Eh gads but found savings

[nodmicks]

Our home is over 150 yrs old. We've been here 8 yrs. The carpets were stained, ripped and totally shot. Its so bad we are actually embarrased to have people come. We have Mom staying here hile we go to see our niece in the burn ward in TX in jun so it gave us a push to get going. Living in the country with kids, lots of sand gravels, pets etc had totally shot that which was bad carpet 2 begin with. We ripped it up and 3/4 of the living room were unlevel but good wood floors. The other 1/4 , the kitchen, playroom, mudroom and laundry room were ugly mismatched gappy boards. We were so dissapointed!
We went and got espimates on laminate flooring. Carpets is a no go due to the pets though its cheaper.
We got tons of estimaaates on mid priced flooring. We also have very uneven floors so they would need to be leveled first.
Our lowest estimate was 4870.00 for the rooms on the 1st floor minus the bathroom plus we still needed to make the floors level first at 40$ an hour.

We looked everywhere for cheaper flooring and labor to no avail. Someone suggested sams club. The other place sold the same flooring for 2.50 a sq foot. Sams club had the a close to identical product with a better warranty for 1.59 a sq foot.
We talked 2 a few people and decided to try it ourselves. We got 3 buckets of leveler at menards for 80$ (though we likely will need more). We have a funny cut hearth and a few other areas we may need to call a pro in at 2.00 a sq foot. Everyone told us the leveling will be the hard part. However just on material we saved almost a buck a sq foot at 1000 sq feet!!! Thats alot! Plus what ever labor we can do ourselves save 2.00 a sq foot!
Now I am working on trying to ply up 1000's of staples and nails sticking up where the carpet pad was.
Wish us luck!!!!

[Darlene]

You are ambitious! Wishing you guys good luck in saving money on the floor of your dreams. Just keep in mind when you are swearing at each other cause things don't always go according to plan (at least that's what happens here) that it's going to look great when it's done.

[nodmicks]

Sorry for all my typos in my above post! Dh figures us doing is saves about 2800.00. Darlene I told my brother I'd call him if we need marriage counceling (jk) after the project!
Also you would not believe the trash we found under the carpet pad! I was floored and disgusted!!!

[chatterweb]

We are in the same boat!
We pulled up the carpet in 3 bedrooms and the dining room and living room carpet pads and tack strips and baseboards, old home from 1969!

We also have laid down hardwood and found Trec laminate durable squares in a parquet design for our 3 bedrooms.

Nothing like living in a Construction zone, but, it can really save money doing it on your own!

Congrats!!!

Oh and I sometimes feel so down, since we both work alot and are not real keen on do it yourself projects, so, it has almost been a year, but, we have actually come pretty far.

Keep it up! And do not expect it to be done in the snap of a finger!

[dolphin]

I'm sending lots of good thoughts your way on this do it yourself project. I'm acutally bowing to you! I've been contemplating just redoing my kitchen linoleum is those squares and it seems like such a job! LOL, and here you are doing big rooms!

Congrats and finding what you wanted and for doin this. You'll be so glad once it is done.

[dolphin]

Oh and dont be concerned about what you found under the carpet, trust me, everyone who has carpet has it!

[nodmicks]

Chatterweb~ Oh yes living in a construction zone! Eh gads! It's awful! I'm glad you found what you wanted! I think the laminate will be so much cleaner than carpet!
As far as having it done at a snap of the fingers~ I got a bad taste of that yesterday! I spent 6 hrs prying out 2 inch staples with bits of pad under them and only got half the living room done! I am so stiff!

Dolphin~ thanks for the good vibes! We need them!!! Eh gads I thought it was disgusting to find tons of sand, candy wrappers etc under that pad.