I''ve never paid more than $4 per sq. ft. for high end carpet (installed). Has it doubled in price over the last 2 years?

Sammy, you're right, at 9 sq. ft. /yard it's about $36-40 installed.

I'm thinking about getting a new bathmat later this week.

$25k, I'm glad I DIY! Of course, I'm glad until I remember that I have about 3400 sq ft worth of wood, tile, and carpet to lay in our new (to us) house. $hit...............

Hugh, make sure you throw up some after pics. Looks like you found a good contractor, they care enough to hang plastic during demo on the tile. I joke about the price, but it's worth it. Tile and hardwood are a great investment. Carpet is like a new car, you know you'll be replacing it before too long.

Thought about doing it myself, but I travel a lot for business and it would take me months, versus a week.

Yeah, my work gets done mostly on the weekends, so it's sloooooow. Just ask my wife, she'd be happy to tell you all about my basement finishing project that I started in January.:D Almost ready for sheetrock, I'm not THAT slow.

Yeah, my work gets done mostly on the weekends, so it's sloooooow. Just ask my wife, she'd be happy to tell you all about my basement finishing project that I started in January.:D Almost ready for sheetrock, I'm not THAT slow.

You will love the wood

I layed 8" wide X 14 foot long solid 1 inch thick red oak plank in our kitchen. It is all pegged with 780 pegs and 5 coats tung oil varnish on top. (The same stuff used in the White House so I have heard)

Speedy:)

Obviously.

I look forward to seeing the progress pictures.


KT

Hugh,
I put in 1100sq ft of 1 1/4" Oak strip hardwood flooring over 2 years ago when we added onto our 65 year old Colonial and we love it! We went with a satin finish and refinished the original Oak floors in the old part of the house at the same time and it looks great! Oriental rugs really do tie the room together and look great with hardwood floors. Carpet prices are crazy, especially since the raw materials are petroleum. You made a great choice!

We had pegged red oak in our old house that we refinished. Beautiful stuff.

Wait until your economic stimulation check comes in and you can get the toilet surround mat too. :D

I like hardwood both for the look and the durability.

Some of the hardwood floors in my house is the original stuff, installed in 1911.

Wall-to-wall carpet that has to be replaced every 10 years, or hardwood that lasts 100+
years?

The cost of area rugs is a problem. Check w/ your local CostCo - they have a rug selection that travels around, visits each store 1-2 times a year. We did a lot of shopping for oriental rugs and concluded the CostCo rugs were reasonable quality and something like 1/3 the price of similar quality rugs at the local Rug Rip-Off joint.

You guys must really love rugs. I spent something like $300 on a nice looking rug at a local store. 8 years and two kids later, it still looks like new. I can't tell an expensive rug from an average one, maybe I'm not cultured?

I remember when you posted about that project! I laid very similar floors, 10" wide and 12 ft long. I really wanted to go with a nice oil varnish but we pen our dogs in the kitchen all day and needed something tough... I ended up using polyurethane but it's not as rich as a nice oil finish.

Yours looked awesome back when you laid them, they've been down for what, a year or two? How are they holding up? Did any of them cup?

We bought two Karastan oriental rugs from Marshall Fields several years ago ($1600 for 11' x20') and they look great and have held up well. The natural lanolin in the New Zealand wool repels dirt and moisture. Besides, they really tie the room together! Oriental rugs look great on hardwood!!

A few years back I did our lower level in 5" American cherry hand scraped finish. This is an engineered wood product. It was spendy - like $9 sq/ft just for the material. I used Bostic's best glue which was also spendy at $250/5gal. You get what you pay for. The floors are thick and can be refinished several times though alot of sanding will remove the hand scraped look. I took some time off of work to do the job. Took me about a 1 week working 6-8 hr days - tough on a then 44 yr old back but I enjoy doing home stuff like this.

Main hallway
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210697414.jpg

Kitchen
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210697451.jpg

Entry way - I spent a day coming up with a custom tile insert and used a combination of tiles that I used on the fireplace, wine cellar, and 1/2 bath. If I could do it again I'd spend more time to come up with something more dramatic but it works. Better than a entry rug I guess...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1210697575.jpg

http://www.worth1000.com/web/media/5...lebowski24.jpg

When I was single and in college I grew my own bathmat ;)

I remember I had a cup of yogurt in the fridge that had been in there so long it came alive. I taught it to sing opera. Talk about culture .......

ba da bing. But seriously folks ......