Harwood Flooring and/or Carpeting Installation

[rainbow-spork.livejournal.com]

Has anyone out there had hardwood floors installed? What about carpeting? Can you recommend anyone good for either task?

I've poked around on Angie's List a bit, but I'm looking for further recommendations. I'm brand new to this whole homeowner thing (in fact, I don't even own it yet), so I'll also take advice on how to go about finding tradespeople in general.

Comments

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

If it is an older house, you may have carpet over hardwood floors. In my house I just had to pull the carpet in most of the rooms (though not in a couple of them... they required more work.

I haven't used anybody in a long, long time so I can't give you a current reference.

[rainbow-spork.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I know that's not the case.... It's 1960's brick building, and I have beat-up carpet over concrete. =) Thanks for the suggestion, though! That's would've been an awesome thing to discover.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

You could take a trip to Home Depot and ask 'em what was involved. They also hook you up with contractors to do the installation. If nothing else that would help you get a quote (you always want at least a couple).

If you're building on top of concrete you're going to need a sub-floor and then the hardwood floor or carpet. You're going to want to replace the old subflooring (which it sounds like you're on top of already). If you can, you really want to have the work done before you move in.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I don't have any personal experience with this, but know many people who have been burned by Home Depot sub contractors.

If you're a new homeowner...

[oxyfellow.livejournal.com]

You should try servicemagic.com. It's a great system that checks out tradespeople ahead of time. Just tell them what you want done and they'll hook you up with several people to choose from. And using their service to find someone is free. Best way I've come across to finding good people to work on my house.

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

We used Father & Son Floorcraft in Watertown (150 Belmont St, Watertown, MA) They re-laid wood flooring we salvaged from another room, added new wood to fill in a border, and refinished the whole thing. They also installed a real linoleum (not vinyl) floor in our kitchen.

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

For any other people who want "real linoleum (not vinyl)," I would NOT recommend Ace Flooring on Broadway in Ball Square. When we went in a few days ago for linoleum, the woman working there directed us to vinyl. As many people do use these terms as synonyms, we weren't very concerned but specified that we wanted REAL linoleum; her response was "vinyl IS linoleum." We again tried to clarify that we wanted a natural product such as Marmoleum. It turns out that the store does carry Marmoleum but, after she spent several minutes digging out the samples, she said "we don't really sell much of this" and seemed to be have no interest in our business. So, as much as I would have liked to work with Ace because they are our neighbors in Somerville, we're heading to Watertown to bring our business to Only Flooring or Father & Son . . .

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

I ran into the same problem with dozens of flooring places that I called. Vinyl is NOT linoleum! Father & Sons was the only place that didn't try to convince us that cheap, ugly vinyl was better than real linoleum. (FWIW, 4 yrs later, we still love the linoleum...it's really easy to take care of, and looks like it belongs in an old home)