Great Room + Kitchen flooring options?

[eyephone]

I was also considering getting wood floors in the kitchen, but I would have to stay on top of spills as liquids can cause damage if not wipe/cleaned right away. (especially if you have a kid or planning to have a kid)

For the great room I would get wood floors. [Get the standard carpet and have a contractor rip out and then install wood. Because the design center will charge you and arm and a leg if you get wood floors from them.]

 

[phanpd]

I was also considering getting wood floors in the kitchen, but I would have to stay on top of spills as liquids can cause damage if not wipe/cleaned right away. (especially if you have a kid or planning to have a kid)

I had a friend who last week didn't realize he had a slow leak from his refrigerator until another friend who was over realized water was seeping out of a nearby wood piece.  At that point you can only hope no long term damage will result. 

 

[qwerty]

I had a friend who last week didn't realize he had a slow leak from his refrigerator until another friend who was over realized water was seeping out of a nearby wood piece.  At that point you can only hope no long term damage will result. 

this is why i did not hook up the icemaker to our fridge.  our fridge doesnt have the water dispenser cause we like the sleeker look of the entire front being all stainless steel. when the installer came he was getting ready to install the water from the wall to the fridge and told him not too.

 

[broda]

Having different floors in each room makes the room feel so much smaller.  When I had the default IPAC stuff installed downstairs, it made the "great room" feel not so great because everything was compartmentalized.  Once I put wood floors throughout the entire downstairs it just gives you that feel of openness.

As for water on the floors...most higher quality wood/laminate/engineered wood can withstand a good amount of water, unless you let it stand for extended amounts of time. 

But I don't feel like I'm that lazy I would let water sit on my floors for hours before I would clean it up. 

 

[qwerty]

I do have a second fridge in the garage. I keep plenty of drinks in the fridge (sodas, water, Gatorade) so I don't need ice. Not a fan of ice in general. When we go to restaurants I get my sodas with no ice since they come out cold out of the dispensers

 

[qwerty]

I do have a second fridge in the garage. I keep plenty of drinks in the fridge (sodas, water, Gatorade) so I don't need ice. Not a fan of ice in general. When we go to restaurants I get my sodas with no ice since they come out cold out of the dispensers

So when i come over, you are planning on doing shots or liquor drinks at room temperature?

That will make the chest hair fall OFF your chest.

Way ahead of you. Got the liquor in the freezer in the garage and at room temp as well. So no need to ice the shots.

 

[qwerty]

Besides, if the liquor is already cold and you still need ice you are taking too long to finish the drink

 

[ZeroLot]

I swung by Mulberry today to take a look at their flooring.  I really like the feel and look of Plan 2's first floor flooring. 

Any idea what material this is?  I know it's not hardwood.  But I can't tell if it's a ceramic tile or an engineered wood?

 

[eyephone]

I was also considering getting wood floors in the kitchen, but I would have to stay on top of spills as liquids can cause damage if not wipe/cleaned right away. (especially if you have a kid or planning to have a kid)

I had a friend who last week didn't realize he had a slow leak from his refrigerator until another friend who was over realized water was seeping out of a nearby wood piece.  At that point you can only hope no long term damage will result. 

Another reason why not to get hardwood in the kitchen. Sometimes appliances leak/ drip water for some reason or another. Also, when I was looking to buy houses that were not new construction, I noticed in the kitchen area that some parts I saw the hard wood floor buckling.

 

[broda]

flooring buckles under standing water...Venetian gave me one box of extra wood to do replacements if needed.  Like I said I'm not the type to let water just sit on my floor.  I will put in the extra effort to take care of my engineered wood floors in the kitchen for the aesthetics.  It's durable to withstand my kids going bonkers, and if they spill something I'm not going to let it just sit there.  Even with tile floors I wouldn't leave spills there.

 

[IrvineHousewife]

@Zerolot Per some contractors I've asked it's Provenza hardwood

 

[ZeroLot]

@Zerolot Per some contractors I've asked it's Provenza hardwood

Thanks IrvineHouseWife.  I went to Provenza's hardwood and it looks like the Antique Oak design.  It seems that Provenza's hardwood is a type of engineered hardwood.  It's durable enough for Mulberry Plan 2 to place it in the bathroom. 

Any ideas from your contractors as to the price of such engineered hardwood?

 

[broda]

@Zerolot Per some contractors I've asked it's Provenza hardwood

Thanks IrvineHouseWife.  I went to Provenza's hardwood and it looks like the Antique Oak design.  It seems that Provenza's hardwood is a type of engineered hardwood.  It's durable enough for Mulberry Plan 2 to place it in the bathroom. 

Any ideas from your contractors as to the price of such engineered hardwood?

It is a Provenza French Oak, and it's not engineered.  This would  through outside contractors is avering $12 sq ft.  I think IPAC design center is around $15 to $16.  At least  when I was shopping for floors.  Like everything, prices could have inflated due to demand.

You can put down any floor in the bathroom that is glued down. Floating floors are not allowed since they shift and the seal with the toilet can break.  Venetian at my request glued my engineered floor in the bathroom only and the rest is floating.  No matter who you get your floor through, they will tell you that bathrooms void your floor warranty and make you sign a waiver acknowledging this. 

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I was at Lowe's last night, the faux wood ceramic tile and vinyl tile planks are interesting.

 

[ZeroLot]

I was at Lowe's last night, the faux wood ceramic tile and vinyl tile planks are interesting.

Thanks.  I just went to Lowe's over the weekend and did some homework.  Engineered hardwood seems to be very popular right now.  Perhaps that will be durable enough to place in the bathrooms and kitchen areas.

I found a vinyl tile plank I really liked.  It felt soft as leather.  However I just heard from someone that vinyl flooring contains PVC, BPA, etc toxic chemicals to kids.  I'm not sure if that only applies to cheap vinyl but that would be something I have to factor in if I want to consider vinyl flooring.

Also with TIC homes the baseboards are included.  So if I place engineered hardwood after-market, would I be ripping out the baseboards?  I'm wondering how some of you tackled the baseboard issue? 

 

[lnc]

Most of the model home install baseboard first than the wood floor.  So they place a quarter-round wood trim to cover the gap between wood flooring and the baseboard.  You can see it in your Mulberry flooring photo. So when you do your floor after closing, this is one option with out tearing out the existing baseboard.

Ideally you would take out the existing baseboard, place the new wood flooring, then install new baseboard.  This will give a very clean look.  Venetian Flooring will install new 4" baseboard for free.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

It is interesting that the vinyl plank wood looked more like wood than the ceramic tile. I guess because it was soft and unlike the tiles, they had varying widths and longer lengths.

But I don't think I would ever do a vinyl wood install in my home... maybe in a Cali Garage.