I paid $530 for a new oak staircase 18 years ago. I had to pay someone to paint the risers & stain the treads after it was installed, and I can’t recall if that was the cost to simply deliver the staircase or if that included its installation and the removal of the old one. (Probably just the materials cost; I don’t have record of payment to anyone so it may have been rolled into the basement construction project.)
Our very traditional house has solid oak treads with white risers. I once saw a stunning set of stairs in a newer house where the owner had cut copper flashing and used it for risers.
We just bought a home in Scottsdale, AZ. The bedrooms are carpeted and showing wear, but we like the rest of the flooring, which is a ceramic tile in browns/tans/grays. Wood floors don’t do well in the dry climate, so should we re-carpet the bedrooms? Is carpet a big no-no now?
This floor tile is similar, so you can see our dilemma. Thanks for any suggestions.
I used to live in Tucson and most houses have tiles for all flooring. I’ve seen, though, few houses with carpets, usually because someone in the house doesn’t like the cold touch on their feet. Instead of recarpeting – unless you or someone else in the household doesn’t like the cold touch, either – I’d tile all the bedrooms.
Hmm, I went to Scottsdale AZ on google maps and typed in “wood floor stores” and about 30 places popped up. So clearly there are lots of people installing wood floors in that area.
If your first choice is wood, I would go talk to a few of these places and see what they say. Certain species probably do better than others, and the acclimation may be different in that area, and a local flooring guy can educate you on that. I wouldn’t dismiss wood out of hand though, without researching it.
I detest tile floors unless they are used in bathroom and laundry room. My in-laws had all tile floors in Florida and it was awful. It felt cold and the acoustics were bad.
If you are expecting grandchildren to visit, I can’t imagine them sitting and crawling around on tiled floors.
There are new LVT and engineered hardwood floors and they do well in hot climates.
Just because they didn’t ask, doesn’t mean they didn’t know. My mother put LVT wood in her kitchen because the wood floors in her previous kitchen got all worn between the stove and the sink and the entire first floor had to be refinished to fix it. It looked okay, but not great. Too shiny, not enough pattern variation etc. Many people probably don’t notice, it irritated me every time I went into the room!
If you say they are too shiny and not enough pattern variation, you probably haven’t looked at the new LVTs. Almost all of the have very low sheen or matte finish. I had to look hard to find something that has more uniform pattern.
With mine, no one asked if they were wood, I tell them and they can’t believe it’s not wood.
They do have some amazing new flooring. Researching wood floors in Phoenix, I see some people complaining about termites, sand scratches, and warping from the condensation on the slab (foundation).
