70's Split Foyer... Flooring Update

12 years ago

We're in the process of updating our 70's Split Foyer (bi-level/raised ranch) house...a little at a time as the budget allows. We're now ready to replace the flooring...Yea! We have a SMALL foyer 7'4"x 11' which is the main entrance for the house... As you stand inside the foyer...to the right there are 7 stairs that lead down to the finished basement...and to the left... 7 stairs that lead up to the living areas.

Currently the foyer is an ugly vinyl and the stairs are carpeted. The house is an open floor plan with carpeting in the living/dining room/hallway/3 bedrooms and 2 baths (YUCK!...there is vinyl in the kitchen... Downstairs (concrete slab)... there is an office... family room... bathroom and laundry room...all carpeted.

Our house is all electric with radiant/forced air heat in the ceilings. Each room has it's own thermostat, we also have a heat pump. We live in southwestern PA where the temperatures vary season to season.

I like the look of hardwood/engineered/laminate, but dh is worried about the floors being cold and wants carpeting. We also have 2 small terriers that LOVE to race through the house. Their nails are trimmed monthly so I don't think there would be a problem with scratches??? We don't have any children but we do entertain a lot.

Thank you all so much for sharing your expertise. This is a big purchase for us and I don't want to have any regrets!

Thanks!...Sandy

Featured Answer

art_teacher_mom

12 years ago

YES, use hardwood! It's not going to be cold, I promise. You can use plush rugs in each room as well. Home Depot has some nice room-size Mohawk rugs on sale right now. Hardwood is so easy to maintain and adds value to your house. Plus you can keep it really clean!

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Comments (8)

westiemom
Original Author
12 years ago
We want to do both sets of stairs, foyer and all of the upstairs rooms to start. Currently there are two different colors of carpeting on the stairs...beige on the upstairs and yucky hunter green on the downstairs. I'd like the stairs to be the same material so there is continuity from floor to floor. I We also want to replace the iron railing we have with wood. Is this something that the flooring installers do or do we need a contractor? I'd like some type of stone/slate for the foyer, that I can wipe up easily.

I'd also like wood/engineered for the stairs and living/dining room and kitchen since they are all open to each other. Is it possible to put heating under a engineered floor? What brand would you recommend and what is the cost? DH is worried about the house being cold and I'm not sure I can talk him out of carpeting. The dogs track in dirt and mud and its seems I'm constantly having to spot clean the carpeting...it just never feels clean to me...(We have approx 800 sf of "open areas" stairs/living/dining/kitchen)

I'm not opposed to carpet in the bedrooms and will probably go with tile in the bathrooms. Two of the three upstairs bedrooms are over a heated integral garage. Would wood floors feel cold underfoot?

I like the look of BR-111, Brazilian Cherry....sort of a mid tone brownish red...any recommendations? Is it best to but locally or over the internet? How do you deal with warranty problems with internet purchases? Can you recommend anyone in my area...roughly 40 miles east of Pittsburgh, Pa?

Thanks again for all the help!...Sandy
idrive65
12 years ago
Westie, have you peeked under the carpeting? We used to have a 70's raised ranch just like yours and there were hardwood floors and stairtreads under the green shag carpet that we ripped up. Our entry was tile. Get a really durable tile here. Without a mud area this small place takes a beating, as will wood stairs leading up into your kitchen area. (Before we moved out we did a quick sand and refinish and they looked great!)

We had electric baseboard heat in our bedrooms over an unheated garage. Since our heaters were at floor level the wood floor wasn't terribly cold, but if your heat comes in from ceiling registers it will stay up there and your wood flooring will be freezing. Oh wait, did you say it's a heated garage? That makes a difference.

I kind of miss having heater controls in every room. :)
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westiemom
Original Author
12 years ago
Sorry to not have responded earlier...I've been trying to post... but when I hit "preview message"...I keep getting redirected to the GardenWeb home page!

idrive65 - Unfortunately no hardwood floors under the carpeting. When we moved in years ago...we "temporarily" replaced the lovely orange shag carpeting with a cheap beige carpet...now 17 years later, dh has finally agreed to replace it. We are still arguing over his "Hunter Green" carpeting downstairs...he doesn't see anything wrong with it! lol I do worry about wood on the steps but it has to be better than carpet...right? I do like the individual room controls...I wonder if there are updated controls? Ours still function well but are straight out of the Brady Bunch...along with the intercom system...thermometer(dh Loves this)!...and central vac!

art teacher mom - I love the look of hardwood! We live out in the woods and it just makes sense to bring the wood inside. We want to do both sets of stairs, foyer and all of the upstairs rooms to start. I'm glad to hear that the floors wont be cold!...Now to convince dh! lol

Thanks!...Sandy
echoflooring
12 years ago
I am going to take the opposite approach here from the rest as I understand we are in a struggling economy. Nafco makes a beautiful product at about 1/3 of the cost of real tile for that foyer. Extremely real looking, wears well(Not as well as tile)...I have a showroom that displays it on the floor and people with a budget goes bonkers over it. I would remove the railing, Pick a fashion conscious carpet that has great value yet will lst and definitely be warm and your pets will appreciate the traction. You will be able to afford this, it will be very fashionable and in many peoples mind in this world is easier to keep looking clean than a hard surface. Then have that wood railing with spindles (Which is fairly expensive) installed.I am only taking you in this direction as I know there is a budget here, and this will be affordable to you, look absolutely beautiful, and should allow you to do more improvement in your home than anticipated at this time. Besides, carpet is now making the gigantic comeback that I had predicted one year ago.Carpet once again, is overtaking hardwood for replacement products unlike the last two years as it people are becoming even more value conscious and they have been waiting long enough for the flooring through this economic crunch. By the way, Grey is number one color this year followed closely by chocolates, then beige's...Just a Little info. If you were close to our stores, I would be able to show you all the options. Hardwood treads, etc, will be nice...but it will be big bucks and that is not for everyone and I truly understand it...and your dogs will love you more...Ps/I am not anti hardwood by any means and there are tons of options, but hardwood anc ceramic rival one another for the highest price per ft....to place products in general in the order of cost....Tile..Hardwood...laminates..Luxury vinyl...vinyl...carpet There is exceptions to all of these and this list but this is just a generalizations which is usually right on the mark..This list presumes material labor and prep transition....Good Luck..
westiemom
Original Author
12 years ago
echoflooring - Thank you so much for your expertise! We Definitely will be replacing the the railing. Let me run buy one quote I have gotten so far...Hardwood installation of Brazilian Cherry 4-3/4"engineered by Bruce...includes tear out and disposal of old carpet...replace old baseboard with 5" primed baseboard in the living room/dining room/kitchen/hallway (approx 700 sf)... and cement board and slate for foyer...$9800.00
I see Lauzon, BR-111 and Mirage mentioned here a lot...would there be a big difference in price points?

I think you can tell I'm pushing for hardwood/engineered...but my husband likes carpeting. Are there any specific carpet brands I should be looking at?

Thanks!...Sandy
echoflooring
12 years ago
You've got to figure the foyer at close to a thousand dollars..maybe a hundred or two less..so that put your 700 sq ft of engineered Brazilian ch at around 9 grand...that is just shy of 13 a ft installed with rip out and the base..I mean every area is different..Around here an engineered like you are mentioning would be less money. There are different calibers of engineered. the three that you mention as alternatives will probably not save you money from the Bruce. I will be honest, Bruce is my least favorite of the 4 you mentioned as their quality control at times is terrible.it sounds like a lot of money for 800 f of flooring, but you are talking about top end cost points because of it being Brazilian cherry and ceramic I think you mean...Or is it really slate? Carpet wise if were me it would be either Anso or Smart Strand..both will give you performance...It's really hard to ridicule the price on the hardwood, as areas are so different. Also a good hardwood installer is worth more. We did a new house last week and were crunched with our crews...so we put a b quality crew in this home for 5 inch wide oak with a brand new builder that we acquired and we did not do a great job, so I now will be scrambling this week to get it corrected or replaced...No every store takes that approach either, but damn it , i ahould have made the customer wait an extra week and put an a crew in there. i should have known better. I will say that Home Depo and Lowes have very few what AI call craftsman working for them. let me say this, when you install new hardwood in an existing home, in can not be any tom dick or harry that installs it. It needs to be a carpenter..not a carpet layer.. There are few carpet layers that can be a craftsman with hardwood....but a lot of them think they are...So you must know what you are getting for an installer of hardwood or ceramic for that matter. Just some words of wisdom...You got my email..let me know if I can be of any more help to you. Thanks and good luck...Sorry for the lack of caps and spelling ...its late and I do not want to correct them all. Let me know.
Bellgirl
2 years ago
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70's Split Foyer... Flooring Update

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