prefinished floors vs unfinished floors in a gut renovation

Hi if you want reconstruction of your house without any damage to the floors than you should go for clean wrap, plastic sheeting will prevent your floors from getting damaged.

simonmoudgil

in Brownstoner Renovation 11 years and 9 months ago

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w51bernie | 11 years and 9 months ago

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we are doing a gut renovation of a house and our contractor is telling us to use unfinished floors. he said this is easier because it allows him to work without worrying about damaging the floors since he will finish them later on at the end. the prefinished floors and installation are cheaper then unfinished floors, installation and finishing. does it make sense what my contractor is saying? i dont understand why he cant install the finished floors after all of the work is done.

steffanelzinga | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Tell him not to be lazy and lay Masonite over the pre finished floor. It’s 7 bucks a 7×8 sheet.

steffanelzinga | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Sorry 4×8

handyrenny | 11 years and 9 months ago

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or like you said he can install the floors at the end of the renovation.

daveinbedstuy | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Prefinished floors are much better since the finishes are applied under controlled conditions in the factory. Much more durable. What Steffan says above. Usually the floors are the last to go in. Installing prefinished is a fast, easy job.

janeinteriorsnyc | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Steffan is right… and no matter what type of floor goes in, if it’s prior to the end of the job, they need to be protected with masonite. When you say prefinished do you mean prefinished engineered hardwood floors vs. unfinished solid hardwood? Engineered wood will not be able to be refinished as many times as solid hardwood over the lifetime of the floor. I think your decision should be based on this and your budget, rather than what is easiest now for the contractor. My experience is that real wood is preferable in the long run over engineered wood, unless it can’t be used. Most apartments with cement floors don’t allow solid wood floors to be installed anymore because nailing the subfloor to the cement causes so much noise and disruption throughout the building. In this case prefinished engineered floors are the only option for a wood floor. Sorry if I misunderstood the question in terms of prefinished meaning engineered. www.janeinteriorsnyc.com

daveinbedstuy | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Engineered floors sound like walking on plastic.

joearchitect | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Yes, I think whether you use prefinished flooring or unfinished, it is going to need protection until all the work is done. Usually it is best to use a layer of building paper and then the masonite. However I would discuss your concerns with the contractor and also respect their experience. If you insist on a particular way of doing the work then you become responsible for the result – so be careful with that. There are many brands and types of prefinished flooring and certainly some are better than others but I find that they look over-finished, too much like plastic, and I don’t like the little bevels between boards that collect dust. I usually advise my clients to use unfinished flooring material and to finish on site because the result is more traditional and natural looking. You can try stain colors on site and come up with any color you want. It’s true it’s a little more expensive though.

daveinbedstuy | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Also, there are plenty of people who specialize in flooring. I’d leave it to the very end and have one of them do it. After that, only the baseboard shoe molding need to be placed

Augustiner | 11 years and 9 months ago

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If you plan on having radiant floor heating I would recommend prefinished/engineered woodfloor. Otherwise it´s really up to what you prefer style-wise. If you install a good engineered floor vs. good Oak + sanding and coating, the price difference will also not be that much.

Bond | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Depending on traffic patterns, it’s not uncommon for the abrasiveness of either rosin paper or Masonite, or a combination of both to take the sheen off a high gloss pre-finish, so whatever I was using, I’d put it in right at the end of the job. I’m not a fan of prefinished because as Joe points out, the manufacturer almost always puts a slight chamfer on the edge to cover up microscopic differences in thickness. The resulting groove makes me nuts (or nuttier) and acts as a dirty catcher. It doesn’t seem to bother most people though.

daveinbedstuy | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Lots of prefinished out there wothout that notch, which I agree is annoying. prefinished is NOT the same as engineered as was being confused above

metalwork | 11 years and 9 months ago

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    string(34) "$P$BgabNFc8N0ORoN8SLQLSrzA9B/OzED1"
    ["user_nicename"]=>
    string(9) "metalwork"
    ["user_email"]=>
    string(23) "sherwinmorgan@yahoo.com"
    ["user_url"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_registered"]=>
    string(19) "2014-01-17 21:12:08"
    ["user_activation_key"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_status"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["display_name"]=>
    string(9) "metalwork"
    ["spam"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["deleted"]=>
    string(1) "0"
  }
  ["ID"]=>
  int(181255)
  ["caps"]=>
  array(1) {
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["cap_key"]=>
  string(15) "wp_capabilities"
  ["roles"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(15) "bbp_participant"
  }
  ["allcaps"]=>
  array(1) {
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["filter"]=>
  NULL
  ["site_id":"WP_User":private]=>
  int(1)
}

I think he should put the fool down and stop being lazy, and use Masonite to protect it.