carpet or hard wood?

[Thebobo]

Dirt

 

[dfuze]

A mix, prefer carpet for the bedroom but like hard wood for places like the dining room

 

[sdifox]

I used maple with no stain (clear finish), so it's very light. I like the look of darker woods better, but I have small windows, so the light wood really helps brighten the interior up.

same here. I have lots of light into the house though. You don't see dents easily

 

[TheAdvocate]

Is Homedepot laminate flooring comparable to Ikea (i.e. better or worse)?

Dunno. That's not laminate. It's real wood.

 

[MarkXIX]

Going to put down bamboo in my bedroom here before winter. Bamboo seems "warm" to the touch versus a lot of other wood flooring I've felt.

 

[IronWing]

Tile

 

[nageov3t]

Tile

that sounds like the worst idea ever for the winter.

 

[vi edit]

that sounds like the worst idea ever for the winter.

Not if you have radiant heated floors.

:awe:

 

[between]

...

 

[JulesMaximus]

I have both, hardwood downstairs and carpet upstairs where the bedrooms are. Nice combination IMO. Honestly, I'd say it depends on the construction, where you live, and what type of traffic you expect to have through those areas in the next 10 years.

If you have dogs and a few kids, carpet is probably a much better choice.

 

[IronWing]

that sounds like the worst idea ever for the winter.

Live someplace that ain't gots no winter.

 

[MiniDoom]

I have carpet in my bedroom, ceramic tile in a few bathrooms, stained concrete in my basement. hardwood everywhere else.

 

[Skitzer]

Hardwood baby .... Yeah!

 

[BW86]

hardwood + rug

 

[TwiceOver]

Depends on the room. Carpet for bedrooms. Tile for bathrooms. Hardwood pretty much everywhere else. Kitchen I'd probably go with a grouted linoleum type product.

 

[udonoogen]

Lol, nice. I got shot by a table saw once, but it was a ripping, not a musketball. Hit me right in the nipple and took 10 stitches to close. To this day that nipple is still sensative. Greatest injury ever. :awe:

i literally LOL'd at work.

 

[Zebo]

Carpet is nasty unless you have money to replace every year. Hardwood. Real nail down solid plank sand and finish hardwood.

 

[jteef]

I just replaced my carpet with solid carbonized strand bamboo. I did the labor / gluing myself, which was a mistake. It turned out nice, but I calculated around 3000 squats this past weekend for 650 sqft worth. Soooooo glad to get the carpet out though; the dust and odor was disgusting.

Doing the stairs next, and then i'll probably put something like walnut in the master bedroom. I really wanted to do travertine in the main room, but the installation would have been 10 times worse than the bamboo; plus it costs more.

 

[vi edit]

I just replaced my carpet with solid carbonized strand bamboo. I did the labor / gluing myself, which was a mistake. It turned out nice, but I calculated around 3000 squats this past weekend for 650 sqft worth. Soooooo glad to get the carpet out though; the dust and odor was disgusting.

I'm sitting on about 1000 sq/ft of strand, carbonized bamboo too that will get installed shortly. When you say gluing, did you do floating and just glue the t&g between boards? Or did you do a true "glue down" of the boards to the subfloor? What type of glue did you use and how much trouble did it give you? Did you have problems with it squeezing out through the t&g and getting the surface messy?

 

[Tea Bag]

I still regret installing carpet over my damaged living room and hallway floors. They were pretty bad but I should have just invested the money in replacing the damaged segments. The rooms that were salvageable with a sand and finish are beautiful.

 

[BornStar]

I like tile better than both and I live in Michigan with some rather cold winters. Keeping it clean is simple, I don't need to worry about it getting wet, and I don't need to worry about my dog scratching it. I'll admit the carpet is nice for my 9 month old that's just starting to crawl but my carpet is barely a year old and looks terrible (it was cheap carpet installed right before I bought the house).

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

It is far easier, by a long shot, to clean blood off a hard wood floor, compared to carpet. Your pretty much fucked if they decide to pull up your carpet.

 

[AtlantaBob]

hard wood is hardly a fad. so much cleaner than carpet. you don't want to know what lives in carpet even if you think it's clean.

I think I've always wanted to quote a Mosh quote. Now I can. Absolutely QFT.

 

[nageov3t]

I can't picture tile floors in a living room or bedroom without it looking ridiculously tacky.

 

[jteef]

I'm sitting on about 1000 sq/ft of strand, carbonized bamboo too that will get installed shortly. When you say gluing, did you do floating and just glue the t&g between boards? Or did you do a true "glue down" of the boards to the subfloor? What type of glue did you use and how much trouble did it give you? Did you have problems with it squeezing out through the t&g and getting the surface messy?

I used mapei ultrabond 995 from lumber liquidators as a combination moisture barrier / adhesive. We spent a lot of time making sure the glue got complete coverage of the slab, which was the most time consuming part. I really wish I would have bought bamboo that had float as a recommended install option, though my floors do look really nice now and aren't going anywhere. one of my cows used the elastilon stuff from LL and it was pretty slick. well worth the $500 more than glue for time saved.

didn't get any glue seeping through the tongue and grooves, just errant thumbprints, shoe prints, etc. the glue gets on everything, even if you're super careful It cleans off easily with urethane solvent if you catch it before curing.