How much do you know about the commercial flooring? where can I learn more??? Since I would be putting it in a commercial building it may be more suiting.

 

just look for any acrylic impregnated engineered hardwood.

this is the shit they put in high traffic areas. that's really the only thing that makes it "commercial flooring", but, lumber suppliers will often label it "commercial grade"... which basically just means acrylic impregnated wood.

essentially it's laminate made out of real wood. so you get a real grain instead of some computer generated "wood grain" print.

 

and if your commercial building has concrete slab right now... consider this stuff www.dricore.com as your underlayment.

if you do have a concrete slab, have you considered just keeping that?

i saw a loft in Dwell the other day that had concrete floors/counters that were coated with Ardex and stained... it looked absofuckinglutely gorgeous. totally unique look... gave the concrete a very dark/rusty/random patina... was just soo fucking cool.

 

Most of the second floor is actually suspended in air, it looks like the place belongs in California, and the second floor is about 2/3's the size of the first floor(which will be most of the living area, bedroom's, kitchen, DR, etc...) The first floor will have the lounge and theater room - and those concrete finishes would work great there.

This building would make an AWESOME fucking house, but it would take a lot of work and money, to make it a home. But if done properly would be truly one of a kind - which is what I am after - if at all possible.

 

Sounds fucking cool. Sooo..... when are ya gonna show me?

There is an old empty fire house near the empire state plaza that I've always wanted to turn into a house, but the owner refuses to give it up for anything reasonable so it just sits there empty.

 

I don't have keys to the place yet, nor have I even put in an offer, I am trying to make them wait(its been vacant for just over 5 years and forsale for just over 3.5 years) and while they wait I can research exactly what it is I want to do with the place.

The outside of the place is cool(if your into contemporary styled buildings), its in Schodack, so if your ever in the area or feel like going for a short drive let me know - its 1 minute off exit 11e

Speaking of this, when are you going to let me see what you've been up to at your place?

 

My girlfriend is from Nassau, so I'm out that way more than I'd like to be.

My house isn't really ready to be shown off... you know... but it probably never will be... because so far I've only done 90% of the kitchen and I'm already burnt out and tapped out, haha.

So ping me anytime you feel like swinging through the Pine Hills area.

We should have an Albany meet, there's alot of guys on AZ from around here now.

 

I thought you mentioned that before.

Wait to you see this office building, you'd think I was crazy for trying to convert it to a house.

I've actually got to get back to work right now but will get in touch with you later today, Pete says your place is close to his bar? I used to hang out with the girls from Alibi's all the time so I am some what familiar with the area - if that is in fact where you are. I don't actually know the residentual area's of Albany that well.

I was thinking the same thing, there are a few TSX'ers, Zach(TypeSAddict) who lives out near me and of course Pete and yourself... But more on this later, maybe hold off to the weather clears up, winter GTG's suck in this area.

 

Alibi's is on the corner of Madison & South Allen... I'm on South Allen about 4-5 blocks in from Madison. So, walking distance.

One of the bars Pete works at, Junior's, is about 2 doors down from Alibi's, real close to here. The other place he works is a little further down Madison, tucked back on Yates Street... just a little more than a mile from here.

 

I agree with everything you've said, but wanted to mention one of the downsides of the prefinished stuff. Since the edges are slightly rounded, you end up with grooves between the boards which will fill up with dark crud over time, especially in high-traffic areas.

 

i don't think all pre-finished lumber has rounded edges?

i never noticed it with any of the stuff i've seen.

 

Maybe not all, but he vast majority do in order to prevent chipping/splintering. That's not an issue with unfinished floors since they're sanded flat, but with prefinished floors there's a good chance one plank might be a fraction of an inch higher than the neighboring plank. If the edges aren't slightly rounded, you'll chip or splinter the higher board if you do something like slide furniture on it. Run your hand over nearly any prefinished floor and you'll feel the grooves between the planks. In fact, you can often see them.

 

Interesting. Learn something new everyday!