Prefinished (especially oiled) hardwood floors?

[Dee*Jay]

One May 8 I wrote a very large check for 2,800 square feet of hardwood floors. On June 20 we had a storm in Chicago that caused water to back up into my unit and now I have to write another very large check for more hardwood floors. (Yes, I have insurance, but there is more to the story and I won't bore you all with the details here... )

My current floors are 3/4" genuine hardwood. The same floor guy who did them said he would have to take up the damaged area, dry the wet concrete underneath, replace the plywood subfloor, put down new wood, and sand and stain the entire floor to match. The kicker here is that I have to move everything out so he can sand and stain the whole thing. I want to do that at much as I want to slam my left tit in the car door. Repeatedly.

So I started looking for options and came across prefinished products which could be done in sections and I wouldn't have to move out. Plus they could be repaired (more) easily if the need ever arose again. (Obviously I'm having the underlying issue addressed so this DOESN'T happen again but now I'm gun shy.)

I don't like a lot of the pre-finished options because they look very fake to me. The problem, for the most part, is the beveled edges, especially where the pieces meet end-to-end. I came across some options though that are oil finished and the ends and sides appeal to me more, especially on some of the distressed one.

This is not a cheap solution so I need to be really sure. Some of the ones I like got up to $17/foot for the material alone so I have to be damn certain before I commit (although more realistically there's a $7/foot option I could live with, and that's definitely more palatable from a pocketbook standpoint).

Does anyone have thoughts on pre-finished floors? And does anyone have oiled wood floors?

P.S. - When I say "hardwood" I am also open to engineered (but not laminate) options if they are especially good quality.

 

[Calliecake]

Hi DJ, I also have hardwood floors and had them all refinished a couple years ago. They turned out looking great but oh the dust lasts for months. I know they say you can easily replace the pre-finished floors. I have always wondered if after a couple of years that really is true. Even with our windows that have some sort of sun protection, I wonder if the sun would'nt change the color slightly. I would be really unhappy if the new flooring didn't match exactly with the old. The whole back of my house is windows and French doors so even though it faces North I'm sure the sun does some fading to the wood. There is a pond behind my house so I don't have neighbors who can look in so the drapes are not closed. Do you have a lot of windows that could cause sun damage?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Callie, I don't get much direct light into the space so the fading shouldn't be a big problem. That is a factor though so thanks for mentioning it.

My guy who did the first set of floors used a vacuum system attached to the sander and I swear I had NO dust. It was amazing! To be fair, I hadn't moved in yet so I couldn't run my finger along the furniture and see if that was really true, but my bathrooms were in and I don't recall seeing dust in them or in the kitchen.

My biggest problem is my place is one room, a 55' X 55' square, so there is no where else to put stuff, which means I have to move all of my furniture out if I go the sanding/refinishing route. What a bummer...

 

[kathley]

We have installed prefinished solid hardwood floors in our entire home. And we did the installation ourselves. There are several finishes, and different species of hardwood to choose from. Additionally, there are several levels of "quality" you would need to choose from as well. Beveling also varies. We chose the highest quality that we could afford, and the result is absolutely gorgeous! There will be some dust during installation and you will need to cover everything to keep the dust off, but nowhere near what you would have to endure with refinishing. We had our floors refinished at our previous home, and I would not go through that again especially since prefinished is just as, if not more beautiful.

 

[Calliecake]

Callie, I don't get much direct light into the space so the fading shouldn't be a big problem. That is a factor though so thanks for mentioning it.

My guy who did the first set of floors used a vacuum system attached to the sander and I swear I had NO dust. It was amazing! To be fair, I hadn't moved in yet so I couldn't run my finger along the furniture and see if that was really true, but my bathrooms were in and I don't recall seeing dust in them or in the kitchen.

My biggest problem is my place is one room, a 55' X 55' square, so there is no where else to put stuff, which means I have to move all of my furniture out if I go the sanding/refinishing route. What a bummer...

I also had to move all our furniture and clothing out of the first and second floors. Luckily I had a basement and garage to move everything into. It doesn't sound like you have that luxury. I say luxury because when I need the spaces for that purpose it truly did seem like a luxury. I can't image having to move all your furniture and clothes to some other location.

When we built the house I had some cabinets in the kitchen with glass doors. I asked about buying extra cabinet doors that were not glass in case I didn't want the glass doors later on. I was told after a few years the wood color would look lighter then the doors that were put away. I image flooring would be the same.

I'm so sorry you are going through this. I know the storms in Chicago were terrible in May and June.

 

[rainydaze]

We put prefinished flooring in our last home, and refinished (sanded, stained, poly'd) the existing wood floors in our current home. We also added more hardwood where there had been carpet, and converted the stairs from carpet to hardwood. I thought the prefinished was *the* way to go at the time, but I will never again do prefinished, no matter the inconvenience!! It was a quality wood, from a quality brand, and it took scratches waaaay too easily. When we lifted the area rugs to move, there was indeed a difference, although we expected that. Our current floors have taken a beating and they look perfect. (For reference: the prefinished was BR-111 Santos Mahogany, and the current floors are 2.25 white oak - which I thought was old-fashioned and nothing special, but I'm a convert now! We chose Early American for the stain and I have to say, it's more beautiful to me than the 'fancy' prefinished floors we picked previously.)

Plus, the prefinished flooring cost more than twice what our current floors cost, for less than half the square footage.

 

[Gypsy]

The type of wood makes a big difference on how they wear DJ. For example: American Walnut is MUCH softer than Brazillian. Oak is hard enough for wearing well and yet not too hard. Hickory too (which I love)

From what I understand, if you go with high quality pre-finished they are SUPPOSED to wear better than ones that are installed as in the factory they can use Aluminum Oxide (or something) that they can't in your home.

That said, I love the look of concrete. But for me, I wouldn't want such hard floors in my home. I'd much prefer wood.

I'm so sorry to hear about your flood.

 

[marcy]

I have no advice on what to put on your floors but I hate to hear you might have to move everything out. Ugh. What a pain. I am sorry you have such a big mess on your hands in your new place.

 

[TC1987]

I'd evaluate how much time and money to move it all out and back in, and how much time until you can move it back in, assuming that you go with flooring that is sanded and finished in place. 10 days? 30 days? Here, I can rent a 10x20 storage unit for about $110/month. I can hire movers to lug stuff for $15/hr. I can rent a U-Haul or a Penske, or can find someone with a large enclosed car hauler trailer. There are plenty of motel rooms, some with efficiency units. Stand-alone insurance policies are available for rental unit contents, or it might be covered by your homeowners. Commercial movers can store it in bulk, but you won't have any access to it until it's moved back in. I've been rotating things in/out of a storage unit for over 5 years. I chose a secure facility that has a god fence, a live-in manager on the premises, is a bit higher than the average rate here to keep riffraff out, and I keep two high security locks on the door. I've had no tampering or losses in all that time.

Some people I know decided to build a new house on the site of their original house. They rented one of those semi trailers and parked it in the yard and put their household contents in it for the duration. They lived in a travel trailer in the yard.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Kathley, thanks for the info! Is the dust from cutting? Were you able to stay in the space while the installation was going on?

Callie, oh how I envy your multi floor situation, LOL! My last place was a four story townhouse and I never thought I’d wish for a separate floor again after that but now I’m sorry I don’t have another space in which to put my stuff temporarily.

Rainy, it’s it amazing how much more the prefinished costs? When I started down this path I thought it would be cheaper, but no, not by a long shot! I am willing to pay a bit (although not a boatload) extra for the convenience of not having to move out and back in, but some of these options are crazy expensive.

Gypsy, I’ve been pouring over the Janka hardness scale for wood floors! If I go prefinished in any way I’m leaning more toward oiled. I agree though, wood is preferable to me too.

Curby, I am trying to keep this in perspective – first world problems! Nobody died, no children went to bed hungry, no puppies went to the gas chamber… But still a PITA!

TC, I would love it if I could put a “pod” in my parking spots and just move the furniture in there. The association would likely go bananas, but by the time they had their fit it would be too late because the pod would be in place. Knowing them though they might have it towed away or something and then I’m totally screwed!

 

[kathley]

Kathley, thanks for the info! Is the dust from cutting? Were you able to stay in the space while the installation was going on?

The dust came from nailing to the subfloor as we did all of the cutting outside. Many installers will saw inside your home to save time, but the dust would be much worse. We were able to stay in our home during installation, but just covered our furniture to protect it from the dust.

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, it's always good to keep things in perspective. And wine always helps.