Pre-finished wood floor installation

[ChefGirl]

I'm thinking about replacing our first floor with wood floor. We are thinking about using lumber liquidator. DH used them for his office. I'm not looking at use the stain grade wood. Just the pre-finished wood ones. But, lumber liquidator's installation cost is about $2.50 per sq ft. The material is about $2.00 sq ft. We haven't measured the area to see how much sq ft it is, but it seems expensive.....for 1,000 sq ft, it'll be about $4,000 plus tax? Yikes.

Are these standard prices? Home depot's wood materials are more expensive. Just wondering if any of you had any experience.

[Momit]

We bought prefinished flooring from Lumber Liquidators a few years ago. We (DH and I - he's handy but I'm not) installed it ourselves. It was only one room, and it was before kids, but it didn't seem too hard. We just rented a pneumatic nail gun from Home Depot. It turned out very well.

[ChefGirl]

We bought prefinished flooring from Lumber Liquidators a few years ago. We (DH and I - he's handy but I'm not) installed it ourselves. It was only one room, and it was before kids, but it didn't seem too hard. We just rented a pneumatic nail gun from Home Depot. It turned out very well.

did you do any padding on the concret? yeah, we have 3 kids and he's handy but ain't all that handy.....

[vejemom]

That seems about right. I once got a quote for $6000 for about 700 square feet installed. I've been told that it is almost cheaper to have it installed for you because the nail gun rental is so expensive. I'm not too mechanically inclined in that department, though, so I'm not sure how true that is.

[Octobermommy]

2.50sounds good to me. Home depot was wantng about $4 per sq ft when we put our floors in. We lucked out and had a friend do it for $25 / hour but dh did all the carpet removal and prep work. We glued ours down and have had just one place come up that had to be reglued. Dh did another room by himself a few months later and it came out great. I would call around to local guys and see if you can get a better deal. My relative got his nailed down for $1 per sq ft.

[Snow mom]

I've been told that it is almost cheaper to have it installed for you because the nail gun rental is so expensive. I'm not too mechanically inclined in that department, though, so I'm not sure how true that is.

That can't be right. We rented a pneumatic nailer from HD to do some siding repair. IIRC we rented it for a half day and it cost about $50. You should be able to find the rates on the HD website or call the local store and ask.

OP: was that quote for just installing or also for removing old flooring? That's worth considering.

[Mermanaid]

We did roughly 1200 sq ft last spring. Purchased Lumber Liquidators Old Virginia Mill (I think that's the name of it) pre-finished flooring that ran around 3.99/sqft, so that cost me about 5k with trim pieces, etc. Installation labor ran us 3200 and the glue to adhere was 600+change (125/bucket). The installation did not include removal of old carpet and tack strips (we did that). The quote you got sounds about right to me.

[JMS]

$2.50/ per sq foot is what we paid, and the best price I could find, to have our Bruce BR-111 Brazilian Cherry floor installed in 2004. I live in a fairly expensive suburb of Philadelphia.

[BillK]

We paid $4.26/sq. ft. for Pre-Finished Character Grade Hickory 3 1/4" x 3/4" hardwood from www.sheogaflooring.com (http://www.sheogaflooring.com) - our installer charged us $2/sq. ft. to install it. He said he does over 500,000 sq. ft. of hardwood installs a year and has never worked with hardwood as nice as that from Sheoga. Check 'em out if you can.

[KHF]

We bought ours through a local business. It was about 800-900 square feet (that's a total guess, I'm horrible with area...it was for a hallway, and dining room/living room) and it was right at $4,000 for materials and installation. We have Bruce Oak floors (pre-finished).

[KathyN115]

In our previous home, we purchased Bruce pre-finished hardwood at Home Depot, and DH installed it himself. He purchased the nailer because he knew it would take him a long time :). It did, but he did a good job and didn't think it was too difficult. He says he would do it again. In our current house, we had one room of unfinished wood installed, and the whole house re-finished. We went through a small local company and their prices were really good. Would that be an option for you?

[ChefGirl]

THANKS for everyone's input. DH measured to be about 800 to 900 sq. ft that includes the dining room, the living/family room, the hallway, the study and the master bedroom. The wood costs about $1.29 (honey oak or something like that) and the labor about $2.50 per sq ft. I should tell him to ask about the removal part. He's asking one of the contractors who worked on his office built-out. I hope the $2.50 installation includes materials (glue) and removal. Yikes! I just didn't want to spend too much on the wood floor. Just want to get rid of the downstair carpet. Too mcuh carpet fuzz on the kids. For those of you who glued your floor, did you use an extra layer of padding on the concrete?

[DebbieJ]

I would recommend getting unfinished hardwood and have it finished in place. The prefinished stuff does not wear well IME.

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

I would recommend getting unfinished hardwood and have it finished in place. The prefinished stuff does not wear well IME.


This exactly. My Bruce prefinished in my condo was a mess and I only lived there 12 months. Plus prefinished may not be able to be refinished at all or or more than once which may make it more expensive in the long run ( than finished-in-place). I also HATED the beveled edge- floors were always dirty and it was just me and two small dogs.i

[mamicka]

This exactly. My Bruce prefinished in my condo was a mess and I only lived there 12 months. Plus prefinished may not be able to be refinished at all or or more than once which may make it more expensive in the long run ( than finished-in-place). I also HATED the beveled edge- floors were always dirty and it was just me and two small dogs.i

I think it depends on the quality of wood & the co. We've used flooring from Lumber Liquidators a lot (mostly Bellawood) & it wears really well. We've used oak, maple, & chinese maple, if I remeber correctly. We've always chosen flooring without any bevel & it truly is bevel-free, totally smooth & easy to clean - but we don't have any pets. If it's real wood & not engineered there shouldn't be a low limit regarding refinishing.

We've always installed it ourselves - we bought the nailer. But $2.50 sounds good for installation as far as I've heard.

[DebbieJ]

Even if it doesn't have a bevel, your cut ends are going to be left unfinished and one spill will cause trouble.

[Mermanaid]

For those of you who glued your floor, did you use an extra layer of padding on the concrete?

Ours was glued directly to the concrete -- no underlayment needed. It sounds a solid as a rock.

I do love our pre-finished flooring. It was one that looked distressed already so you can't tell if the kids have scratched it, etc. There is one area in the kitchen where the Tripp Trapp has scratched it up pretty badly, but that's my fault as I did not put on new felt pads when the first ones fell off!

[mamicka]

nevermind, I misunderstood.