Im thinking of putting hardwood in my family room but leaving a 12x12 area in the center for carpet. Id also like to raise the carpet so I could butt up to the hardwood without a transition strip. Im thinking this will save a few hundred in hardwood ,plus the cost of a large rug the wife would spend to cover it up with anyway.

Thanks Craig

It has and is done all the time. As a hardwood installer, I can tell but many folks can't. A better way than using regular carpet and tucking it to the hardwood (which is the giveaway) is to build up the center to the same height as the floor and then lay your rug down, overlapping the joint where the hardwood ends. You can use a true area rug or have some carpet bound. This way, it really does look like the wood floor is throughout as opposed to just a border.

In my area this would detract from value of home and has to be "declared" at re-sale time by agents.

Art

Thanks , Im not really tring to hide anything. I just thought it was a waste to spend that much money just to cover it. And carpet in the high use area can be easy and cheap to replace.




Good Idea Gary Thanks
Craig

It wasn't my idea. I was watching a This Old House show years ago and this realtor and Bob V. were walking through this old New England colonial. Well, guess what those thrifty yankees did, they put the expensive hardwood around the edges and filled the middle in with cheap knotty pine. They had planned to cover the pine with rugs. Your idea is as old as this country, I'd say. And Art, I'm from Ca., the lawsuit state; here, we disclose EVERYTHING.