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Wood floors anyone ?


ea93105

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I renovated several houses in the Southern US and in each I installed the laminate myself. Bought it at Lowes. Provided the rooms do not have any really irregular shapes, I would go ahead and do it. All the naysayers, notwithstanding. they are right but  it is your house and so what you want. I found it not difficult and if you are any sort of handyman you should be able to handle the job. Takes a bit of patience but is very satisfying when you see the smart appearance. You do need a smooth base or the wooden floor will reflect all the ups and downs and will not allow tight seams between the panels.

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If the poster is remodeling an old casa in Riberas and is asking about septic tanks in another thread, he or she has much bigger issues than the choice of flooring.  I say "go for your heart's desire and deal with the consequences"....later.  It may all work out, but plenty of people have put in their opinions.  Hope some of them help.

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1 hour ago, Alfa said:

I renovated several houses in the Southern US and in each I installed the laminate myself. Bought it at Lowes. Provided the rooms do not have any really irregular shapes, I would go ahead and do it. All the naysayers, notwithstanding. they are right but  it is your house and so what you want. I found it not difficult and if you are any sort of handyman you should be able to handle the job. Takes a bit of patience but is very satisfying when you see the smart appearance. You do need a smooth base or the wooden floor will reflect all the ups and downs and will not allow tight seams between the panels.

Naysayers? You mean voices of experience, don't you? I installed laminate flooring up north, where we have "standards", and was frequently disappointed at the squeaking sounds the floor makes over the foam sheeting that cannot hide all the dips and curves. At least there we don't have a lot of foundation shifting.

This is Mexico. Floors are quite different. Volcanic faults and underground arroyos are everywhere.  Houses are often not squared, let alone level.

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Speaking of houses not being squared... The most forgiving way of laying tile is one tile (or two) depth around the perimeter of the room and then start in the most square corner and lay them on an angle. It is eye forgiving to faults but requires more cuts. However, this is not what the OP wanted to know.

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3 hours ago, Bisbee Gal said:

What about underfloor heating tubes beneath tile....it's really nice on cold tile floors (have it in a US home). 

Or non-skid socks  🧦 which I wear Dec-Jan. 😉

I'm a big fan of heated floors, I personally installed an entire hydronic system under hardwood in my last US house, felt great on cold days, but the hydronic system is very complex and expensive so I will probably install electric heating for the bathroom and maybe one small section of the house. The electricity for heating the entire floor would be too high I think.

I need to get some of those socks !

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1 hour ago, gringal said:

If you checked the other thread they are posting on, you would know.😉

The house foundation is solid, nary a crack in any wall after 60 years, but having only mortar under the floor tiles is asking too much. I'm confident a solid slab with metal will hold up much better

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I also installed laminated wood in the states in my house  but I didn't find it easy.  I bought the best which already has foam attached to it.  The cheaper you buy the foam separate  put it down than the laminated wood.  I put plastic down first than the laminated wood.  You have to cut it so the seams won't be all the same and than to get the pieces fitted together we bought a tool for this.  it is a long metal piece almost like a level.  You place it against the side of the laminate and hit it to properly seat the laminate into the other piece.  You leave like a 1/4 inch empty space around the room to allow for expansion.  Otherwise it could buckle on you.  All in all I like my floor but if you are going to this much trouble I would use real wood.  I don't know how long these laminated floors are good for.

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