Leveling floors

It can be done, but done right you would also have to reset baseboards and door trims, window trims that extend to the ground (as many do in pre-wars), as well as potentially trim the bottom of doors, etc. It is fussy and time consuming work (ask me how I know). And, if the floor and adjoining wall had shifted equally, what do you do when the window sill is no longer aligned with the floor, a much more noticeable situation. If both window sill and floor have shifted, at least they are in sync with each other, which visually is cleaner than the mismatch. If you walk around the apartment and don't really notice that things are off, why bother? Personally, when I drop my marble collection, I like that they all roll to one collection point.

Turning a small Toyota into a Rolls Royce is costly hobby.

OK - good point about the windows - but that's just a question of measuring them.

It's not so dramatic it's the first thing you notice when you walk through the door - it doesn't look like The Penguin's lair. So if it were too expensive I wouldn't do it. But the GC didn't even want to cost it.

The GC that proposed leveling wanted to replace the wood floors with engineered wood. It occurred to my devious mind that there must be a secondary market for reclaimed wood and that his intention may have been to sell the solid hardwood planks and pocket the proceeds.

This isn't even a Toyota. Maybe it's trying to make a Vespa into a Ducatti.

I can't imagine that the labor to pull up the floor in a way that substantially preserves its value would really be less than the resale value, but maybe there's a lot of it, it's really great wood, and easily removable. But if it's so great, why not just refinish it and keep it yourself? Were I a more cynical person, I'd suggest that the GC is looking to offload a bunch of wood he had leftover from another job (so already paid for), and will sell it to you 'at a big discount'. But I'm not that person, so I'm sure he has only your best interests at heart and just doesn't want to do a traditional floor sand and refinish job.

On the leveling question, remember that you're looking at an empty space, and once it's fully fitted out and furnished, most of the 'errors' will not be noticed by people. For the nit-pickers you can always explain it away as 'pre-war character'.

Ha.

This isn't even a Toyota. Maybe it's trying to make a Vespa into a Ducatti.

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I don't think contractor will get any more for selling wood from the old floor unless you have some 10-12 inch wide fancy floor boards which is unlikely.

It's more important that it be flat than level. Flooring contractors often include a clause that "the floor shall be flat Within an X foot radius."

I am not sure if relevant for a pre-war coop, but some floors require asbestos abatement if lifted.

@Krolik - excellent point. Making it more expensive I guess.

@30yrs - The are except for a ~3'x1' hump along the neighbor's wall. I'm hoping that can be fixed.

@Aaron2 - Yes, that was the plan all along and is part of the scope - sanding and refinishing. You're right it's probably trying too hard to have fun

Also getting pushback on uncovering and restoring wood floors in the kitchen so there's only 1 form of flooring througout. A friend did this in a distinguished 1905 unit in a very strict coop with stunning results.

The architect was clear: yes, we do this all the time. The GC is telling me not to becuase of the risk of leaks. But there are leak detectors on the market. You get a notification on your phone.

It would be fussy operation, no doubt. Pulling up plasticky tiles that might be glued down on plywood, pulling up the old boards, waterproofing (mesh or some kind of liquid based product) + sound insulation, then either replacing restored boards or finding new ones to match those in the rest of the place. Even a thin layer of wood laminate.

What is the liklihood of a leak? vs simpler, more coherent flooring throughout.

If I go with tile in the kitchen, it will only be for resale value. I imagine most buyers - immigrants from suburbia - prefer tile.

Seems like you're getting a lot of 'no' from this contractor. Hardwood is always superior.

Maybe I'm wrong: does either tile or wood positively affect resale value? Or one more than the other?

My feeling is that most people prefer wood floors except in kitchen and bathrooms when tile is ok. Tile is still better than carpet, which I detest.

I think people might be put off by a wood floor kitchen after their initial 'wow' -- they get to thinking about how much maintenance it is. I'm personally not a fan of wood floors in the kitchen -- if you're a regular cook, the wear at the sink and stove will be noticable, due to the increased foot shuffling and spills (though modern poly finishes are much better than they used to be) - inevitably, there will be enough water on the floor at some point to risk real warping. In the world of tile, large size floor tiles are readily available, so fewer grout lines to look grubby. You might also consider stone tiles - bluestone, etc., 1/2" thick, honed to whatever level of shine you want, though they will need to be sealed to minimize staining. I don't worry about resale value, as tastes will have changed by the time I sell, so no matter what's there, the new owner will want something else.

@911 Hh - with you on carpet. Who puts it down anymore?

@This is what my GC is saying. Bluestone looks nice but maybe installation is pricey. There are so many nice 'you could fool me' porcelain options with cement, stone, terrazzo effects so may just go with that. It has come a long way. The only thing is I don't think it'll ever acquire a patina, unlike real stone.

I still see carpet in older buildings. Mostly in older condos and homes that owners are selling “as-is”. Also when I owned rental properties in some “not-so-nice” parts of Oakland, I had carpet since I would be unable to recoup the cost of upgrading the floors with higher rents. So I can see the utility of carpets in an investment property in less prime areas where the prospective tenants simply don’t expect wood floors and you can’t recoup the cost of nicer flooring through higher rents since people won’t be able to afford the higher rent. Also, I learned it’s wise to not have too nice things in a rental property that your tenants can damage and break like really nice wood floors. Installing new carpet every so often is not terribly expensive and like a fresh coat of paint, it is a relatively cost effective means of really sprucing up an apartment between during tenant turnover.

Carpet or maybe certain kinds of vinyl are renter friendly. People on various Reddits rave about something called Coretec.

Coretec is another type of plastic vinyl pretending to look like wood or tile. Go with the real thing, or go with actual linoleum. (or maybe cork? I'm liking some of the installations I've seen, but don't know about long-term durability.)

Cork is actually the nicest underfoot and for insulation but upkeep has to be a real pain.

I thought about linoleum for the kitchen but none of the patterns were appealing (and it's all subjective; if you like astroturf for your kitchen floor you should put down astroturf). Between wood or porcelain, hardwood wins for resale value. But if I should ever rent it out (a possibility), porcelain can take a lot of abuse.

"The are except for a ~3'x1' hump along the neighbor's wall. I'm hoping that can be fixed."

???

The architect says they are buckling like that because they miscalculated expansion gaps when they were laid? So...hopefully something the GC can remediate.