Flooring

There is huge price and quality range in hardwood floors. What width do you want? Up to 5 inch width is commonly available from Armstrong and other large national companies and their local dealers. Just browse their website to get a feel of what you want. There are many higher quality (mostly higher width and longer length) and more expensive options ($10-20 per sq for pre-finished flooring). I personally prefer American or Canadian flooring. Not some where lumber liquidator makes there.

Not sure where

One thing you have to take into account is waste. Not only does everybody have to order more flooring they're actually going to use, but if the supplier delivers a large number of odd/small lenghts and pieces with inconsistent grain, knots, etc. you will have a higher percentage of waste.
PS Lumber Liquidators may have started as a liquidation enterprise, but based on how big they have gotten I don't think there is any way that they are selling liquidation product at this point - it's just the name.
https://www.thespruce.com/lumber-liquidators-review-1821687

Also, make sure you know what the height/level of the finished floor is going to be - there is a good chance it is going to be higher than the current floor. In addition, make sure you won't need to do any asbestos remediation which can be a big headache.

Hi All, we’re looking for 5”-5.5” wide planks.We’re going to PID today but they’re incredibly expensive. Our apartment is fairly large so every dollar increase in price for the wood really adds up. If not Lumber Liquidators, do you have any other recos around where we can buy good quality wood?

Hi All, we’re looking for 5”-5.5” wide planks.We’re going to PID today but they’re incredibly expensive. Our apartment is fairly large so every dollar increase in price for the wood really adds up. If not Lumber Liquidators, do you have any other recos around where we can buy good quality wood?

New,

The labor cost will remain the same regardless of the quality of flooring. So, it is worth spending extra for good floors especially if you can afford a large apartment in Manhattan. You can visit this store in BK. Good range and prices for various brands. You can get a good floor for $6-$8 in 5inch width. Do ask them about how much it will cost to get long length. If you have time, Hull Floors in CT can make whatever floor you like. PID and LV woods are too expensive as they have to pay Manhattan retail cost.

https://www.nywoodfloor.com/

You can try this one as well. They will make you what you like.

https://vermontplankflooring.com/

On PID, while their flooring is beautiful, it is made somewhere in Russia or Ukraine. I do not trust the safety standards for coatings there.

Nowhere,

Do you want wood flooring that is installed then sanded, stained and poly or are you looking for engineered wood flooring?

The quality of PID (Like them very much) compared to lumber liquidators is like a kia compared to a Range Rover. That does not mean that Lumber liquidators will not have you want but there is a big difference. If you are looking for inexpensive engineered flooring I would look at Junkers and Mirage, those are probably around $7-$8 per sq ft.

Response by 300_mercer, Thank you for your responses. I will definitely check out the prices at the places you've mentioned. I completely agree - we're definitely looking for good quality hardwood(not engineered) but not looking to pay PID prices. Thank you once again!

You are welcome. If you go unfinished,
Czar floors can make you what you want at a very reasonable price. Look under the herringbone section - plank floors.

Here is the link. Please scroll down to the bottom of the page for planks.
https://www.czarfloors.com/herringbone-wood-floor.asp

@300_mercer, we're looking for pre-finished plank floors.

Just go to nywood floor in BK. It is 5-10 minutes walk from the subway. They have a huge range from different manufacturers on display and will get you what you like quickly. I found their prices are comparable to most internet prices and you get good service.

Thats the plan this Friday:) And the quality of wood is good?

They have national brands. You can pick price and quality combination.

Newhere,

I would advise against getting prefinished flooring. I understand that budget could be an issue but you will get a lot of movement in prefinished, it shrinks a lot and you could end up with large gaps in between the planks

Primer, Curious why pre-finished shrinks more than site finished. I would think it all depends on how long you keep the floor indoors to acclimatize before installation and whether they were installed during the summer, when the shrinkage will be more as come to peak winter season. Thank you.

@Primer, why would it cause shrinking? It’s too much of a hassle to get unfinished wood and then install, finish, etc. We are currently living in the apartment and will have to move out during that time. Any advise on how we can minimize shrinking?

New, You need large capacity humidifier to keep the humidity at 30 or more during the winter. The other option is get rift and quartered oak which shrink less but cost more. Or get High quality engineered. My 5 inch wide pre finished floors shrink during the winter (I can not get my humidity to 30 on cold days despite humidifiers as I have high ceilings) and expland to close all gaps during the summer.

I agree with Primer05. Once the boards are finished you have almost 50% which are sealed and cannot release moisture. You don't know how long the manufacturer has let the boards sit between cutting and finishing.
In general, not only do we use unfinished, but order significantly ahead of the time the boards will be installed and let them sit on-site for several weeks prior to installation.

There is a big difference between prefinished, unfinished (has to be sanded, stained and poly) and engineered.

If the floors need to be done without moving your stuff out then you should get engineered. Engineered flooring comes finished so you dont need to sand them. Look at mirage or Junkers, higher-end LV and PID

@primer , my stuff will be moved out and we will be moving.

I went to Brooklyn and loved this pre-finished solid hardwood birch floor. It’s grey with a slight undertone of pink. Is the undertone of pink a bad thing? Any experience?

Newhere, Do you have a link? From the description it looks very nice. I am guessing pink undertone is from the wood.

One thing about flooring which is a departure from the standard 2 3/4" oaks, maple, etc. is that it can date your renovation. Whatever is the nee "it" thing today can be "so late 2000-teens" 10 years from now. As a broker going to open houses it is common to hear things like "Oh, remember when everyone was doing THAT in 2005? Boy, that didn't age well."

30, What type of flooring is in right now which will look dated?

In my mind anything aside from 2 3/4" oak or maple is some risk. Almost all of the wider plank flooring is obviously "not original" in any building over 30 years old. Another "tell" is when you see a prewar building and they didn't do a border or saddles (even if they are flush saddles) and it's one continuous floor running from one room into the next. Bamboo floors certainly seem like they have already come and went. One thing which is a personal pet peeve is beveled edges on each board, which kind of screams "engineered flooring" in my mind. A lot of short boards in a wide plank floor also drives me nuts. Wood grain ceramic tile also seems to me another thing which can easily be a short-lived fad. Bleached wood floors also seems to be something which came and went. Brazilian cherry is another thing which seems to have came and went already.

Do you remember when the ultra-modern thing was navy blue or black bathroom fixtures?

An example of what I consider to be "period-correct" wood flooring:
https://cdn-img-feed.streeteasy.com/nyc/image/88/158485188.jpg

In quotes because this flooring wouldn't be in this vintage house because they didn't have tongue and groove Antebellum.

I think 5 inch or slightly wider is here to stay due to association with luxury. So is engineered. Some of the funky colors will be out. Any thing which is close to natural wood color found in nature will be in - including aged looking grey patina. Agree that artificially lightened wood will be out.

@30 we currently have the original hardwood parquet floors - see https://streeteasy.com/sale/970208

Our building is old. I’m curious as to why you would try to keep the “period correct” look? I want to have broad planks to modernize it and I don’t think wide planks are going to go out of style. The question is should I go with 5” maple (natural color) or 5” birch ( grayish with a slight warm undertone).

@300 mercer, how do I upload pictures here?

You can only post a link to the manufacturer’s website unfortunately.

new, You do not like natural oak? Natural maple does not have as much grain which to me is a negative.

@300 mercer, I hear you - thats why I'm leaning towards the birch - see link - http://www.homerwood.com/collections/birch-run/
The one we like is Birch mist but you can also see the pink running through it.

Natural oak is too yellow - I wanted something with a lower yellow undertone.

Looks very nice and natural. Homerwood is indeed very high quality flooring.

If you are going 5" you really should not go prefinished, it will shrink too much, you will not be happy. If you are moving your stuff and yourself out why not use a select white oak and stain it.

Not sure how easy it is to see but we just finished this floor, white oak, and no stain

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgEwKT4lJql/?taken-by=primerenovations

Birch tends to have knots/divots/holes which overtime can tend to become real dirt magnets. You can see these in the pictures in the link you posted.

As to why I always like to keep a "period-correct" look:
There is always less chance of going out of style when whatever you are doing is in step with the building. You notice this all the time in lobby renovations. Some pre-war building does a modern Lobby renovation and 10 years later it looks extremely dated, whereas if they had gone with a renovation everything would have looked fine. I think an awful lot of bathroom Renovations being done today with very specific tiling patterns will become dated fairly quickly. But, for example, if you have a pre-war apartment and do white subway tile walls and a hex floor, pedestal sink, etc it runs zero risk of ever going out of style.

Don't know much about birch but I recommend against the maple. Natural maple is very light and nice but it gets yellow over time regardless of whether you use water-based or oil-based poly. And incredibly hard to stain if you ever want to refinish in a different color. It's a very durable and hard wood compared to others though - probably explaining why it was frequently installed in lofts (pre-conversion). Oak is much easier to refinish if you want to get rid of the yellow undertone.

Are you laying the new floors on top of parquet? Or will you be ripping the old floors out? Depending on when your building is built, beware that there could be asbestos underneath the old floors, in which case you could probably only lay the new floors on top (or do remediation). And then you'd have to worry about door clearance, and it could limit the kind of floor you could install.

Tribby,
They didn't call It Rock Maple for nothing.