Hi,
I've been lurking around these forums gathering ideas for some time.
Here's the story:
I recently bought a 2 bedroom townhouse. The carpet downstairs is terrible and i spend a couple of months scratching my head working out do i go new carpet, tiles, laminate/engineered/bamboo/presealed/regular/ floorboards. I've always loved hardwood floors but knew the cost was a killer. Anyway I ran into an old school mate who now happens to be a floorer (and a good one at that, ive seen some of his work), and he offered to lay a hardwood floor for me for mates rates, as long as i take a couple of days off work and help him out.
So i now have 50sqm of Blackbutt and ply sitting in my garage, and will be putting the floor down in a few weeks. Now here's my problem:
At the front door there currently is a tile landing in which you turn right into the loungeroom or go straight up the stairs. Originally i thought i'd rip up these tiles and run the floors right along there with a timber threshold. After my floorer had a look he said its not that simple and reckons i'd need a carpenter to install the threshold, AND, here's the killer, as the floors will sit about 20mm higher than currently, i'll constantly be tripping over the stairs as the bottom stair will now be smaller than the rest of them.
So I have 3 options:
Leave the ugly blue tiles there and have nice blackbutt floors butting up to them on one side and carpet on the stairs on the other side.
take up the tiles, get a threshold installed (or try to do it myself), lay the floors right up to steps and risk landing on my face all the time.
Take up the tiles, put a more neutral coloured tile down which isn't so repulsive and blends in the with the floor and soon to be more neutral colour feature wall.
Has anybody has similar experiences, and what was the best solution?
I have included a picture to hopefully have it make more sense.
Cheers,
The issue with the timber threshold is that it needs to sit under your door jambs. This will involve removing the door, jambs and architraves and probably skirting around it as well. If you mate is a competent floor layer, he should be able to takle minor carpentry such as this. Note that a blackbutt timber threshold will be around 32mm -35mm thick.
Make sure you get the flooring inside the house before you lay it - in the garage is not acclimatising it.
I'm sure he'd do it if i twisted his arm... however we're on a tight deadline and the last thing i need is to waste half a day stuffing round with it.
The big thing i'm worried about is the floors sitting about 20mm higher than the tiles currently sit and everyone tripping up the stairs because of it.
As for acclimatising... yes i know what you're saying but difficult to store 50sqm, some 5 metre lengths in the house when you are living in it. The garage adjoins the house and from what floorers have told me the main thing is to have it in the area (i am coastal and the timber mill is about 20km inland). Storing the timber in the house isnt necassary so long as it is stacked with plenty of air around it.
Personally, I think the option of re tiling would be good. A nice neutral tile that as you said, goes with the carpet and the boards. Maybe a chocolate tile? It is an entranceway so the dirt will accumulate there before you go into the house. Just my opinion, but I think that would look fine.
YEah I'm thinking a brownish tile, maybe not as dark as chocolate. We just repainted in Hog Bristle 1/4 and did the 'feature' wall in Hog Full Strength... the Navy wall is gone, and with the Hog now on the walls a lightish brown will work well i reckon.
The garage adjoins the house and from what floorers have told me the main thing is to have it in the area (i am coastal and the timber mill is about 20km inland). Storing the timber in the house isnt necassary so long as it is stacked with plenty of air around it.
I understand the difficulties though be aware the moisture in an uninsulated garage sitting on a porous concrete slab will be different than inside you house, no matter how minor. The timber should be spread too if possible - not stacked.
Given your deadline, I'd say replace the tiles later. Tiles will make a durable entrance flooring and I wouldn't think they would look too out of place. It would give you a nice area to come in and drip wet umbrellas and take off grubby shoes without having to stress about your timber.
You'll have to be very careful of your adjacent new floorboards when ripping them up.
Kylie
Duke - I have run battons under the floorboards so they are not actually sitting on the concrete.
Then i have stacked them with gaps between the sides of each board and short boards running perpendicular on every second run. that's about as good as i can get it.
kb46 - I will be hiring a jackhammer next weekend to take up the tiles in the kitchen, so i may as well take up the landing tiles too... whether or not i get to retiling before laying the floors shouldn't matter i wouldn't think.
Sounds good. I didn't literally mean sitting on the concrete
, rather stored on an unsealed floor