If you were buying a house.....

[amy g.]

Thanks, Scarlett. I'm not against real wood. We have real original wood in a couple of the bedrooms. I love it.

 

The newer options and trends for wood flooring are not attractive to me. They are thin veneer that would not hold up with big dogs and farmers with boots.

 

Also I want one type of flooring throughout the main area of the house. I don't want the choppiness of tile in the kitchen and wood in the den. I need a unifying floor and I don't think that engineered hardwood is a great option in a kitchen.

[Carol in Cal.]

The main advantage of engineered hardwood over regular hardwood is it's lateral stability.

I know someone who had hardwood installed in his new home, and it buckled up when the season (temp/humidity) changed (like, tunnels rising from the floor.)  Engineered hardwood is far less likely to do that, so for really big rooms it can work a lot better.

 

Also, if possible it's advisable to get the wood delivered about a month before installation so that it can adjust to the temperature and humidity in the house ahead of time.  That way it is more likely to flex with the house instead of against it.

[AimeeM]

We just sold our home - the hardwoods were a bit "plus" in our favor.

We also just purchased a new home. It's a new build and we had hardwoods put in on the entire first floor; second floor is carpet. 

We looked at some homes that had carpet, some that had all hardwoods, and some that had tile. Regardless of how the tile looked, I wouldn't buy a home with tile everywhere - I can't stand the cold feel of tile floors.

In our area at least, hardwoods seem to have the most appeal to the most people. I can't imagine it being outdated, since it's been the (seeming) preference for a long, long time.

[Scarlett]

Thanks, Scarlett. I'm not against real wood. We have real original wood in a couple of the bedrooms. I love it.

 

The newer options and trends for wood flooring are not attractive to me. They are thin veneer that would not hold up with big dogs and farmers with boots.

 

Also I want one type of flooring throughout the main area of the house. I don't want the choppiness of tile in the kitchen and wood in the den. I need a unifying floor and I don't think that engineered hardwood is a great option in a kitchen.

I am having the same issue with my floors....it is very open and I want the same flooring throughout...but I don't want wood in my kitchen. So that is why the wood look tile might be a good option, it isn't inexpensive though. Beautiful but expensive.

[Scarlett]

We just sold our home - the hardwoods were a bit "plus" in our favor.

We also just purchased a new home. It's a new build and we had hardwoods put in on the entire first floor; second floor is carpet.

We looked at some homes that had carpet, some that had all hardwoods, and some that had tile. Regardless of how the tile looked, I wouldn't buy a home with tile everywhere - I can't stand the cold feel of tile floors.

In our area at least, hardwoods seem to have the most appeal to the most people. I can't imagine it being outdated, since it's been the (seeming) preference for a long, long time.

I have concrete floors currently. We livein OK, so we do have some cold but the floors don't bother me. I wear shoes so much of the time though because my feet ache..area rugs too help make it look and feel warmer.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Other than bathrooms, I would never again own a house with ceramic tile (no matter what it looked like).  It's cold, it's hard, it's loud, and it KILLS my feet and legs.  

 

I have high-quality engineered hardwood floors (Kahrs brand), and I love it.  It's beautiful, even after 10 years.  Many of my friends and family members have gone out and bought Kahrs flooring because of my floor.

 

Have you looked at Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring?  We put it in my mom's house before turning it into a rental.  The better brands are quite beautiful, and it's more durable than wood flooring, much softer on the feet than ceramic.

 

 

 

[Spryte]

I think your plan sounds nice, especially the kitchen.

 

We've just bought, and our house has mostly hardwood (not engineered, I agree with you on that), cork (which I adore!), and tile in bathrooms. We also have a slate type floor on another level.

 

We looked at a lot of houses, but I don't recall seeing a tile that looked like wood. It sounds like a good kitchen option.

[KungFuPanda]

I like the general look you're going for, but I think the wood-look-tile would date it. I don't get that trend at all. Maybe I get it a little bit outdoors, but I don't see the advantage inside.

[mommymilkies]

It depends on quality.  I would never buy a house with soft pine floors again, but I prefer hardwood to laminate.  If it was good laminate then I wouldn't blink an eye at the difference.  I would NOT buy an all tile house, though.

[OnTheBrink]

I'm getting ready to list my house and had to replace flooring in the bedrooms. I put down vinyl plank because it was cheap and if the buyer wants to rip it out and put in something else, I'm not out THAT much money. The realtor said it looked great. My house is an 85 year old bungalow, and from what I've seen of the pictures of other comparable places around here, laminate, vinyl plank and engineered wood are the norm. YMMV.

[prairiewindmomma]

I strongly prefer hardwood floors. They are so much more comfortable to walk/stand on. The house we are renting now has a ton of tile. I had to buy house shoes to cope.

[Ellie]

Would you have a strong preference for hardwood floors over the kind of flooring that looks like hardwood but is really tile?

 

I am replacing the flooring throughout our house before putting it on the market. My realtor took me to walk through every similar house that is currently on the market.

 

Almost all of them had dark, engineered hardwood, light painted cabinets with a darker glaze and granite countertops.

 

I can't help feeling that those houses will feel so dated in a couple of years. Add to that, I personally do not like the look of the engineered hardwood floors. I don't think that they will wear well in the kitchen or in a farm house in general.

 

I am having a custom kitchen put in and the cabinets will be painted cream with no over glaze. I'm putting in soapstone counters instead of granite and I found a lighter colored tile that has the look of wood, but will look better much longer.

 

My instinct is to fix the house up to the point where it looks like a farmhouse that could have been built in any era rather than just another house with the exact same upgrades.

 

If you were my buyer, would you be turned off by tile in every room except the bedrooms?

 

I would be turned off by tile in every room. I would probably not even walk through the whole house to look at it.

 

I love soapstone.

 

FTR, I have 1500 sq. ft. of hardwood floors in my 20yo house, including the kitchen. I big pink puffy heart the hardwood floors. I will always have hardwood floors. I would not, however, want laminate. An old farmhouse could certainly have hardwood floors.

 

You could do something different, like hickory, or cherry, instead of a dark color on the floors.

[maize]

I would avoid tile because it is so hard, more dangerous if a child slips and falls. We have cork flooring that I love.

[gardenmom5]

I went a toured a brand new home in my neighborhood. it's the most expensive (and I *mean* expensive!) of the six homes this builder has built here.  they put in the wood/porcelain tile in the bathrooms/laundry.

 

we were unimpressed.  it felt very generic.

[Liz CA]

I had hardwood in all rooms except bathrooms and kitchen and laundry room - in other words where there was a lot of wet mud during part of the year.

I would like real hardwood better in living areas but in kitchen and bathroom where there is a chance of water accidents, I think tile would be safer.

[BlsdMama]

I'm not talking about laminate. What I am looking at is ceramic tile.

 

 

I know exactly what you're talking about and I love it. It's absolutely beautiful.  I really like the more faded/white tinged looking wood tiles. My only caveat is that if you live somewhere cold, having heated tile would be a HUGE selling point for me as a buyer... However, that might be cost prohibitive for your return on investment.

[SailorMom]

I LOVE the wood tile.  I would want it over the laminate.  Good idea on avoiding the dated look.  We went with more of a classic approach when we re-did our house as well, and everyone raved over it, so obviously it works.  We're renting it out now that we're not there, but we get offers to buy all the time.

[Ellie]

Thanks, Scarlett. I'm not against real wood. We have real original wood in a couple of the bedrooms. I love it.

 

The newer options and trends for wood flooring are not attractive to me. They are thin veneer that would not hold up with big dogs and farmers with boots.

 

Also I want one type of flooring throughout the main area of the house. I don't want the choppiness of tile in the kitchen and wood in the den. I need a unifying floor and I don't think that engineered hardwood is a great option in a kitchen.

 

So put real hardwood, not engineered hardwood, throughout the main area.

 

We've had hardwood since 1987, in two homes. I can't emphasize enough how much I have loved having hardwood.

[craftyerin]

Wood-look tile is my FAVORITE floor! Do it! Where I live, tile in all of the main areas is very, very common and not at all off-putting. My house has 18" travertine tile in the entry, formal dining (that we use for school), and living room, and wood-look tile in the kitchen, half bath, and laundry room.  Those rooms make up the entire downstairs except for the master, which is carpeted, and the master bath, which has some other non-descript ivory colored 12" tile. The travertine is nice, but I wish they had carried the wood-look tile through the entire downstairs. I adore it.  

 

Also, in our previous house, we had water damage from a hot water heater leak that ruined the laminate floor in our den. I put down wood-look tile there. In both houses, I get more compliments on the floors with the wood-look tile than any other. 

[Scarlett]

I am surprised that so many people would not want the wood look tile. I have to wonder if you guys have actually seen it installed. Well, some of you just don't like tile all,over.......anyway, we live in a lake community and we have a pool....so tile is a good thing.

[Zinnia]

Where I live, it's just not very common at all to have tile anywhere other than bathrooms and (sometimes) kitchens.  Anything other than that screams, "someone from up north decorated this place."  I would not be interested in an all tile house.