Flooring for 1st Floor Struggle
6 years ago
My husband and I are currently building a new house, we are down to the wire with picking our flooring that will be used for our foyer, great room, dining and kitchen its about 1000 sq ft of flooring. My concerns are the following:
1. We have a crazy Springer Spaniel that has tore up our current hardwood floor.
2. I want something that can handle some water, she likes to drink and walk away from the bowl with water still in her lips, I haven't taught her to stand over the bowl and let it drain out LOL. And it doesn't matter how big the rug is under her bowl.
3. I want something that is also not too hard, I love tile, but just don't think I want tile for our great room.
4. I am looking for a wood look also, we have an open floor plane our kitchen/great room dimensions are 29 x 23.5.
We have looked at laminate, LVP, tile, and bamboo but just don't know what the right choice is for our situation.
Also, this is the flooring we are using for the entrance from our mudroom to our kitchen.
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Comments (8)
6 years agoRelated Discussions
25 Sq.m 2nd floor loft or 12 Sq.m 1st floor bedroom
Comments (7)Kids sleeping on a different floor than parents is a deal breaker for me, *especially* kids downstairs and parents upstairs. My kids have special needs, though, so I perhaps feel more passionate about this than most people. :-) I do, however, remember disliking being separated from my own parents when I was growing up. It didn't matter how old I was (first at 6-9 years old, then as an older teen), I hated sleeping on the opposite side of the house. (This may be hard to believe, lol, but I never once snuck out as a teenager, and no, I wasn't homeschooled.) That tells me that even if my kids weren't disabled, I'd very likely still want them close at night. :-) I like everyone to eat in the same place, play in the same place, and sleep in the same place....See MoreInsulated second floor and now the 1st floor is colder???
Comments (15)Ok, so done with tightening up the rooms. Just new window trims need to go on now in my son's room (office is complete). We feel a big difference in humidity with it hovering between 38-40% now in all four rooms on the 2nd floor and around 37% on the 1st floor. Not waking up in the night parched or with dry mouths any more! Temperature wise, we got the Acurite montors as you suggested Sophie Wheeler. The temperature in the master (South East corner) with the highest insulation is 21C, the one on the same side (South West corner) but with only 4" blown in cellulose (old plaster walls) 20C, the one one next to that in the NW corner 19C, and in the office (North East corner) 20C (also, newer insulation R21 and all joints between siding boards sealed). The NW corner doesn't get much direct sun at all but plenty of light though. Would you say thats about the normal range of variation? We could go nuts and smack on foam board and drywall layer on top of the old lime and lathe walls but would rather not....See More2nd floor mini-splits cooling the 1st floor?
Comments (3)I installed a mini split in the upstairs of my 2000 sq ft home a few years ago. It is in a large open room used as the main bedroom. I seldom turn it on, as I like to sleep cold (but if the outside temps go into the 30's I'll use it to warm the room). We don't normally need air conditioning here (PNW) because the nights cool nicely, my room has walls of windows, so it sleeps like a screened porch almost. I live near the saltwater and benefit from cooling breezes after dark. My lower floor (the main living area), stays cool for the most part. But a few years ago, the forest fire smoke choked the air and I couldn't open the windows to cool the upstairs in the summer, and it was stifling. So, I put in the mini split but didn't really use it for air conditioning because the following year we had no smoke, so I just kept the windows open...until last year when we had a record breaking heat wave with temps near 110 or over. Even the normally cool downstairs got sweltering, the upstairs unbearable. The two floors are connected by a small entryway/stairwell with a door at the top of the stairs and door at in the entry leading to the living room, kitchen/dining, which makes keeping the heating zones easily separated. I keep the doors to the bedrooms on the main floor closed always But last year when it was so hot, I ran the air upstairs and opened the doors between the floors. The mini split kept the upstairs cool, kept the downstairs not so cool, but cooler than without. I finally remembered I have portable fans, so I set those up downstairs to move the air and make it feel cooler. This year, I added a mini split downstairs, just in case we have such suffocating heat in the future. I would not rely on the upstairs unit to cool the downstairs effectively, but it will likely provide some cooling as Elmer describes, when the hot air from downstairs rises and gets cooled. But it's not powerful enough to draw much air from downstairs via the fan system....See MoreShould I have 1st floor crown molding and 2nd floor nothing
Comments (19)36+18+42= 96 inches. That is at 8 feet. What crown are you putting that closes the gap on a 9 foot ceiling? Or just "helps" to close the gap. The standards regarding crown vary quite a bit regionally and at different price points. It was not even a discussion on my last 2 builds - it was assumed to be in every room. But budget matters and region and style. Unfortunately, we don't know any of yours. Ok, you mention "modern" but I can tell you that what that word means to you isn't the same that it means to me. Nothing personal - it just may not be as descriptive as we hope. To me, a modern does not have crown or baseboard for that matter. But - easy to add later. In my market, you would pay a trim guy and then a painter behind him whereas during a build, the painter is there already (not extra trips). Your trim guy will charge about twice as much as the builder pays and the painter about 5 times as much. Your builder charges 150% markup perhaps. So it is basically a wash. You get to spend the money and make the decision later. But then there is the mess and noise in your house. Are your ceilings 8 feet upstairs? That would make a difference....See More- 6 years ago
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
PRO6 years ago
6 years agoThis big guy has been with us for about two years and hasn't done any kind of damage to our floors. He tracks in mud, tears through the house, and drools (a lot!). I don't trim his toenails as often as I should and I don't follow him around with a drool rag. We have carpet, tile and wood-look laminate and he hasn't hurt any of them.
You can see a little of our laminate floors in the picture. They're about 15 years old and don't require any kind of special care. All we do is sweep and mop. They are so old that I can't remember what brand they are, but they still look great. I think they are Bruce, but they might be Pergo.
Good luck with everything and enjoy your new house.
- 6 years ago
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