The entry and kitchen had been retiled with a medium gray wood grained tile. But the living/dining room was carpeted with a dark color berber. Although the carpet was not in terrible shape, hardwood was a feature they wanted. The office floor was traditional oak hardwood but it was severely damaged in the middle from an office chair.
The office floor had to be removed to match the rest of the updated flooring. The new flooring was a debate between a darker color wood and lighter. The kids wanted to see the wood grain but wanted a bit of color. From all the samples they liked the lightly stained white oak the best. It had a gray cast without a darker gray stain look.
Then it was difficult to find that style at the vendors that were used by the installer. But our installer agreed to use the flooring from another store and helped estimate the amount needed. I inflated that a bit since the store was known for including many short pieces in the stock. However the installer said they didn’t include more than he was used to seeing.
We opted not to pay the hefty delivery fee and again we were thankful for buying our Ford 250 in 2014. It has been very handy in helping us save money over the years.
The boxes were HEAVY and we old folks carried each of them into the family room for eventual installation. They were stored for a couple of weeks to climatize the wood.
Then the installer came in and removed the carpet and the hardwood from the office. That part was time-consuming and heavy work. We had asked what it might cost to do the tile area as well. He said we would have to find someone else to remove the tile. No wonder!
Once the new floor started going in we were very pleased with how it was going. The installers were meticulous about the joints and matching the lengths to make an attractive floor. We were also pleased that this installer did not insist on gluing the floor down. With the dry climate in Colorado we needed to have a floor that could move with the humidity levels. A glued floor would be more likely to crack.
The installers came across an interesting hidden issue. At some point a hole was cut in the floor, it looked like an access hole to a heating or exhaust vent. I had a piece of plywood in the garage for them to patch this area so the floor would be well supported.
The office area was finished first and it was amazing what a difference this beautiful floor made in the room.
As the floor was being completed I expected there to be more flooring left over than we anticipated. But by the end of the job there was only one full extra box and a partial box still remaining. We opted to keep the extra wood. It is solid oak and we hope to use it for a coffered ceiling in the office.
The new flooring really improved the look of the living/dining room and actually the whole house felt substantially upgraded. We found that even though an installer is hired for the job, there can still be significant time invested in an upgrade like this.
