Reflooring in a Gardenia
 

I'm thinking very seriously of changing the flooring in our Gardenia. It's a standard Gardenia, no stretches.
Basically, all of the areas that once had carpet have been switched to some sort of engineered flooring. We bought the house as a pre-owned, and the previous owner changed out the carpet for the current flooring. The tile areas are fine, but the living room/dining room area, as well as the bedrooms are darker than we like.

There is nothing wrong structurally with the current flooring, we are just looking to make a cosmetic transformation.

We do notice a lot of echoing, and from what I've read, certain types of flooring (not interested in returning to carpeting, thank you) reduce echoing compared to other choices.

I need a primer in the pros and cons of various products, and if you've done a Gardenia or Camellia relatively recently and wouldn't mind sharing your experiences ( including approximate costs if you don't mind), I'd appreciate the information.

Thanks

I will send you a private message

I understand that you don't wish to install carpeting. But, perhaps, you were going to have some rugs atop whatever flooring you do install? If so, I might recommend buying lighter-colored rugs now and seeing if they make enough difference for you before replacing flooring. Sometimes, a simple remedy like that actually makes all the difference.

In fact, you could buy them, bring them home and put in place to visually see what you think. Leave any tags, stickers on them and if it doesn't work, then you can return them. Lighter-colored bed and window coverings can also have a positive, overall impact.

I would suggest using the same flooring throughout the entire house. It will look better and increase the resale value.

Laker14, I have done something very similar in our Gardenia, I sent a Private message with my phone number, too much info to type this all out, so please give me a call.

Thanks, VT. I saw the PM. Was busy all day. Will try to call you tomorrow.

If you are taking out tile and installing wood, vinyl or laminate the demolition will be costly and a big mess. Have successfully installed luxury vinyl over tile. luxury vinyl planks, whole house (2,000 sq ft), installation and materials at $14 - $16k (no demolition of tile).

I agree with retiredguy but inside hers(wife) outside mine. We used Roberto's Flooring and have no complaints. Replaced entire house, except bedrooms, with luxury vinal and bedrooms had carpet replaced with best padding and a better carpet. Wife is happy, garage is all mine, life is good...lol

I think reflooring and making every room the same is a great idea. It will open up the space even more. I don’t understand why there are so many homes with different flooring in every room. It really dates the home.

I agree with putting luxury vinyl over existing floor. It's super thin and it'll save so much hassle for you, especially since you said you currently have engineered wood. That is not a floating floor, it is glued down. Pain in the butt to take out and scrape off all that glue.Who knows how your subfloor will be afterwards too. All the best with this project!

While I appreciate everyone's thoughts and ideas on this, I like having some of the floor tile and some wood. As far as the house looking dated, my plan is that by the time I or my heirs sell this place, anything I do will look dated.
Resale value is secondary to having what I want while I'm here. I'm not looking to flip this house in the next two years. I intend to be here until my old body can no longer use enough of what TV has to offer to make staying here worth the money. By that time, whatever I do now will be old, I hope.

I would recommend getting a primer from a reputable flooring company like Roberto’s. They know the floor plans in The Villages and can speak to you about the various materials, pros and cons. We lived in a gardenia also and the flooring was constantly moving/cracking- sounded like someone walking across the floor in the middle of the night!

It doesn’t matter what model home you have, it can be any home. Tile and wood floors are the best and the most expensive. Carpet in bedrooms is fine if you like warmth on your feet. If you want to go cheaper, you can get vinyl flooring and put it right over existing wood floors and it will look fine.
As for echoing, you’ll need some type of carpet or acoustic wall treatment to deaden the sound. I’m an audiophile and I use acoustic panels in my audio room to treat any echoing.
Use large area rugs with anti-slip padding, and I mean large like 8x10 or larger in each large area and it will make a difference

We had new hardwood floors installed in a Gardenia, livingroom/dining room, hallway only. This was due to a water pipe leak that came up thru the floor. Insurance paid most of the $17,000 bill. Living thru the removal of the original floor was tough. A forklift was driven around those rooms ripping up old floor. Then they had to sand off the old glue. Days of living with the noise and mess. Hopefully it's done differently now, this was five years ago.

14, I would talk to some Pro's.

Great Lakes in Wildwood are great.

Tell them you concerns/wishes and they can educate/recommend and price.

Good Luck.