Durable Wood-Type Floor for Resale?

17 years ago

(Posted this originally on the Flooring Forum - thought I would try posting here to see if anyone had suggestions.)

We need to replace our family room carpet in preparation for putting our home on the market sometime within the next year. We have three dogs (including one Golden Retriever) who spend much of their time indoors. The only door from the house into the backyard is in the family room, and that room is also the only "thoroughfare" from other parts of the house into the kitchen/utility/garage. Needless to say, the family room flooring gets a trememdous amount of traffic and track-in from outdoors. Since it is impossible to keep carpet looking nice for very long, we are considering an engineered wood, laminate, or wood-look vinyl for this room. We would like to find something in a medium shade that looks fairly realistic, but since it is for resale, we don't want to spend top dollar. At the same time, we want something that will wear well and not show scratches as we wait for the house to sell. Thanks for any suggestions or advice.

(Should also add that we are not do-it-yourselfers so will have this professionally installed.)

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Comments (6)

mag77
17 years ago
>

So, replace the carpet at the last minute.

John
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newenglandbuilder
17 years ago
I agree with John, just deal with what you have and put in a middle range carpet once you are moving out. Why go through all the expense? If you really want a hardwood look with durability, you could look into some vinyl products that lay down as planks and can fool the eye pretty well.
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Oh, boy, I think I can help. We have two 67 lb dogs and have been in two houses with different wood floors. The first had Brazilian Teak (or Cumaru), which has a JANKA rating of 3540 (Brazilian Walnut is 3680). It's lighter in color. Those floors didn't get any scratches from our dog's nails whatsoever! Not even superficial scratches in the clear coat. The only scratch those floors received was from a very heavy piece of furniture that didn't have felt underneath. That was it. We were able to sell the house in two days. The next floors we had were Tigerwood (JANKA rating 1850). Talk about a mess! In just two years, they were destroyed. The dog's nails tore them to pieces. Scratches and dents everywhere - many so deep I could use a felt pen to hide them. Worse, the other scratches couldn't be hidden because they dented the wood without breaking through the protective coating, and would show as a white bubble. Just terrible. And I trim the dog's nails diligently! I never allow them to grow more than 1/8 inch past the quick. The worst part was that the scratches weren't dispersed evenly, so there was just a line of scratches running down all the traffic zones. It didn't look rustic at all. Just damaged. So, yes, there is HUGE difference in choosing wood floors. We'll only go with the highest JANKA ratings from now on! Lesson learned.
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gilmoregal
Original Author
17 years ago
John, I understand your point and had considered doing that. But in this market, I don't know how long it might take our home to sell. And since the sliding door in that room is the only door to let the dogs in/out, I am concerned that new carpet might get dirty (even if we took precautions to protect it) before the house sells...

I may not have been clear in my post - I do not want to invest in hardwood floors. Just want something like a laminate or vinyl that is durable and doesn't scream 'fake'... Mentioned engineered wood only because I had read that they are fairly durable but can be refinished if necessary.
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steve_o
17 years ago
I do not want to invest in hardwood floors. Just want something like a laminate or vinyl that is durable and doesn't scream 'fake'

I think what you'll find is that the installed cost of laminate or vinyl which does not scream 'fake' is not that far from the cost of a hardwood floor. Amtico and Metroflor are two vinyl brands I can think of which make excellent wood-look floors. But I would price out an installed floor of each type before I automatically ruled out one material or the other.
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annzgw
17 years ago
We have friends that own big dogs and have laminate in their homes and the surface scratching is a big issue.

If you want to keep costs down, I suggest you clean the carpet for resale and put down inexpensive runners.....Home Depot carries some and they're washable. Each time the house shows, just pick up the runners and vacuum the rest.
Another option is to make a note on your 'for sale' info sheet that you will cover the cost of new carpet and just show the house as is.

Otherwise, install a dark neutral color carpet...........but I'd still use the runners.
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cookiemom18
17 years ago
Home Depot and Lowes sells laminate flooring for even less than most carpets and linoleum tiles. 99 cents a sq foot.
Looks great, holds up to anything! And easy to install yourself. I LOVE IT!
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Durable Wood-Type Floor for Resale?

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mag77

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Durable Wood-Type Floor for Resale?

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mag77

newenglandbuilder

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gilmoregalOriginal Author

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