Hardwood floor how much to buy

We say YES. Unlike other flooring types, hardwood can be refinished and last a lifetime. As long as you choose a wood flooring type that you absolutely love, the comfort and style of hardwood floors can add timeless value.

Project scope refers to the quantity and type of work required to make your flooring dreams come true. Concrete slab and plywood are two common types of subfloors. Various subflooring types have different qualities when it comes to hardness, sound absorption, and ease of installation.

Thinking about installing hardwood on an upper floor of your home? Do you live in an apartment building or condo with metal doors? The height and weight restrictions in your living space are important considerations before buying your hardwood floor. For a lightweight and natural flooring option, check out our guide to the best cork flooring.

There are so many fantastic waterproof flooring options available these days, but hardwood floors are not one of them. If you want the look of wood in one of these areas, consider one of the many types of tile that offer a wood-grain look. Hardwood flooring is an investment that can add warmth, comfort, and value to your home. The best way to learn more about buying hardwood is by talking to your local flooring retailer.

Use our flooring stores near me tool to find flooring experts nearby. These professionals will provide the personalized service and expertise you need to find the perfect flooring fit.

Want to learn more about other types of flooring? Check out these other great resources on our blog:. Kelly is a freelance lifestyle and wellness writer. Her guilty pleasures are coffee and celebrity gossip. Your email address will not be published. November 5, The best flooring: what is it? Is it hardwood? Vinyl plank? Sheet vinyl? Sorry, we got a little carried away there. But you get it—trying to find the best flooring is really difficult.

There are endless types of flooring out there, and each one is great for certain applications. So if you decide to sell your home at any point, you will already be ahead of the game.

And you can expect to get more out of your home than you would with other flooring types. There are many different choices when it comes to hardwood flooring. And each of these factors can impact the cost. Do this by measuring the square footage of the floors you plan to cover.

When you come up with a price per square foot, this will help you to narrow the field of options. Where you purchase your flooring from can also impact the cost, but probably not as much as the brand that you choose.

Most stores offer competitive pricing and some may even offer a price match guarantee. However, brands are priced differently. And a cheaper price on a similar product does not necessarily mean you are getting a better deal. Look for brands that have strict quality control standards. Generally speaking, companies located in the USA and Canada have more stringent guidelines than some materials made overseas, especially when it comes to engineered hardwood flooring.

Another cost to factor in is delivery to your home. If you order your flooring materials online, there will probably be a shipping cost to consider. If you purchase it in a store, you may be able to transport materials home yourself and avoid a delivery charge.

If you order online, you may not have to pay a sales tax depending on where you purchase from, but it is best to err on the side of caution and factor it in as a cost.

How much does hardwood flooring cost? Solid hardwood flooring must be either nailed, stapled, or glued down to a subfloor. You can install engineered hardwood this same way, but you can also install it as a floating floor, meaning it can go on top of existing flooring. How does this impact the hardwood floor installation cost? Flooring type can affect cost in several ways. First, solid hardwood flooring installation is best left to the professionals. In addition to installing a proper subfloor and laying each plank, the installer needs to know how much room to leave between each board for expansion and contraction.

Getting this wrong can cause your floor to buckle when it expands, or develop gaps between planks when it contracts. Next, because solid hardwood must be nailed, glued, or stapled, keep in mind that the extra materials to do so will incur a cost as well. If you are considering engineered hardwoods, you can also hire a professional to install.

Alternatively, you can save a few dollars by tackling the job yourself. Many engineered hardwoods come ready to install as a floating floor, which is a relatively simple DIY project.

And floating floors can typically be installed on top of existing flooring, which saves both time and money. If you need to remove existing flooring, you can save some money by doing this yourself. Just remember that this number covers installation only, and does not account for any additional charges. Underlayment is one such additional charge.

If you want hardwoods on a staircase, for instance, or fitted around electrical wiring, the process takes longer and the cost will go up accordingly. It needs to be clear of nails, staples, and other debris. It also needs to be relatively level. If your installer has to clean it up or level it out, such additional efforts will cost you extra. Another factor that impacts your total installation cost is finishing materials and labor to install them. Typically, you will want to add baseboards and trim to close the gap between floors and walls.

To do so, you will need to purchase materials. You can do this on your own, or ask your installer to provide them.

Either way, extra materials mean extra cost. However, if you want nail holes painted over or caulking to be added, expect additional fees for each of these as well. If you currently live in the home, then you probably have furniture.

If you are looking to save a few dollars, moving your furnishings in advance out of any rooms that are being remodeled is one simple way of doing so. If you live close to where your contractors are based out of, then the job will likely be less expensive. So now that you have a general idea about the costs of purchasing and installing hardwood floors, what type of flooring will you choose?

Not only do you need to decide on a color, grain, and species, but you must also choose whether to go with engineered or solid hardwood. First of all, both options are considered hardwood flooring. Solid hardwood flooring is solid pieces of wood. Engineered hardwood flooring is made with a core of either plywood or solid hardwood, and has a top layer or veneer above the core layer that is also made out of hardwood.

Both types of flooring are beautiful, timeless, and add value to your home. And both are very durable. However, you can refinish solid hardwoods more frequently than you can engineered hardwoods. Few other building materials need to be purchased in such excess.

When you buy five windows, you only buy five windows—not a few extra just for good measure. This is not a ploy by flooring manufacturers to encourage you to buy more flooring.

Instead, buying extra flooring materials is a normal, expected part of installing flooring. You'll need to do this for nearly every type of flooring—sheet and roll goods, plank flooring, and tiles. Since floor spaces and flooring materials usually do not exactly match, extra flooring must be purchased. Sixteen-inch ceramic tiles in a space that is inches wide will never fit exactly. An extra row of tiles must be purchased or cut tiles from another part of the flooring can be used, as well.

Large rolls of or feet wide carpeting are routinely cut and seamed together since rooms rarely are exactly 12 feet or 15 feet wide. Defective materials also determine how much extra material to buy. The more natural the flooring product, the more defects you can expect.

Solid hardwood will always have more defective pieces than synthetic flooring like laminate flooring or vinyl plank flooring. Buy between 5-percent and percent of extra plank or tile format vinyl or laminate flooring.

Defective goods are rarely an issue with synthetic flooring, so the extra flooring accounts for the cut edges. Buy between 5-percent and percent of extra ceramic tile. Tile size will have a bearing on wastage. Mosaic tile backing is easy to cut, allowing them to be reused elsewhere. In some cases, the mosaic sheets may even fit the space. Large-format tiles nearly always must be cut. Tile breakage is common during transit. Carpeting comes in long rolls that are either or feet wide.

Carpet manufacturers recommend that you buy percent more carpeting than you estimate for your floor's square footage. Carpet remainders found in flooring stores are often the byproduct of carpet rolls that exceeded the installation space. Natural flooring products should always be purchased in greater extra quantities than with synthetic flooring.

Buy the amount of flooring needed, plus another percent. This number is comprised of the percent of flooring needed to cover the area, plus as much as percent to account for installation wastage and 5-percent to account for defective materials. Consider a byfoot room with a total area of square feet:. With engineered wood flooring, the defects are mostly engineered out.