Hardwood Floors..or not?

[Dannny]

Sue and I purchase in the Villages in March. The house we purchased is 1 year old. We've decided to replace the flooring and have been looking into hardwood. We have run across many opinions on going to hardwood or not. Yet at the same time, we are seening more and more new Villages models and homes being built with hardwood.

Folks I've talked to (owners and builders) have two opinons. One is that there is NO issue with hardwood but others when I suggest it have said "you do not want hardwood floors in Florida".

We are pretty much at a standstill trying to decide. Any and all opinions, experince and examples are welcome. We are in transition as we still own a house in Michigan but will be spending more and more time each year at the Villages until we are down completely within the next 5 years. In the mean time we do have a full time service keeping an eye on our house with access to go in as necessary and check things out....

Advise?

Thanks,

Dan & Sue Adanti
Michigan and now the Villages..

[Applepie]

I replaced my carpet with bamboo flooring 4 years ago. I have had no problems. Looks as good as the day it was installed.

[jrandall]

I really like my engineered hardwood. The biggest Stue is that it shows dust and dirt much faster than tile. I have a little dog who brings in grass on her feet from the outside. I ended up getting an iRobot and that as lessened my load of vacuuming. Not sure I would get it again if I had a do over.

[jimbo2012]

engineered hardwood, is not hardwood it is a composite, apples & oranges.

There is no better floor than a real hardwood floor, by that I mean solid wood.

I did mine in Florida Cypress, love it.

[SpicyCajunPugs]

I love my slate look tile. It is unique, beautiful, and shows no stains, dog hair, dirt, etc. and it is very easy to maintain. Wood is an ongoing pain in the you know what IMHO...

[dotti105]

We are going with laminate!

We had hardwood in fla and found it to be a huge maintence issue. Sand and hardwood are a horrible combination. We had our floors refinished every year when we could vacate ( for vacation)

There was always scratches, scraped, dents, dings. I had to put felt on the bottom of my rocking chair because of the damage it caused.

I was going to go to tile for our Villages home. But I have looked at wood laminates and been blow away! The laminates are virtually impossible to tell from real wood floors. They are guaranteed for 20 yrs! No refinishing....ever!!!

Laminate is easier on the feet, body than tile. Do not dent and are just plain georgeous!!

The beauty and maintainence free qualities sold us!!

The Villages does not offer laminate. So we are installing it after tearing out the cheapest flooring we can purchase for our new home.

Go look at the laminates! They are amazing.

(Also the "tile" laminates look like real tile, slate. You have to see them to believe it!)

Lots of choices out there!! Have fun finding what is right for you and your home!!

[Villageswimmer]

We are going with laminate!

We had hardwood in fla and found it to be a huge maintence issue. Sand and hardwood are a horrible combination. We had our floors refinished every year when we could vacate ( for vacation)

There was always scratches, scraped, dents, dings. I had to put felt on the bottom of my rocking chair because of the damage it caused.

I was going to go to tile for our Villages home. But I have looked at wood laminates and been blow away! The laminates are virtually impossible to tell from real wood floors. They are guaranteed for 20 yrs! No refinishing....ever!!!

Laminate is easier on the feet, body than tile. Do not dent and are just plain georgeous!!

The beauty and maintainence free qualities sold us!!

The Villages does not offer laminate. So we are installing it after tearing out the cheapest flooring we can purchase for our new home.

Go look at the laminates! They are amazing.

(Also the "tile" laminates look like real tile, slate. You have to see them to believe it!)

Lots of choices out there!! Have fun finding what is right for you and your home!!

Dotti, we're plannibg on laminate as well. Can you share what company you plan to use?

[upstate]

We are going with laminate!

We had hardwood in fla and found it to be a huge maintence issue. Sand and hardwood are a horrible combination. We had our floors refinished every year when we could vacate ( for vacation)

There was always scratches, scraped, dents, dings. I had to put felt on the bottom of my rocking chair because of the damage it caused.

I was going to go to tile for our Villages home. But I have looked at wood laminates and been blow away! The laminates are virtually impossible to tell from real wood floors. They are guaranteed for 20 yrs! No refinishing....ever!!!

Laminate is easier on the feet, body than tile. Do not dent and are just plain georgeous!!

The beauty and maintainence free qualities sold us!!

The Villages does not offer laminate. So we are installing it after tearing out the cheapest flooring we can purchase for our new home.

Go look at the laminates! They are amazing.

(Also the "tile" laminates look like real tile, slate. You have to see them to believe it!)

Lots of choices out there!! Have fun finding what is right for you and your home!!

We have hardwood, tile and laminate in our home. I prefer laminate hands down, especially with a pet and it does feel better under foot and less upkeep. Our neighbors who are in the same situation agree, we had the carpeting ripped up in our villages home and had it replaced with tile look laminate, looks great. Not interested in resale value, only comfort. Good luck with whatever you
choose.

[SpicyCajunPugs]

We have had both laminate and hardwood in addition to tile, and we still feel tile is superior in nearly every way. Laminate has many of the same disadvantages as wood. It shows dirt, dog hair, foot prints, etc just like wood, and you also have to be careful with water and other products used on it. No matter how much I cleaned my floors looked bad, and I was always worried about damage, either physical or chemical. Tile is much more heavy duty and durable and comes in such beautiful colors.

[Maryland Girl]

We are going with laminate!

We had hardwood in fla and found it to be a huge maintence issue. Sand and hardwood are a horrible combination. We had our floors refinished every year when we could vacate ( for vacation)

There was always scratches, scraped, dents, dings. I had to put felt on the bottom of my rocking chair because of the damage it caused.

I was going to go to tile for our Villages home. But I have looked at wood laminates and been blow away! The laminates are virtually impossible to tell from real wood floors. They are guaranteed for 20 yrs! No refinishing....ever!!!

Laminate is easier on the feet, body than tile. Do not dent and are just plain georgeous!!

The beauty and maintainence free qualities sold us!!

The Villages does not offer laminate. So we are installing it after tearing out the cheapest flooring we can purchase for our new home.

Go look at the laminates! They are amazing.

(Also the "tile" laminates look like real tile, slate. You have to see them to believe it!)

Lots of choices out there!! Have fun finding what is right for you and your home!!

Couldn't agree more. We used Floor Masters. They have a large selection and they were less expensive than some others, including Great Lake Carpet and Tile. We recommend buying a thicker laminate with a good padding underneath. We also bought wide plank with a semi high gloss. It looks so beautiful. We had hardwood in our northern home, but we just love the laminate. To clean, just spray on a cleaner without ammonia, like Perfect Glass from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Also, be sure to discuss before purchasing what happens if they rip up the existing flooring and they find some leveling has to be done. We didn't have any leveling issues, but some people have. Leveling may add additional cost but that would be true whether the floor was hardwood or laminate.

[eweissenbach]

We just bought another home in Missouri and are replacing most of the flooring with porcelain wood-look tile. It looks like wood but offers superior toughness, with no scratching and no water problems. We have had wood and laminate and prefer the durability and beauty of tile.

[SpicyCajunPugs]

We just bought another home in Missouri and are replacing most of the flooring with porcelain wood-look tile. It looks like wood but offers superior toughness, with no scratching and no water problems. We have had wood and laminate and prefer the durability and beauty of tile.

Wood-look tile is a great alternative to people who like the look of wood without all the problems and disadvantages. We almost went with that but liked the multiple color look of slate-look tile, and it had the look of old New Orleans where I was born and raised. Porcelain tile is wonderful for a more carefree lifestyle with beauty to boot!!!

[dotti105]

We have slate in our current home and I love the look. But my feet and legs are really suffering. I will need something with a bit of give. The Tile is great for those who can stand it under foot all day and night.
10 yrs ago we could. now we can't. end of story.

[Barefoot]

I have a little dog who brings in grass on her feet from the outside. I ended up getting an iRobot and that as lessened my load of vacuuming.

I know this thread is about flooring. But I have to ask .... Does the iRobot really work well?

[Madelaine Amee]

I know this thread is about flooring. But I have to ask .... Does the iRobot really work well?

My son's friend worked for the iRobot company, he had loads of them - he got the ones returned to the company because they didn't work - he is a design computer engineer and could fix just about anything computerized! He said they were actually very good, open a door, put the robot in the room, close the door and when you come back the room is done. But, he did say it drives the dogs crazy.

For the average homeowner (like us) robotic cleaning is still in its infancy, but they are cheap enough to give them a try. It's a bit like those very light weight hoses you can get in WallyMarts - my husband loves them, but we must be on our third or fourth! He keeps hoping for the miracle one that will last.

Oops, this thread is about flooring in Florida ---- quarry tile and engineered hardwood in the bedrooms. Love both.

[Yucatan2]

I recently installed the "luxury" slate-look laminate tile in my Master bath, the kind that you actually grout between. It looks very much like real tile, but much easier on the feet, very comfortable to walk on. I did it myself and it was easy to cut for getting around door frames, etc. I LOVE how it looks and it cost me less than $100.

[ssmith]

Have had several I-Robots.

Advantages: ease of cleaning, they get places like under the bed all of the time.
You can use these lazers that block off an area if you have an open floor plan or want to keep them out of a certain area.

Disadvantages: Ours were a headache to keep running, they kept breaking and needing repair (note we gave up on them a couple of years ago ...so they may be better now). Also the batteries were very expensive..so maintenance to keep them running cost a lot for us. Also they did not get the corners very well.

I think they will just keep getting better ande better.

Also my friend has the Scooba ( the one that washes the floor and she likes it but it has some of the same issues as the I-Robot.

[Barefoot]

My son's friend worked for the iRobot company, he had loads of them - he got the ones returned to the company because they didn't work - he is a design computer engineer and could fix just about anything computerized! He said they were actually very good, open a door, put the robot in the room, close the door and when you come back the room is done. But, he did say it drives the dogs crazy.

For the average homeowner (like us) robotic cleaning is still in its infancy, but they are cheap enough to give them a try. It's a bit like those very light weight hoses you can get in WallyMarts - my husband loves them, but we must be on our third or fourth! He keeps hoping for the miracle one that will last.

Have had several I-Robots.
Advantages: ease of cleaning, they get places like under the bed all of the time.
You can use these lazers that block off an area if you have an open floor plan or want to keep them out of a certain area.

Disadvantages: Ours were a headache to keep running, they kept breaking and needing repair (note we gave up on them a couple of years ago ...so they may be better now). Also the batteries were very expensive..so maintenance to keep them running cost a lot for us. Also they did not get the corners very well.
I think they will just keep getting better ande better.
Also my friend has the Scooba ( the one that washes the floor and she likes it but it has some of the same issues as the I-Robot.

Sorry, I'm the one who hijacked the thread, but I'm so curious about the iRobot and Scooba. Thanks Madelaine and SSmith for the comments.

I love the idea of having robots clean my house when I'm out. But what happens if it runs into an area rug or a chair? There seems to be a high probability of getting a machine that doesn't work properly. Perhaps in a few years they will have worked out all the design flaws?

[jimbo2012]

We love it, rugs no problem, once in while it gets stuck, but overall it great.

We also take it with us when we travel in our RV

[Barefoot]

We love it, rugs no problem, once in while it gets stuck, but overall it great. We also take it with us when we travel in our RV

Jimbo, what model do you have?

[jimbo2012]

I guess the standard one Roomba

[graciegirl]

We love our hardwood in this new house, almost two years old. It has been very durable and we have dropped heavy stuff on it and had a lot of gatherings.

The Villages put it in when they were building. If you call warranty they can tell you the source.

We had hardwood in our kitchen and entry in our home in Ohio and I loved it.

However, there is no "give" to hardwood here. It is installed over cement, just like tile is, even with the barrier it is like walking on tile. But the new finishes has stood up to a lot of abuse.

[jrandall]

I know this thread is about flooring. But I have to ask .... Does the iRobot really work well?

I really like my iRobot. It is great in between my major vacuum job I do once every two weeks right before cleaning my floors. It was worth our investment. :duck:

[Terri TVG]

I chose laminate and went with East Coast. Very happy with them. I can't tell you with absolutely certainty if they are easy to care for since I haven't lived there yet, but I hear laminate is easy to care for. I do think the flooring looks very nice though!

20553

[KathyK]

We put engineered hard wood in our bedroom 2 years ago. Love it. Will put it in guest rooms when we need to replace carpet. The rest of the house is tile. Easy maintenance.
Went with Great Lakes.

[asianthree]

we have 20 year old hardwood up north..daughter has 100 year old hardwood....its so pretty..compaired to mine

[jimbo2012]

We love our hardwood..

The Villages put it in when they were building.

I may be wrong but the Villages does not install hardwood the use lam or engineered over a pad.

A neighbor had it done about 6 months ago on a new build and they used 1/4 round mouldings rather than than the original base board.

A real hardwood is usually glued down and most are 3/4" thick wood, you may see it at the transitions.