Hardwood flooring in the kitchen? Good idea or bad?
What about direction of lay? I’ve read that it should run front to back in relation to the front door. That doesn’t work for me due to joist direction. I guess I’ve never paid that much attention, but is this a real rule of thumb?
Is it possible to get matching prefinished stair parts and flooring?
Any manufacturers to look into or to stay away from? I’ve read some negative things about Lumber Liquidators here in the past. Anything changed there?
I’m asking these questions because we recently suffered some water damage at our house due to a leak in the refrigerators ice and water dispenser system. Our house had carpet in living areas and vinyl sheet in the kitchen, but we are considering making a change to HW when we put the house back together.
I’m feeling some pressure because we have a 6 month old son and need to get the house put back to normal as soon as possible and we know that we like HW floors be I haven’t done a lot of research on the subject.
Another question, like I mentioned earlier, we have a 6 month old son and plan to have more children in the future. Is is reasonable to expect a HW floor to survive children? Should this affect our decision on prefinished or site finished?
Any help or advice is much appreciated.
Ryan
Replies
We have tile in our kitchen. And HW in our entry. We refinished the "real" HW in 07 after 13 years. Our experience I would do HW throughout the entire downstairs. Kitchen, LR, FR, entry.
I prefer solid HW. We have some laminate in a vacation home. I'm always worried out water leaks/tracking snow in, etc. I like the "feel" of the real hardwood better. The laminate sounds chintzy. Kind of hollow.
No worries about kids. We had a dog for all of those years. Just normal wear and tear. Refinished up real nice. Wish we would have replaced the tile and carpet when we refinished.
As Scrapr said, I like solid site-finished hardwood in the kitchen (and almost everywhere else). Pre-finished may attract dirt in the beveled grooves, but site-finished should be just fine.
Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
"Another question, like I mentioned earlier, we have a 6 month old son and plan to have more children in the future. Is is reasonable to expect a HW floor to survive children? Should this affect our decision on prefinished or site finished?"
Floors are made for holding you up while you're "living"...
after your kids get big enough to scratch them, you will look at every scratch with little concern.
The floors will be replaced someday... why make the kids suffer a sterile environment to make them last a few years longer?
A La Carte Government funding... the real democracy.
Oh yeah, that's not what I meant. I was thinking more along the lines of just going with carpet now and doing the HW later after the kid(s) have essentially ruined the carpet. Materialistic I am not.Sort of funny that you mention that because for some reason I am actually feeling a bit guilty about considering HW due to the fact that our 6 month old will be crawling around the house soon. I'd rather have HW, but I'd rather have carpet for him to crawl around on. Guess we could get some area rugs...
Your son won't be crawling for long<G>... and he'll be much happier about how his toys roll on hardwood. My kids grew up with unfinished oak floors... made 'em learn to walk fast LOLhttp://www.tvwsolar.com
We'll have a kid
Or maybe we'll rent one
He's got to be straight
We don't want a bent one
He'll drink his baby brew
From a big brass cup
Someday he may be president
If things loosen up
carpet in a kitchen is a really bad idea. Unhealthy.
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Wow - 18 posts on a hardwood flooring thread and no mention of shellac. Is he on vacation? ;o)
Piffin, where did you get carpet in the kitchen? Just curious. We had vinyl sheet flooring in our kitchen. Thanks for the advice by the way.
context. The Q was hardwood floors in kitchen, then the talk went to carpet. I never noticed a shift to another room
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Gotcha, I would have to agree with you on carpet in the kitchen though. Would be trashed in a few weeks...
Front to back, versus side to side should make no difference, so long as the stuff is laid tight and straight, and the doorways are done nicely.
And yes, prefinished "accessory parts" are usually available -- though perhaps by special order.
I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone,
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone;
I can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone,
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. (Phil Ochs)
Hardwood floors are much better for kids. Carpet holds a lot of germs and dirt. My wife runs a day care, she has been in the business for 25 years. She has never worked in one with carpet.
No problems with hardwood in the kitchen. I wouldn't use it in a kitchen that gets alot of water spilled, but other than that I'd go for it.
I prefer site finished floors almost every time, but pre-finished has it's place too. With a 6 month old, the odor may be a concern.
Direction of run could be anything. I usually try to make it run longways in a room. If there is a hallway, it should run lengthwise. If it's possible that there will be future additions to the flooring, plan for it now. But you can do it diagonal if you want to.
No problem getting matching pre-finished stair parts as long as the flooring is natural. if it's stained, it might be a little more difficult, but you can probably find it.
Lumber Liquidators sells good flooring. But they also sell alot of garbage. You won't save anything buying good flooring from them, and I've found there customer service to be pretty poor, but I'm sure that varies by location.
And yes, the hardwood will survive you, your children, your grand children and many other generations.
HW all the way! As soon as they're done drinking out of bottles and sippee cups, you can pretty much expect a gallon of spillage a week for the next 5-6 yrs. And when they start eating real food with their own hands, a kitchen carpet quickly starts to look (and smell) like the bottom of your compost bucket.
Carpet runners in high traffic areas, and maybe in front of the sink will add a couple of years to the finish.
Hardwood is generally laid parallel to the longest wall, or parallel to the primary direction of incoming natural light.
Thanks to you all for the replies. As far as site finished versus prefinished, regarding liquid spills, I'm assuming site finished flooring would allow the water to sit on the surface as opposed to seeping into the cracks of prefinished?Just how bad is it for prefinished floors to have liquid spilled on them? Are we talking serious damage (cupping, buckling, etc) or just wipe it up and go on?As far as cost, assuming the same species of wood, which will cost me more money right now, prefinished or site finished? Assuming that I can do everything except the sanding and finishing.HW flooring before or after cabinet install? I've been considering just putting plywood of equal thickness under the cabinets. Is that a hack idea or just smart use of money and resources? Or does this somewhat depend on site vs prefinished?Thanks again for all the help.
I installed 'eastern white pine wide plank flooring' in my entire house just about.
The 'only' place I wouldn't use it again is in front of the shower.
Kitchens don't get that much water spills on the floors. the only place you use water in the kitchen is basically atthe sink...duh...so if you get sloppy at yer sink use a throw rug there like I used to. Stopped using the rug there cuz it really wasn't necessary at all.
And we're talking real soft wood...not hardwood...and I have zero problems.
In the future I'd probably incorporate a nice design of tile in front of the shower area transitioning back to the wood.....maybe a nice free form kinda look.
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Did you go with prefinished? What about under the kitchen cabs? Did you run it under the cabinets?
Not pre finished...ut uh. I finished all the floors. All the floors went wall to wall and under all cabs.
I finished em' with a custom stain I made and then two coats of high gloss poly and last coated with a satin finish.T'wuz oil poly fwtw.The living room I did with a Waterlox finish but to be honest with you it wasn't worth doing the entire house with it and I do have to say the poly finish is wearing much better.I think I put more'n a half a dozen coats of Waterlox on btwPS...you can see in my web site below the kitchen floor I think which I installed. I was matching 365 year old floors in the existing parts of my house. All the new work I did has those same Eastern White Pine floors throughout,
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young family with kids
wet kitchen
you might consider some of the brands of engineered floating floors. Snap-click, all done and finished, not expensive, wears with kids and dogs, and easily replaced later when these kids are old enough to help install real hardwood.
I install more hardwood in Kitchens than any other kind of flooring.
But it does require more upkeep there than in the rest of the house.
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