have very little experience with this stuff but are motivated- especially after watching you guys! Talk about tight timelines; with baby #2 coming in August, sometimes I feel faint just thinking about the to-do list! Yikes.
Can’t wait for the wallpaper removal…Hear THAT’S fun!
tia says
“sha la lala…” i have the family ties theme song stuck in my head now thanks to your post title :)
Kristen Allen says
That is so exciting! I hope that you guys are able to install it yourselves because we’re hoping to do the same. Lumber Liquidators seem to have the best price too. Keep us posted, my husband and I are moving into our new house during the same week so we’re anxious and excited too :D
Angela says
Did you ask them about the use of the flooring gun for free? We installed oak flooring (similar to what you purchased, I love it) in part of our downstairs when we built our house in 1996. We are getting ready to install it in the rest of the downstairs and was amazed to find that it is still the same price. The local company we bought it from will even deliver and unload it for ten bucks and we get free use of their flooring gun. Sold! My husband installed it the first time and did a great job. We did have professionals do the sanding and finish due to a time crunch. I really enjoy your blog and getting inspiration for my household projects.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Janet says
Does the Lono Oak flooring have aluminum oxide in the finish? If so, you may not in the future be able to safely refinish it yourself.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Janet, we’ll have to check that out! We had a bunch of conversations with them about how many times it can be refinished (many since it’s 3/4″ thick) so I know they said it could be done a ton, but I’ll ask specifically about that ingredient :)
xo,
s
Bailey says
It’s so amazing to hear your tips about all of this, it’s like we’re getting top-secret insider info. Thanks!!
xox
Bailey
http://akabailey.blogspot.com
Ashley says
Those are pretty. When we redid our last house we put in 1 inch thick solid oak flooring. We chose that because it could be refinished 6 or 8 times before you had a problem. We did the natural oak so no stain at all and just a polyurethane coating to protect it. After 10 years it didn’t need any work. We’re currently in the process of reclaiming cypress for our floors in our new to us house. Kids are not impressed! We’ve got about 1800 sf that needs to be done but reclaiming cypress for flooring use takes alot of time! I love what y’all are doing and look to your blog for inspiration! Please keep us all inspired!
Dena says
We just hit the Lumber Liquidators right here in the #RVA and they hooked us up with flooring – for our two boys’ rooms. Goodbye carpet from 1989; hello oak floors! It’s taking forever but so pretty that it’s worth it!
Bella says
Having painted a door(way) or twenty in the last couple of years i strongly recommend the spray painter… so much faster :)
Janette Diaz says
We used Prosource Flooring and got an amazing deal on flooring. My husband has a graphic design business and haggled with them until he got a membership – it should be easier for you guys. We found the florring we loved at Lowes on sale so Prosource beat that price and we only paid wholesale.good luck with the install!
krys72599 says
You can do it – here’s what my husband did, with one bum arm!!
http://krysworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-floor-update.html
YoungHouseLove says
Gorgeous!
xo
s
Tamara S. says
For using an airless sprayer for trim I’d recommend buying a fine finish tip. We bought a size 310 and it worked great for trim. Did our whole basement trim, door jams and interior doors with it. It was especially handy with the interior doors. Worked great.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome Tamara! Thanks!
xo
s
Christy Niebaum says
Here’s my two cents on paint sprayers (which you’ve probably heard from other readers) – they’re definitely faster and apply a nice, even coat. BUT they use up way more paint than the traditional roller/brush method AND they’re kind of a nightmare to clean. Will be interested to hear about your experience. Good luck!
Rick T says
Great choice on the wood! I dig it.
Meg A. says
Will you guys be offering a discount with Lumber Liquidators anytime soon? We are doing our master bedroom soon and that would be HIGHLY convenient ;-)
YoungHouseLove says
I wish! We don’t have a contact or anything there, so unless they reach out to us after we install the hardwoods or something, I don’t think so :(
xo
s
Jamie says
Super excited to see your new floors! Here’s a fun, EASY project to do with your sample wood pieces once y’all have decided!
http://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/organize-necklaces/ :)
YoungHouseLove says
Cute!
xo
s
Matt says
I have a Wagner 518080 Control Spray Max HVLP Sprayer that I love. Currently $111 on Amazon. It is by far the best time saver I’ve had for painting furniture and I get a better finish than I could manage by hand. Even if you go with another brand, definitely look at HVLP as they’re safer than their high pressure cousins.
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds awesome Matt!
xo
s
Kim {plumberry pie} says
Hey there. Just wanted to know how you decided on prestained vs. unfinished and stain in place? Sorry if it’s mentioned somewhere…I looked around a few other posts, but couldn’t find it. Anyhow, I totally get the pros of already having it stained…that’s my gut reaction to do it that way, but I’ve heard something about stuff getting in the cracks easier or something w/prestained. Would love to hear your thoughts, etc. Thanks so much! Love all the stuff you guys do! Can’t wait to see the new place come together. so fun!
YoungHouseLove says
We just had them installed in our first house and were very happy with them, they were more cost affective, and they saved us time (they could be walked on right away without any drying time for stain or poly). We haven’t had any issues with anything getting in cracks (they should be laid really closely so there’s not like a little space for things to fall into or anything). Hope it helps!
xo
s
Lydia K says
Sorry if you guys have addressed this in a previous post – but how do you determine how much wood you need? I believe at one point I heard to add 10% to your SF, but what about if you want to do the whole thing on a diagonal? Would that increase your extra percentage?
YoungHouseLove says
Good question! I would give the square footage to your supplier and tell them if anything unusual is planned (ex: diagonal) and hopefully they can help you calculate it.
xo
s
Dustin says
Look forward to seeing your new floors! Best of luck with the project.. Maybe also try craigslist for a paint sprayer, I found one awhile back while doing the trim in my home.. I have now used it for my baseboards, door casings, and exterior trim.. Well worth it.
Chelsey says
You don’t happen to have 5 boxes left over do you :) We put this down in our house and a certain someone didn’t want to lay it in the kitchen and now that said person has changed his mind LL has discontinued it :(
YoungHouseLove says
So sorry, we don’t!
xo
s