Hardwood in Condo

[dibbz]

So I purchased a condo which is currently being built and opted not to go with the hardwood offered by the builder as they were asking an incredible amount of money. Before I move in I would like to install hardwood (engineered) in the living/dining area. Is there anything I should confirm/investigate before I set out to install the hardwood? I will get a family friend who I trust to do the install. The biggest problem I see right now is that the kitchen area is tile so I won't be pulling that out. So I will need to have a tile to hardwood transition there (if I went with the builder they would have put hardwood where the tile was).

[InRich]

just have them do their cheapest carpet install, in every area of the new home... then do your own finishing, since you can get it so much cheaper.

[blitz]

Get them to carpet the whole thing, kitchen included, then just replace everything with hardwood. No transitions and a better overall look.

[Kloubek]

Agreed with getting carpet installed. Back in the day they would be able to leave it unfinished, but the codes no longer allow for that.

Personally, I hate hardwood in the kitchen; I've seen way too many liquid spills ruin it. But suit yourself.

[E46..sTyLez]

I would go with the tile kitchen, a transition for hardwood is like $24. Looks great too

[Mar]

I have hardwood right through my main floor, living room to kitchen. I also have hardwood in my bedroom and it transitions to tile in the bathroom.

If you have any questions I can help you with that don't actually involve having done it, I'll try.

[SpeedIllusion]

I'm in the same boat as dibbz, I opted out of the premium package(hardwood floors, granite countertops, and woodgrain cabinets) because I will be doing all that afterwards to save a fair chunk of change.

There's usually no policy on having all that changed right?

[C_Dave45]

Being a condo, I assume the floor is lightweight concrete? Or is it wood? If it's wood you won't need any transition piece other than the normal Schluter edging that's installed with the original tile. Tile is installed on top of 3/8th's plywood, making a total of 3/4 inch above the OSB. Pre-finished hardwood is the same 3/4 inch and placed directly onto the OSB, making a flat transition.

If the tile is on concrete, then you'll need a "reducer" from the HW down to tile. Unless you're going with engineered or laminate hardwood. Then it will be almost same thickness as the tile itself.

[dibbz]

Thanks for all the replies. The floor is concrete so I will definitely be going with engineered hardwood. Hopefully it matches up to the tile because I will probably have to use a sound suppressing sub-floor layer under the hardwood. I do have some reservations with how it will look with the wood to tile transition. I'll have to look at the plans again and see what they got. I'll probably go with a floating floor (that's my only choice I think if I go with the sound dampening sub-floor).

PS: The builder was asking $10k for engineered hardwood in the living/dining/kitchen area. I'm pretty sure I could get that done way cheaper.

[hustler]

which builder? what is the area of the said space?

[C_Dave45]

Well hardwood prices vary quite a bit, but ball-park wise you're looking at around $10-15/sq ft, installed. You can definitely get it cheaper than what your builder will charge as an upgrade...the only plus is you get to build that into your mortgage as opposed to forking out $10 g's or so out of your own pocket.

[Kloubek]

Builders will always overcharge for upgraded flooring. We considered getting them to put in cheap flooring so we could redo it ourselves. Then we realized we would have so many projects on the go with our new house we just ate the extra expense.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Originally posted by C_Dave45
Pre-finished hardwood is the same 3/4 inch and placed directly onto the OSB, making a flat transition.

When I put 3/4" hardwood in my main floor I glued and screwed T&G 3/4" fir plywood down over the existing subfloor. You can jump on the floor as hard as you can (and I'm 225) and you'll barely ripple a glass of water sitting on the table!

[dibbz]

Originally posted by hustler
which builder? what is the area of the said space?

This was for Luna downtown. The area would have probably been around 700 sq. ft. as it would cover the entrance way, kitchen, dining, and living area. They were going to use a wide plank engineered hardwood. It looked good, but the price was not.

[BananaFob]

Originally posted by dibbz


This was for Luna downtown. The area would have probably been around 700 sq. ft. as it would cover the entrance way, kitchen, dining, and living area. They were going to use a wide plank engineered hardwood. It looked good, but the price was not.

I'm doing the exact same thing in the exact same building, in probably the exact same floor plan. $8000 to do the hardwood was pretty ridiculous.

IIRC, you can't do it before you take possession unfortunately. They will not do anything custom like not tiling the kitchen, or leaving the floors bare. You will have to opt for the carpet option, which I assume you already have because the deadline was like 1.5 years ago lol.

[dibbz]

Originally posted by BananaFob


I'm doing the exact same thing in the exact same building, in probably the exact same floor plan. $8000 to do the hardwood was pretty ridiculous.

IIRC, you can't do it before you take possession unfortunately. They will not do anything custom like not tiling the kitchen, or leaving the floors bare. You will have to opt for the carpet option, which I assume you already have because the deadline was like 1.5 years ago lol.

Yeah I know! Otherwise I everything else was pretty awesome! Yeah they won't do anything custom for me...although I was gonna try asking if they could pull speaker wire behind the dry wall for me. Long shot, but it would be nice!