What did you all pay for your labor costs per sq ft? And what did that include?

I think we're going to pull the trigger in the next couple of months and I will start getting estimates from various installers in the next few weeks. Curious what the going rate is for labor.

FWIW, I plan on moving all the furniture out of the rooms and pulling up the existing carpet and pad. Essentially the installer will come in and immediately begin working.

Also... Would we be better off getting the pre-finished stuff, or is it cheaper (flooring and labor) to have them sand and finish the stuff here at the house?

Thanks in advance.

 

go with pre-finished. its cheaper to install, makes far less mess, and the initial finish is more durable.

 

oh, and i dont know how much it should cost. but in your case, being in a new house with subflooring in good shape that is (should be) level and square... installing a pre-finished floor could be done by monkeys... so it shouldnt cost all that much.

 

^^^^^

I was thinking $3 per sq ft....

 

You did your own didn't you? Do the planks just lock together during the install like they do in the display's?? It just seems to easy!

The place I am now looking at will need at least 2000 sq. ft of hardwood flooring, and I was pretty confident I could do it myself, it would save a lot of $$$ that way... I think I have the same skill level of a monkey, but some of those bastards are pretty clever.

 

BTW what are you guys paying per sq/ft for the flooring? It looks like the not-shitty grade flooring is around $3/sq/ft and it goes up from there.

 

$3/sq ft??? That's really fookin' cheap. It all depends on where you buy the shit from. Flooring stores will obviously charge more; more overhead to contend with. However, you can get some pretty nice stuff online. However, then you run into issues with finding an installed that will lay the stuff down that he/she did not sell you.


The best place I've found online is http://www.lumberliquidators.com

I am more inclined to buy locally, negotiate down and support the local businesses.

 

No way.

I was going to, but I chickened out (actually just got ran over by the other end of the snow ball).

I found a local guy who was fucking awesome.

He came in, put on his iPod, and started jamming away. Refinished the upstairs with 3-coats of poly in 2 days, same for down. Barely made any mess at all... had some wicked cool gadgets.

He even billed me $200 less than the original quote despite my last minute addition of stain to the mix (which should have been $400 extra).

All-in-all... it came out to roughly $2500 for something like 1600-1800 sq ft of wood.

So far, it was the best money I've spent on labor in the place. Half the other shit I've hired out for I wouldn't have minded doing myself.

This guy does installs too I know because he does alot of work for a buddy over on your side of the river. Let me know if you decide you want a number.

 

Are you sure these guys aren't local to you? We have several of their stores around here. They're a nationwide chain.

 

There's a store 40 miles from me. But do they do installs?

 

I don't think so, but it's not at all unusual to buy your own lumber and have a contractor install it.

In fact, I think that's the most usual way to do it.

I'd prefer doing it that way than buying my flooring through a middle-man, or having a retailer send some minimum-wage monkeys to install my floor.

 

The only thing I can suggest is to make sure whatever you are laying this stuff on is level. The previous owner of my house put hardwood in the dining room. The dining room is on a concrete slab. Whoever they had install it didn't bother to level the floor. The floor looks good but it pops in some places when I walk on it. I assume the only fix is a complete tear out and then level the floor.

 

also make sure you put the wood in the house for a while (3-5 days) prior to installing it so it adjusts to the humidity in your home. I had brazilian cherry put in my living room for about $700 more than it would've cost to have good carpeting installed (incl. materials).

 

Yeah, I've heard alot of people say at least 3 weeks to let the wood adjust.

 

$3 per sq/ft sounds expensive to me. Especially for a level floor. You can do $2 easily.

 

Yeah $3/ft sounds like alot to me too. I think that's at the upper end of the price scale.

 

For the wood? Or the install?

$3 is cheap for the actual product, no???

 

$3 is cheap for the product, but expensive for the install. You are asking about the install right?

I have been calling around for prices and was quoted $2 over the phone, with no negotiating.

 

$3 isnt bad, actually its cheap, for pre-finished. It's rather expensive though for unfinished.

Should be under $2 ft for installation.

 

don't forget--in an older home w/ nice mouldings, those will have to be trimmed up to accomodate the extra thickness of the hardwood. Make sure you get an installer who knows WTF he's doing w/ a reciprocating saw so your woodwork doesn't get all messed up w/ uneven cuts and the like.

 

$2/ sq ft for installation sounds pretty reasonable. Might convince me to hire someone to do it, rather than buying a saw and doing it myself. I'll have to call around to see if prices are the same out here.

 

also when a contractor buys the wood for you and bills you, anything that is left over they tend to keep, free wood for them

 

Do you need natural hardwood or would you need engineered hardwood?

You should be able to get good natural hardwood for about 4/sq ft.

Typical install should be about $2 per sq ft.

A fully enclosed standard staircase should be about 1400-1600 with all materials and work.

 

It sounds like he's installing above grade so he could go Solid or Engineered. (Go Solid)

 

Ya... We have a full basement, so we have lots of options on what to install.

I thought about engineered, but have decided against it. We're going to be doing the living/dining rooms and den, which equates to about 500 sq. ft. Little traffic and no real moisture concerns (like you'd get in a kitchen) helped us decide to go solid.

If I had my way, I would put wood throughout, buy my wife would kill me. She likes the big 12" ceramic tiles too much.

 

Oh, you're doing this in the basement?

On top of concrete slab, yeah?

I think, technically, you have to go with engineered.

 

Or have the stuff installed as a floating floor. Even that though, I'd be concerned about long-term... (and long term is the only reason for going solid).

I'd seriously consider engineered for below grade installation.

The only downside of it, really, is that it can't be refinished as many times as solid (once or twice at most.. and with care).

That diminishes the long-term value of it, however, you're not going to have much long-term value in solid hardwood in a basement anyway (moisture problems or not).

If you do go solid, choose your species wisely. You'll need something very stable.

 

no no...

The basement was meant to say that it won't be installed on a concrete floor, rather on the plywood, etc. the seperates the floor from the full basement below.

Sorry, I'm strung out on caffiene this morning. My brain in toast.

 

Soo, you're installing on the sub-flooring in the first floor? ground level?

 

1st floor, full basement underneath the floor where the wood will sit. My understanding is that we can use any product as it will not be installed on concrete.

 

yep, go solid. you can refinish a solid floor at least 4-5 times. and you'll probably only need/want to do so 2-3 times in your lifetime... depending on kids/pets... and whether you're living there forever of course.

 

I dont think you should every put real hardwood in a basement.

 

he's not putting it in the basement.

but yes, you should only do engineered hardwood below grade. and, were it me, I'd put down a DRICORE subflooring over the concrete instead of plain urethane.

 

I wouldnt even put the enginered stuff down there. It could work, but there is just too much moisture and potential for water leaks for my liking. Either would completely ruin the hardwood investment. I would go laminate instead.

 

naa, in a new house, with what is likely a very moisture free basement, engineered hardwood is a common installation option.

i know several people with hardwood in their basements.

it's not installed right atop the concrete.

there is an underlayment of sorts (i'd prefer DRICORE like i said) installed, and then the hardwood is installed as a flooting floor above it. completely acceptable and normal.

 

not to mention, the lower plys of pre-finished enginereed hardwood are moisture resistant, and the finished side is acrylic impregnated... virtually eliminating the worries you'd have with a solid hardwood even if moisture was to creep into the subfloor.

so long as your underlayment is properly vented, an engineered hardwood can typically cope.

engineered hardwood can be as durable and stable as a laminate, and in some cases... more so.

pergo and anderson laminates actually don't deal well at all with moisture. my mother has anderson laminate in her kitchen and after only a year it's warping and splitting from moisture.

 

Do you think that would be as much of a problem on a second floor?

 

My Mother has a raised ranch, the kitchen is on the top floor, probably about 20 feet above ground level.

Laminates are not all they're cracked up to be. Quality engineered hardwood (which barely qualify as wood at all) are as if not more durable than laminate.

If you're super considered, you can get commercial grade engineered hardwood which can be nearly as durable as stone.

Like someone mentioned earlier, they're even using engineered hardwoods in MALLS of all places now. You don't get more heavy duty than mall traffic.

 

Anyway, speaking of wet basements, I just ripped a vinyl floor out of my very leaky 80+ year old basement yesterday... what a mess... the garbage men were not happy hauling all that shit away