Let's talk hardwood flooring. Who's got them or has had them? Pros? Cons?

[Jer]

I've done them before when I was in real estate investment and did various surfaces from pergo to real hardwood (depending on budget/cost/etc) but I never actually lived on them to know what it's like. As weird as this sounds every house, for better or for worse, has been carpeted aside from your usual wet areas. We built this house about 7-8yrs ago and our carpet is starting to show it's wear in some high-traffic areas. In addition, if anyone has been following the dog saga of the new (a year ago) rescue DONE cleaning carpets of shit, piss, vomit, other random bodily excretions and that's the primary reason for considering ripping all this carpet out and doing some sort of hard surface for ease of maintenance. That doesn't necessarily mean it must be hardwood either and I'm also open to suggestions for materials as well as tips and advice on anything. Are you a carpet person who did hard wood once and now never will again? Post up your opinion. What about bamboo? I know that was all the rage years back but I'm not sure if it's gotten less expensive, better, proven to be trash, worse for some reason so chime in of you have advice regarding bamboo as well.

Let's have it. From professional installers to homeowners to contractors & sellers of product.... let's have us a flooring discussion! Weeee!

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

If it were me I would do the tile that looks like hardwood. I have two big dogs and they scratch and the older slips on the hard woods we have. Plus you don't have to use high dollar cleaning supplies or have it resurfaced. More expensive to install though.

[hatidua]

We had pergo floors in one of our homes and I wouldn't do that again if I could help it, it has an overall 'cheap' feel/sound/appearance. It was already installed when we bought the place so what was done was done, but I'd never willingly go that route.

We have real hardwood floors on the first floor in our home now and they seem to have held up well in spite of how long they've been in place.

I'm seriously considering going with a whitewashed pine floor in a room upstairs but haven't gotten too far down that road just yet.

[sellersm]

My opinion is that if you've got kids and/or pets, then they're a necessity! We love ours. They can be a bit colder (obviously) than carpet, but all the other benefits really offset that little nit-pick.

Easier to clean, maintain, look better (imho), seem to increase resale/value (especially if real hardwood, that's what we have)...

[drift_g35]

I second the hardwood looking tile. I just did real hand scraped hardwood and we cant go more than 15 min without it showing dog prints. Its a very dark color, but i think the tile would have alleviated that issue. Other than the hassle of keeping them clean it looks 1000000x better than the old parquet checkering hardwood that was in there from the 80's.

[Jer]

What about noise? I'm worried a bit about echo & other harmonic type issues. Any negatives there from those that have hardwood or similar?

[ruthabagah]

My opinion is that if you've got kids and/or pets, then they're a necessity! We love ours. They can be a bit colder (obviously) than carpet, but all the other benefits really offset that little nit-pick.

Easier to clean, maintain, look better (imho), seem to increase resale/value (especially if real hardwood, that's what we have)...

You nailed it! all the benefits of HW floor. I would add one more: it's better for allergies to have HW floor than carpet. I had mine coated with a commercail grade finish 10 years ago, and even with 2 kids and a dog they still look new.

[ruthabagah]

What about noise? I'm worried a bit about echo & other harmonic type issues. Any negatives there from those that have hardwood or similar?

Noise, echo will definitively be something to consider, but a good "noise trap" (like a rug in a middle of a room or a large fabric sofa) will mitigate this. I have HW floor in my living room/home theater room, and a large cheap rug did the trick to avoid the echo, and the main speakers have a "natural" effect.

[Jer]

Noise, echo will definitively be something to consider, but a good "noise trap" (like a rug in a middle of a room or a large fabric sofa) will mitigate this. I have HW floor in my living room/home theater room, and a large cheap rug did the trick to avoid the echo, and the main speakers have a "natural" effect.

That actually addresses my follow up question too then about theaters & A/V affects of hard surfaces v carpeting. We do have some larger area rugs/carpets too so maybe a couple more & some runners here and there will fit the bill.

[muddywings]

if by pergo you you mean laminate (aka snap together) flooring, I would skip it as an option.
I have installed both hardwood and laminate as a DIYer. When it comes to home improvement, either save up and do it right or don't bother.
As for the benefits-location of the room in relationship with the rest of the house plays a factor in it too. I plan on pulling out the carpet in my 'front' room due to the very high traffic pattern but the living room will still have carpet for that lounging need.