Good morning,
I’ve just put a bid on a house which has ugly wall to wall carpet (okay it’s new, baby blue and not my taste) on the ground floor which is on the slab. House built in 1988. I’m told that I could put an engineered wood floor on the slab. True?
How hard is it to do? I’m an advanced beginner with construction (Made bookcases, tool bench, did lots of repairs on my old house) I own a good mitre saw. If the bid is accepted, I’ll have a week from closing to move-in day. I’m not even sure I could line up a (good) contractor to work in that week. The space to be “floored” are three small rooms (average 10′ by 12′) and a bit of hall. I suspect that the fitting is the hardest. Naturally I’d love to do this before we move in.
I love turning to you all for help. You’ve taught me a lot.
Thanks.
Replies
The devil is in the details. Anyone can lay a room full of wood. The issues are how you deal with doorways, gaps at the walls, floor transitions, out of square rooms, and out of level floors. And, since you're on a slab, moisture might be an issue.
Check out hardwoodinstaller.com for good products and a good discussion forum. I have bought BR-111 from them, and it was na excellent product. Stay away from Lumber Liquidators. The prices are not that much less, and the product is inconsistent. The finish is good, but it is very common to have boards that are slightly different thickness and slightly different widths in the same box. All it takes is 1/32" wider or narrower to make the floor look bad.
Time is going to work against you. You should plan to deliver the flooring to the house a week before you plan to start installation, so it can acclimate to the humidity.
You can glue the engineered flooring to the slab, but it can be messy, and you need to be sure the first row is straight and immovable before banging the next rows in place.
Bottom line, yes you can do it. Just plan ahead and don't rush.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Thanks.. A week ahead? Hmmm... It's been so wet here (Vermont) it's hard to think about having anything outside...I'll check the other site ..
I beleive FastEddie meant to have it delivered and storred INSIDE the house, to aclimate to the ambient humidity levels in the house. That way if the house is at 60%RH, but the warehouse the stuff came from is at 30%RH, the flooring will have a chance to come to the same relative moisture level.
Not doing this can cause problems with shrinking or expansion once it's installed, and that's no good.
Some people rely on a moisture meter instead...Some people advocate for aclimating the stuff for 2-3 weeks instead of 1.
This is more of an issue with solid wood floors as opposed to an engineered wood floors however. Check the specific instructions from the manufacturer of the flooring you're going to put down.Ithaca, NY "10 square miles, surrounded by reality"
During the course of today I realized that OF COURSE the wood must acclimate to the clime where it will lay. When I told BF (boyfriend) about this exchange and he thought that maybe the boards needed to acclimate in place (! ) but not so far from the truth now is it?As usual I learn a lot here. Thanks all respondents. !
Right, I meant that the boards would ideally be stored in the smae room where trhey would be installed.
Actually, a moisture meter is not a substitute for climatizing. You should use/do both.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Well I got the house. Gulp. It's more money than I wanted to spend on a house. Gulp. Due to advice about acclimating the wood to the room I've asked to move closing sooner. (I have a deadline on moving out of where I am.) I was at a friend's house who had an extension built. I wondered why her floor cupped so badly, now I know and certainly don't want that to happen. And after much thought decided to get an estimate from a professional. It's three rooms and a hall, about 430 sq. ft. According to the site you sent me to a pro can do that in a day. Give it another half day for the fiddling, and I think my time is better spent doing what I do as a professional. At least until I get the estimate! Thanks again - I LOVE this discussion list.
ria_amp,
This just came up recently and was discussed in the link below. Good luck...
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages/?msg=75500.1
Terry
I work for a carpet manufacturer (who also sells engineered wood flooring), and I am glad that the comment about the ugly wall to wall carpeting is further clarified as not your personal preference. Carpet gets a bad rap these days because it is not the trendy floor choice like tile or wood. For all of you reading this, there are some beautiful choices in wall to wall carpet that are easy to install, maintain and cover up a lot of subfloor problems. Plus carpet is very economical.
Jeff
Carpet, although I don't like a lot of it because it holds onto dirt and other nasty stuff, besides the other virtues you mentioned, is also quiet. Hard surfaces can make for a noisy, echoey room. I guess the ideal place for carpet would be on walls an ceilings!