Home Flooring for the Baffled

February 27, 2008 5:35 PM

Please share your experience, strength, and hope regarding flooring options for upstairs bedrooms.

The carpet in the upstairs of our 1917 bungalow (two bedrooms and a hallway/office) has finally become too heinously stained to live with any longer. I need to put down some kind of flooring but am overwhelmed by the options. Carpet? Laminate? Stained OSB? Painted floor cloths? Oy!

I've got about 560 sq. ft. to cover, and a budget of $2-3K. I'm hoping to hire it done but can pull out the old carpet and move furniture myself. Cost is the prime criterion, with beauty, durability, eco-friendliness, and low dust following.

So: What options should I consider? What did you learn the hard way? Have you been happy with your choice over time? If you live in the PDX area, where did you buy your flooring? If you used Home Despot for installation, how did that work out?

Thanks for your help, invisible friends!

posted by ottereroticist to home & garden (15 comments total)

I installed laminate flooring myself, two or three nights to a room. It was therefore cheap, and the end result was very attractive, washable and dust-free. You can add mats if you need them for warmth or insulation.
posted by fish tick at 5:40 PM on February 27, 2008

Seconding laminate. Looks good and is cheap.
posted by Polychrome at 5:45 PM on February 27, 2008

If you're doing laminate, go for wood laminate, not plastic laminate (for example, Boen instead of Pergo).
posted by infinitewindow at 5:50 PM on February 27, 2008

I would think the age of your home would suggest hardwood floors are beneath the carpet. Try tearing out the carpet and see what is hiding underneath, you may be surprised.

I recommend hardwood floors for your second floor. For the bedrooms and office I would use area rugs. These can be changed with the seasons giving the rooms a new look and feel., or taken up in the summers for a cooler feeling. Gritty dirt is the enemy of (real) hardwood floors. Being that these would be on the second floor, most of that will fall off of your shoes on the first floor. The hardwood is easy to clean. All you really need is a dust mop. Hardwood floors do not emit fumes after the initial finishing. Much better for those with allergies.

When you pull up the carpet, take a good look at the grime and stains that are on the pad. Pretty gross! One little spill and the carpet is stained for life.

Having lived with both carpet and wood floors, I vote for the wood floors hands down. It is cleaner, durable and easier the maintain than carpet. I am redoing my floors, all hardwood with tile in the baths.
posted by JujuB at 5:50 PM on February 27, 2008

Seconding JujuB--see what is under that carpet! You may have some lovely old oak, or more likely on a second floor, fir. If it is bare wood you can wipe it with some paint thinner to get a good idea of what it will look like with a coat of finish. It it is painted you can strip a small section to get a glimpse of the wood. Or add a new coat of paint, a painted floor can be quite striking.
posted by LarryC at 6:00 PM on February 27, 2008

Thirding looking for the wood floors under that carpet. We ripped up ours and we were very pleased with the result after a nice sanding and a coat of poly. It was pretty cheap to do, durable, easy and very beautiful.
posted by jeanmari at 6:10 PM on February 27, 2008

If the floor under the carpet isn't what you want, you might want to consider cork - it's fairly renewable, I understand, and can in fact be harvested without killing the cork trees. I think. Unless I'm confusing it with something else. Anyway, it's cool, and can be a little softer/springier than plain hardwood, and more attractive than a lot of other options.
posted by amtho at 6:43 PM on February 27, 2008

For sure there's no wonderful wood under the carpet -- painted fir in one room only. The rest is subflooring.

Laminate is sounding better and better. I'm thinking actual hardwood will be cost-prohibitive.

Is there anything that isn't as hard and shiny as laminate? I've heard people say laminate shows every crumb.

I'll take a look at cork -- any other ideas? Other recommendations about specific kinds of laminate?

Thanks everyone!
posted by ottereroticist at 10:37 PM on February 27, 2008

Check out FLOR carpet tiles (flor.com). Easy and kinda fun to install yourself, modular, wide range of colors, textures, patterns.

Cork...besides cost, be sure to know it's disadvantages. I decided against it.
posted by artdrectr at 11:21 PM on February 27, 2008

Nice 12-step reference. Am I right?
posted by toastchee at 6:02 AM on February 28, 2008

Have you considered Marmoleum? I know that when people hear that word they think "kitchen!" but it is a really lovely floor product and some of the colors are very rich and soothing. And it has been used in bedrooms. Also, check out the third entry way pic here or the eighth and ninth living room pics here.

It's eco-friendly, period appropriate for your style of house, long lasting, and good for people with allergies. When I first saw it in person, I was surprised by how warm looking it was with a very natural texture. Not hard and shiny like laminate flooring or vinyl tile.

It isn't extremely cheap though, unfortunately.
posted by jeanmari at 6:14 AM on February 28, 2008

I am going to be one to say "no" to laminate. I lived with laminate in a newly remodeled flat and the stuff scuffed very easily, showed pressure dimples and seemed not too good at masquerading as wood. YMMV. Everyone walked barefoot or were in socks and there was not that much furniture or movement.

I have hardwood floors in my house and you maybe pleasantly surprised how inexpensive it can be if you go to re-use centers or even do some serious haggling at flooring wholesalers.

I suggest that before investing in the laminate floor is to see the floors in other people's homes, who live a similar lifestyle to you ,and see how their floors held up. Figure out who is the best brand and all that.
posted by jadepearl at 6:39 AM on February 28, 2008

I put in "engineered wood flooring" in my bedroom. You could do it yourself within your budget for the job (about $4/sq ft). Very easy, although time consuming (2-3 days per room). Get the interlocking kind; it's kind of like putting together a big, flat Lego set. If you make a mistake, you can take a section of the floor back up (as opposed to glued-down or nailed-down which, once it's down, it's down). My results.
posted by Doohickie at 7:29 AM on February 28, 2008

Plastic laminate, ugh. I love the look of painted floors with rugs, esp. wool rugs that last forever and are easily cleaned. Buy.com, homedecorators.com, ebay, and others have great, affordable rugs online. Carpet is also affordable, pleasant to walk on, and can be cleaned. There's apparently a lot of carpet made from recycled soda bottles. It tends to not get marketed as 'green' because buyers supposedly don't care. I'm also a big fan of canvas floor cloths, but I haven't gotten around to painting any yet.
posted by theora55 at 7:38 AM on February 28, 2008

Have you considered Marmoleum?
Seconding this. A very eco-friendly product (linseed-oil based instead of petroluem), kind to the feet, period appropriate. We're currently installing it in a kitchen, bath, and hallway of a 1930 colonial, and everyone that touches it comments that it feels 'warm' and 'friendly'.
posted by spinturtle at 6:24 PM on February 28, 2008