I am looking to purchase hardwood, snap and lock flooring to install myself...anyone have recommendations for the best place to purchase this?
Usually somewhere like Lowe's or Home Depot is what I would recommend to do it yourself, cheaper and bigger variety. Sounds like you are looking for laminate.
I would recommend one of the Armstrong floors. Great look, easy to install, very durable and they have a great warrenty. We've installed ours roughly 7 yrs. ago, two kids (actually probably more like 6-7 kids if you count the weekend crowd that spends the night and eats all my newly purchased food,shhh...I've learned to hide the good stuff in my closet until they all leave), two dogs. You'll never regret getting rid of the carpet.
We just did our living room. Bought the stuff from Lowes. They were having a sale of 20% off. Special ordered it and it was in within 10 days. The room is 27 by 13, the cost with all the supplies including glue and the recommended subflooring stuff was less then $2000.
Completely agree. They clean up so well. Mohawk also has a great line, we put that in our office awhile back so it gets alot of beating and looks as great today as first day. The quality and appearence has changed alot in the last few years. Doesn't scratch as easily as hardwood either. Good luck.
Price is subjective depending on what you want. Hardwood will definitely run more. BJs (Cary Store) carries Hampton brand laminate. A nice rubber pad is attached. 25 year warranty. Cost is normally $1.18 sq ft. There is a $3 rebate per box until Mar. 20th making the flooring $1.05 sq ft. We found most other laminate at this price only had a ten year warranty and had no pad or a very flimsy pad attached. Lumber Liquidators has a nice selection and good prices. You can see the prices at their web site. When buying calculate about 10% for waste...more if you have a lot of stange angle to work around. A friend advised we glue the joints after her's started separating about a year after install. So we are using a bead of glue (made for the product) as we assemble each joint.
We have Armstrong brand and we bought it from 'something' carpets store on Atlantic Ave when they were having a sale. Had it for approx.4 yrs, have not any problems with joints separating or anything, we love it!! Very easy to keep clean! DH installed it himself. He says to rent a 'jamb saw' so you can saw off a little at the bottom of each doorway to make the install easier.
I have installed the laminate twice and was very pleased....but now that you can also get the hardwood in a "snap" together flooring, I am seriously considering paying extra for the wood.....just considering my options at this point....
My boss just did this (the snap together hardwood) in the new office and it looks fantastic! He wishes he hadn't, cause now his wife wants it all through their house. :mrgreen:
We've done laminate flooring from Lumber Liquidators for the upstairs. NOT sturdy w/ kids....just an FYI. It has nicks all in the flooring upstairs from our one son. He wears a prosthetic so everytime he falls or gets on the floor, it chips up. So, b/c of that, we just finished doing the downstairs in December w/ Lowes. We did the entire downstairs w/ bamboo and love it. Way too expensive but given the traffic in our home and the issues we contend w/ daily, we needed something beyond sturdy--LOL. The installation was worth it b/c I remember how long it took us to do the upstairs 3 years ago and it still isn't totally done yet. Lumber Liquidators has great prices on hardwoods if you are going to do it yourself. Good luck w/ whatever you choose. Take care, Stephanie--mom to 7
