Is real wood flooring (living room) no longer popular?

[bw77]

Visiting in-laws house this week. They have 50 year old carpet in the living room, and want
to replace it with a hard surface floor.

I suggested oak hardwood, that's what we have in my house (built in 1992).

Local flooring company sends a man to measure the room, it's about 380 sq ft.
I ask the price for oak hardwood floor. He says the don't sell it or install it.
They do carpet, vinyl and laminate. He says real wood does not do well in the climate
of upstate NY.

This is a rural area in upstate NY. Is real wood not popular due to cost, or climate, or other?

 

[txvwnut]

I gotta say BS on that statement as I bet there's still a ton of older homes in that area still rocking their original wood flooring.

 

[MileHighRover]

I would say the reason the majority of people don't go with hardwood is cost. Our home has 3/4 inch white oak floors throughout (except bathrooms). Previous owner had it installed. Can't imagine what it cost him but thankful he paid up.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Well, I agree with txvwnut.
And I think you have determined which flooring vendor to never call again.

 

[mike93lx]

Shenanigans. He just didn't want to deal with it. Carpet is much easier to sell

 

[Fav Onefour]

The guy is one heck of a story teller. Climate can be whatever you make it inside a home.

In our area hardwood flooring is becoming a niche market. The main flooring companies don't do much with real wood. In fact, I think most of them would outside contract installation.

I've done a few real wood versions myself and the installation isn't too bad. Unfinished flooring is a little more challenging. Once you start the process, you really need to commit to finishing the work and allowing it to cure.
Prefinished installation is the same without sanding and finishing. The versions of that I've used all had slightly beveled edging. I'm not a big fan of that characteristic.

 

[logical]

Full thickness real solid hardwood, finished in place is ideal, but expensive. I had it two houses ago.

Pre-finished engineered hardwood with a "micro-bevel" edge is a really good middle ground. Pay attention to the wear layer thickness and finish coating. Some bevel is a necessary evil in any pre-finished wood floor.

LVP is great...for a basement or laundry room.

I has less and less carpet in each house I've owned. The new one has zero. I just don't care for it.

 

[HalfTonTom]

We put solid wood flooring (oak) in two rooms about 20 years ago here in Upstate NY. They're doing just fine. How far upstate is the house?

 

[jar944]

Hacks..

I had an additional 1k sqft installed in my living room and master bedroom in late 2023, $4/sqft for the Bruce prefinished 50 year floor and $2.5/sqft for the install.


My parents just had a custom run of 5" cherry flooring made and installed in their main floor master remodel.

Real 3/4" hardwood is still installed and common.

 

[benwah]

Rough sawn doug fir is installed all over Colorado mountain homes daily.

 

[bw77]

We put solid wood flooring (oak) in two rooms about 20 years ago here in Upstate NY. They're doing just fine. How far upstate is the house?

Western NY, east of Buffalo, south of Batavia.

 

[whateg01]

I would guess he's right about it not being as common now, his reasoning notwithstanding. Real wood requires maintenance if you want to to stay nice. Laminate just requires a sweep and mop now and then.

 

[mm08822]

Real wood flooring doesn't do well for the company that doesn't sell it.

Many homes I've seen have ripped out old carpeting and put in real 3/4" solid flooring. Some use area rugs and/or runners for accent but also to take some of the wear.

Eventually I will be doing the same. I like the 5" wide brushed look. That runs about $7/sqft plus incidentals. (Material only - no labor)

I too, have concerns about beveled edges. Seems like extra work to keep all of those grooves clean.

The best finished wood floor you can get is installing unfinished wood, sanding in place, and then 3 coats of finish.$$$$!!

 

[theoldwizard1]

Wood flooring or laminate flooring is making a come back !

He says real wood does not do well in the climate of upstate NY.

******** ! It does not "do well" because he does not sell it !

Real hardwood flooring should be opened from its packaging and allow to "acclimate" to the building for at least 24 hours (48 better). Oak or even maple is very expensive. My daughter has bamboo. Looks nice.

If you are going to do hardwood, pay extra to remove the baseboards, even if that means replacing all of them.

 

[mm08822]

Wood flooring or laminate flooring is making a come back !


******** ! It does not "do well" because he does not sell it !

Real hardwood flooring should be opened from its packaging and allow to "acclimate" to the building for at least 24 hours (48 better). Oak or even maple is very expensive. My daughter has bamboo. Looks nice.

If you are going to do hardwood, pay extra to remove the baseboards, even if that means replacing all of them.

It can be anywhere from 3 - 14 days. Lumber humidity has to match home interior humidity first. Best checked with moisture meter.

 

[65ranchero]

Last year we had carpet ripped out of our spare bedroom and in the nursery (now office) and replace it with hardwood flooring 4" with micro bevel edge to match the rest of the HW in the rest of the 1st floor.
The real challenge was to find prefinished and a good color match species in 4" , most of what is sold now is 4.25"

 

[PhantomEB]

Find a woodworking shop. Bet they would be all over a job like this.

I am going with laminate in the basement only cause our older bulldog has become incontinent, she’s doing fine otherwise.

 

[larry4406]

Keep trying, you will find the right firm. Tell them you want traditional oak flooring (sand on site).

Builder I work for used to install strip oak flooring (sand on site) as standard up till around 5-7 years ago.

We have since gone engineered wood products instead. LVP has also come on real strong.

Strip oak flooring you need to put in the home and let it acclimate. This can take 7-14 days+. Only when the wood matches the house moisture content do you proceed to installation. If you cheat and don't let it fully acclimate, you can get cupping of the floor.

Nailing down the flooring in our homes was typically 2-5 days depending on SF selected. Then when time came, house is on lock down for 5-7+ days for finishing.

So, as a builder, the traditional hardwood phase is quite the burden. Hence, with younger blood managing the company now and changing customer demands, its been pushed aside. We still do it, but only on small stair landings so as to match the oak stairs.

I put traditional 3.5" red oak (sand on site) in my house and used Min-Wax stain.

I don't care for engineered wood:

• It goes out of production often, then you can't get a match unless you have some stored (recommend a couple boxes).
• There are micro-beveled edges at each board since it can't compensate for any undulation in the subfloor (with traditional floors, no groove is present and any undulation is removed via sanding). This creates a groove that collects grit and can be uncomfortable under one's foot.

 

[HalfTonTom]

Western NY, east of Buffalo, south of Batavia.

Similar latitude to me. Oak flooring should be fine.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Visiting in-laws house this week. They have 50 year old carpet in the living room, and want
to replace it with a hard surface floor.

I suggested oak hardwood, that's what we have in my house (built in 1992).

Local flooring company sends a man to measure the room, it's about 380 sq ft.
I ask the price for oak hardwood floor. He says the don't sell it or install it.
They do carpet, vinyl and laminate. He says real wood does not do well in the climate
of upstate NY.

This is a rural area in upstate NY. Is real wood not popular due to cost, or climate, or other?

Don't worry, real hardwood flooring is still very popular.
What's becoming less and less common is class.

 

[jblnut]

Real hardwood flooring is “free” if you have the trees, time and tools. Or you know a guy with them. Like me lol.

Six years ago my cousin purchased a chunk of land from his parents. There were some very mature white oaks on the property where they wanted to build a house “one day”. His wife wanted to keep all the trees and he said “I’m not living in a house that’s 20’ wide and shaped like a bunch of different letters of the alphabet just to keep from cutting trees down. I suggested cutting them down and using the wood inside their new house in a few years. So. We cut them down and milled them into lumber. They had their cabinets made from some of it as well as all the flooring in the house. I have a fair few woodworking things so we planed one side and cut grooves and bevels. He and I installed over 4k sq/ft of white oak and black walnut flooring in their house over the course of a few weeks. We rented a floor sander and went to town. I’ll get some pictures next time I’m over there but it turned out amazing and best of all, Mama Bear was happy

We even geolocated one of the stumps and built a chair out of it that was in almost the exact place it had been standing.

 

[Jgaz]

We even geolocated one of the stumps and built a chair out of it that was in almost the exact place it had been standing.

That’s way cool!

 

[johnre]

Find someone else to bid it.

Real wood is more expensive than engineered wood floors, yes.

However, looking down the road at the maintenance aspects, refinishing real wood is a lot cheaper than replacing any engineered wood floor that cannot be sanded and refinished. And repairing a damaged piece to be near invisible is always possible with real wood, and it will probably be available in stock and wouldn't require that a piece be milled.

It also allows you to keep all the wooden floors in the house looking alike if you re-do a floor at any point because of, say, fire or water damage. Try that with engineered wood floors after a few years have passed; it is not usually possible.

We have 3/4" hard maple floors, now 25 years old and probably in need of a refinishing at this point. The installer said that it would probably have three more sanding / refinishing cycles left in it after his initial sanding and finish, and I believe it. We have 100 year old houses in my neighborhood still with the original flooring; it will outlive us at this rate.

 

[Burt Shaver]

Shenanigans. He just didn't want to deal with it. Carpet is much easier to sell

And easier to install, I guess I should say quicker to install

 

[Aaron_W]

I imagine cost and upkeep are the real issues. Also a lack of employees knowing how to install them.

I grew up in older houses with hardwood floors, I love them. Unfortunately while my current home is of an age to have them, it doesn't. That said many of the laminate flooring options are quite nice, easy to install and very durable.

 

[Just_Steve]

Visiting in-laws house this week. They have 50 year old carpet in the living room, and want
to replace it with a hard surface floor.

I suggested oak hardwood, that's what we have in my house (built in 1992).

Local flooring company sends a man to measure the room, it's about 380 sq ft.
I ask the price for oak hardwood floor. He says the don't sell it or install it.
They do carpet, vinyl and laminate. He says real wood does not do well in the climate
of upstate NY.

This is a rural area in upstate NY. Is real wood not popular due to cost, or climate, or other?

He is full of ****. I'm downstate NY had my whole main floor refinished 18 months ago. Pic is before clear coat.

 

[billconner]

I'm further north - 1000 islands - and am slowly putting pre-finished hardwood in everyroom except tile in main entrance foyer and bathrooms and cork tile in kitchen.

 

[billconner]

If you are going to do hardwood, pay extra to remove the baseboards, even if that means replacing all of them.

Why not just the shoe? First 2 houses I did flooring in were over 100 years old and base sat on sub floor.

 

[Bert_]

People are cheap and lazy. Then they want to rip it out in 10 years to chase the next fad. It's ridiculous.


A good hard wood floor can last a persons lifetime. But nobody thinks that way anymore.

 

[Shiftless]

People are cheap and lazy. Then they want to rip it out in 10 years to chase the next fad. It's ridiculous.


A good hard wood floor can last a persons lifetime. But nobody thinks that way anymore.

I just looked it up… the average American moves more than 11 times in their lifetime.
I’ve moved 7 times but that counts college years. After the kids moved out of our now 75 year old house, we had the original oak strip flooring sanded and 3 coats of varnish applied about 30 years ago. 3 bedrooms including closets and a hallway. Old timey kind of guy with a 240 volt drum sander. His father was a floor guy. Heritage business. Still looks fine.

 

[Cheesy1]

I hate carpet.

Our house the main level is all 3/4 oak. Bedrooms were carpet. Bathrooms and laundry tile. I’ve put wood in 1 kids room. Have the other prepped for install. Just gotta do it. Then will do my bedroom.

Walkout basement was carpet squares when we moved in. We put wood look 6x36 tile. It looks fine for a basement.

I’ve never seen a “luxury vinyl” that looked anything other than plastic.

Had a flipper house we put in an engineered wood. It was fine for the 2 years we lived there. I wouldn’t have trusted it long term.

 

[Bert_]

I just looked it up… the average American moves more than 11 times in their lifetime.

I don't doubt you.

So they use crappy materials because they are only going to be there for a while?

I want nice materials built with craftsmanship. I'm kinda cheap too so at this point I'd prefer buying an old house that has had the least amount of remuddling done over the years.

 

[Shiftless]

I want nice materials built with craftsmanship. I'm kinda cheap too so at this point I'd prefer buying an old house that has had the least amount of remuddling done over the years

I agree 100%
With most things, it seems more economical to buy something well made that will last rather than 2-3 similar things that wear out and or fail more quickly.
For example, my first car was a 2 year old Volvo 122S. I drove it regularly including several trips of over 2000 miles. I sold it 30 years later when it had over 300,000 miles.
Bought it for $1600...sold it for $1500

 

[rsanter]

Cost
lack of skilled installers
and time consuming to install


it’s better for them to go the other floors

 

[jar944]

Why not just the shoe? First 2 houses I did flooring in were over 100 years old and base sat on sub floor.

So you can scribe them to the floor and avoid the shoe.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Modest 3 br, 1600 squ ft. suburban home here.
ZERO carpet or erztz wood flooring. All of it recycled hardwood flooring - or tile.
Taking these photos reminds me It's not done and I need to get out of the garage and finish the place before I die.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Why not just the shoe? First 2 houses I did flooring in were over 100 years old and base sat on sub floor.

Shrinkage

 

[jar944]

Shrinkage

Unless you are using 12" wide boards that won't happen.

 

[rust in the eye]

Visiting in-laws house this week. They have 50 year old carpet in the living room, and want
to replace it with a hard surface floor.

I suggested oak hardwood, that's what we have in my house (built in 1992).

Local flooring company sends a man to measure the room, it's about 380 sq ft.
I ask the price for oak hardwood floor. He says the don't sell it or install it.
They do carpet, vinyl and laminate. He says real wood does not do well in the climate
of upstate NY.

This is a rural area in upstate NY. Is real wood not popular due to cost, or climate, or other?

B.S.
Real wood isn't much, if any more expensive. It may be refinished if needed, is quieter than "engineered" products and adds value.
All your inlaws need is a different flooring contractor.

 

[rust in the eye]

If you are going to do hardwood, pay extra to remove the baseboards, even if that means replacing all of them.

Regardless of material this is matter of course for any real installer. If anyone presents this as an extra or something special they aren't someone to be doing the work.
That said I've seen tile setters cut and hack away at a piece of tile to go around a wood door jamb rather than use an undercut saw. Some guys need their tools taken away.