I am buying a new home and will be installing hardwood, and tile floors through-out before moving into the home. I have a couple general questions. If anyone from my area or the Texas area can respond that would be great, but I would all that can share info to please respond:

1. What can I expect to pay for installation per sq ft for hardwood.
2. What can I expect to pay for removal of old hardwood floors installed over a concrete slab.
3. The company I am thinking of using, Coker Floor, here in the DFW area sells, Mannington, Bruce, Anderson, Karhs, Harris-Tarket, and, Robbins. Which flooring is the best product.
4. Should I get 3/8, 1/2, or 3/4.
5. Width of flooring boards I assume would be a matter of taste, but will a specific width give better service.

Thanks for anyone that can answer any of my questions.
Billy De KId.

No telling what the pricing in your area will bear. Value is not measured in low pricing.

1.) Too many variables and methods of installation, to give you a number set in stone.

2.) Same as above. But I can tell you this. It is much more physical work then installing it. You may have to pay more for the tear out then the installation of new.

3.) Of those choices, I'd take the Mannington everytime.

4.) That is a choice only you can decide, given all the information you acquire about each board. Wear layer thickness and plies. I personally don't feel you gain anything past a 5 ply.

5.) Narrow boards are more dimensionally stable then a wide board, no matter what the make up, solid or engineered. More vessels across the face to absorb moisture.

1- Kahrs
2- Mirage
3- Mannington
4- Anderson
4- Robbins
5- Harris Tarkett

Bruce who?

Perry sure has these vessel things on his mind thesedays.



Only during a flood in my opinion.

Spend more time on our site and many of the answers should come to you.

Thanks to both of you for your replies. I am slowly coming up to speed with this project, but as is the case most of the time, the devil is in the details.

Mannington was my first choice when in the store, but I found a Kahrs product I really liked.

I am quickly understanding that removal of old floors is going to be very expensive.

I will be hanging out here for a while at least, doing research.

Thanks,
Billy De Kid

Wood is made of many vessels. These are the same vesels that act as a sponge when moisture is concerned.

Vessels are just part of "Wood Science"

I agree but sometimes you come off like hardwood floors are impossible to have anywhere . It's information overload in my opinion. I've seen engineeered floors in the most humid environments look fine. One example was a job I did in Key West(humid) 10 years ago. Rarely did this place run the AC having large ceiling fans keeping the place cool. I saw it a year ago. The floor was worn out with all the traffic(bed and breakfast type) in the check in area but it didn't have any signs of what you think could happen.

Maybe I'm missing something here?

Ever see a boat deck with 7" wide Maple planks?

I've only seen 1¼ teak finger boards with gapping. Must be a reason for the finger boards and not 2¼ or 3" wide boards.

I live in Southlake (around DFW). I also have been pricing out hard wood floors. It appears that it is $2/sq ft. to lay either hard wood or tile. The going rate here to take up the tile and prepare it for hard wood is 1.50/sq ft. I cannot comment on removing hard wood, but I would think it would be similar.

Patti, The folks at Coker Floors here in Plano are telling me $3.00 per sq ft for removal, and $3.50 for installation. Sounds like I need to check a few other installers.

Billy De Kid
Plano, TX

The "going rate"? There is no such thing, to a contractor. You must be taking about retail store installers, that go by price fixing, dictated by the stores the work for "employeed"

What about the new warranty laws in effect in Texas now??? Your going to be hard pressed to find some hack, at the "going rate" that even has a specification bible, for any floorcovering, and at those low prices are going to be able to follow them, and make a decent living, along with operating a business expenses.

The price you were quoted, is actually reasonable for a craftsman. If your just looking for a laborer, expect the job to look like a laborer did it. Now what the guys actually doing the work are getting paid as a subcontractor for Coker Floors, is unknown. Labor is marked up.

Find an installer yourself. The guy that is going to be on the floor, cutting and placing boards. Not some middleman making a cut off the labor.

In other words, you get what you pay for.

I would be @ $4 or more for removal. including adhesive residue.
Starting @ $2.50 and the price goes up from there for installation.
$1.00 a foot for urethane adhesive. So, starting at $3.50 for installation.
$1.50 per lin ft for trim molding Installation labor
$10 per lin ft. for transition molding installation labor.

But I'm not a laborer, struggling living in poverty, either.
I don't know if I'd let those lowballers in my house. Things might come up missing.

Floorguy, Thanks for the reply. Since this is a chore that I have to do infrequently, I really appreciate advise from the experts.

Seems like real craftsmen are few and far between these days. Most contractors these days -- and that includes individuals, and store fronts, hire subcontractors to do the actual work. I will add and item to any contract that the "sales-person" must physically look at the work before final payment. We will both have to agree that everything is in acceptable condition before I make final payment.

I am having about 2000 sq ft of mostly wood, and the remainder tile installed. Also, having solid surface countertops installed at the same time. So, as you can see I am having 15-20k worth of work done, so it will have to be done exactly as I expect or we will have major problems.

Do you know any floor craftsmen in my area? I am located in Plano, so anyone from the north Dallas area would work.

Thanks,
Billy De Kid

The flooring retailer has made the Craftsmen, a thing of the past.

Retail flooring back in the late 60's came up with this wonderful idea to save their bottom line. We will now call our employees, subcontractors, so we don't have the burden of liability insurance and FICA, health care, tools, vehicles, and uniforms. But we will still control them as employees!!!! Watch this....



The retailers dictate the going rate to the subcontractors starving, looking for a job, which has not risen in 30 years. Actually they did go up very little, and are now less then they were 20 years ago, back to what it was 30 years ago.
The retailer dictates how much a job pays and how a job goes, including supplies to be used, but when the job fails, the subcontractor is forced to replace the floor at no charge. No money out of the retailers pocket, but now the subcontractor has to tear it all out and do it right, like it should have been in the first place or not have a job.

So you see a lot of running and gunning, trying faster and faster to get it on the floor, cutting all kinds of corners to speed up installations. Craftsman? What craftsman? Maybe they were once a craftsman, but if they are still under the retailers claw, they have had to adapt and cut corners, or live in poverty.

When someone else is incharge of selling your contractor services on low price, on their terms, Your no better then an employee, without any benefits, and bearing all the burden and risk. Basically a slave!!!

Hello Billydekid,
We went through the same during our search for hardwood floor selection and installation. Past several months we ordered so many samples off the internet and visited so many stores locally and we think finally we are going to get our hardwood floor by this weekend. We too live in Plano by Coit and Hedgecoxe. We too looked at Coker floors and they had a noticeable markup when did comparison shopping. The rate for installation I got started from $2.00 just for the labor and not including the glue. I found a list of contractors at lumber liquidators on I-35. We really liked a Mannington floor and got various pricing from different sources. Also tried to get it from online but finally we added the glue and labor it was not much difference in price and my wife was skeptical about ordering it online in case if we have to return in case if we had a problem with the product, so finally we found this flooring company who had the same flooring on stock coincidentally and they gave us a good price and we are going to be installing it soon. So if you want to wait a while and look at our project then make a decision, you are most welcome. Another thing we found out was when we had the floor choice narrowed down everybody is willing to beat the price from the other place and they considerably reduced the price per square foot installed and when they came out to measure the actual area everybody comes up with more area than the actual area if you know what I mean. For example our actual area we are going to be laying hardwood floor is 864 sq.ft to be precise and we got measurements from 926 to 1007 sq.ft from different companies so you have to watch for that closely. Also I asked several companies what if from the measurements I order X number of cartons and we have any leftovers would they still charge for the area they calculated, couple of them said they would charge me a restocking fee which p____ed me off since it was they who measured the area and now they will charge for restocking which did not make any sense and finally we have come to a conclusion, no matter with whom you go with we are going to get ripped on way or the other and they too have to make a living, so we have gone with this company who seems to be honest amongst all of them. Another reason I am going with this company is they are going to be using the manufacturer recommended glue since if we use anything else it will void the warranty and all the other companies we were shopping were going to use their own glue and two of them I even received a email reply saying that if we use the X brand adhesive the manufacturer will still keep the warranty which is not true since we called the manufacturer and made sure we have to use the glue they suggest.

Pardon me for the long posting, just needed a vent out from our quest for the floor.

Also if you have any other questions, you can pm me anytime.

Thank you,
sailakfan

I really did not mean to insult anyone wiith my comments. I just replied with my experience. I have used the $2/sq ft guys (apparently not craftsmen) and they did a fine job for me. I know you can have many varied experiences. I think that sailakfan has it right you do the best you can, but perhaps you should bid it out completely with several and see what you get. You are covering alot of sqare feet!

It is called "acclimating to in use conditions". IF the wood is to be used in that situation; the moisture content should be at 14% or so before installation... which apparantly was done.