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Solid oak was still surprisingly cheap as late as 2018. We picked up a bedroom's worth for $300 or so, and it will last as long the house stands. The installati

by ekidd 2y ago

Solid oak was still surprisingly cheap as late as 2018. We picked up a bedroom's worth for $300 or so, and it will last as long the house stands. The installation is more expensive than the material. I know of at least one New England house with softwood pine floors from the 1850s that still look gorgeous. They needed a serious sanding about 50 years ago, and they have been revarnished a few times the half century since. Give 'em five good coats of varnish every 20 years, and put rugs on the high-traffic walkways, and they'll last for generations. Meanwhile, linoleum starts looking sketchy after a decade and carpet is just awful.

Kon-Peki 2y ago
> The installation is more expensive than the material. That's exactly the problem, isn't it? If any middle class person can afford high-quality wood flooring for their middle-class house, you need something exotic for your mansion. Right? You know what's crazy? I've got stacks of white oak and black walnut firewood. No furniture maker or woodworker will touch a felled tree in suburban or urban areas because it might have a nail somewhere in it. People will cut it into log lengths with a chainsaw and then beg others to come take it - as much as you can fit in your truck. For free. PS - unless I'm missing something, solid oak flooring is still in the same pricing ballpark as engineered wood flooring, often times a bit cheaper. It's the labor cost for installation and then finishing that makes it pricier overall?
- bluGill 2y ago
  Only the trunk from a tree is useful for lumber. The branches have more wood overall, but they are firewood only because they twist so much.
- potato3732842 2y ago
  >You know what's crazy? I've got stacks of white oak and black walnut firewood. No furniture maker or woodworker will touch a felled tree in suburban or urban areas because it might have a nail somewhere in it. People will cut it into log lengths with a chainsaw and then beg others to come take it - as much as you can fit in your truck. For free. Nails aren't a big deal. Everyone is running carbide blades these days and you won't even know you hit nails. Nail content is more of a long term wear problem. What pisses sawmill operators off is gate hardware and/or stupid ornate cast iron plant pot hanger that someone stuck up there 100yr ago. The real problem with getting wood from suburbia isn't the metal it's that the cost of operating everything you need to operate to work efficiently just doesn't pencil out unless you're getting full truck loads of logs. Second, the lumber you'l get is rarely in a good shape. Suburban trees tend to have lots of space to grow and find sun. They're not shooting straight up at the canopy like forest trees are. Demand for ornate slabs is tiny compared to good straight grained lumber. Milling lumber doesn't really pencil out except as a giant industrial operation or small scale cash only side gig.
1-6 2y ago
We can live without exotic hardwood species splattering our floors. The look and feel of laminate/engineered wood can be quite good and it will only improve with time. I’m not a conservationist but I don’t think it’s proper to cut down trees only to waste it on flooring if the replenishment of the tree species cannot be accomplished. With that said, I think all floors should be made out of bamboo.
- ekidd 2y ago
  In the northeastern US and eastern Canada, pine, oak and maple are definitely renewable resources. Pine is easier and quicker than the local hardwoods, to be fair. Using renewable wood for flooring is a carbon sink for the lifetime of the building, which can be a hundred years or more in New England. And like I said, I know of one softwood floor from the 1850s that's still gorgeous enough to photograph. And that wood had been abused over the century plus—it had been painted badly, and the building had been outright abandoned for a while. Laminate and engineered wood is unlikely to see more than a quarter century without clever care, because you can't actually sand the wood. If you never let it wear down to the wood, I suspect you can carefully hand-sand, and bond varnish to varnish, and buy an extra 20 years each time if you never delay a refinishing. But that's just a guess.
quickthrowman 2y ago
> Meanwhile, linoleum starts looking sketchy after a decade and carpet is just awful. Linoleum is a high quality product made from natural materials, you’re thinking of vinyl flooring. Well maintained linoleum flooring can last 40 years easily.

by ekidd 2y ago

Kon-Peki 2y ago

> The installation is more expensive than the material. That's exactly the problem, isn't it? If any middle class person can afford high-quality wood flooring for their middle-class house, you need something exotic for your mansion. Right? You know what's crazy? I've got stacks of white oak and black walnut firewood. No furniture maker or woodworker will touch a felled tree in suburban or urban areas because it might have a nail somewhere in it. People will cut it into log lengths with a chainsaw and then beg others to come take it - as much as you can fit in your truck. For free. PS - unless I'm missing something, solid oak flooring is still in the same pricing ballpark as engineered wood flooring, often times a bit cheaper. It's the labor cost for installation and then finishing that makes it pricier overall?

bluGill 2y ago
Only the trunk from a tree is useful for lumber. The branches have more wood overall, but they are firewood only because they twist so much.
potato3732842 2y ago
>You know what's crazy? I've got stacks of white oak and black walnut firewood. No furniture maker or woodworker will touch a felled tree in suburban or urban areas because it might have a nail somewhere in it. People will cut it into log lengths with a chainsaw and then beg others to come take it - as much as you can fit in your truck. For free. Nails aren't a big deal. Everyone is running carbide blades these days and you won't even know you hit nails. Nail content is more of a long term wear problem. What pisses sawmill operators off is gate hardware and/or stupid ornate cast iron plant pot hanger that someone stuck up there 100yr ago. The real problem with getting wood from suburbia isn't the metal it's that the cost of operating everything you need to operate to work efficiently just doesn't pencil out unless you're getting full truck loads of logs. Second, the lumber you'l get is rarely in a good shape. Suburban trees tend to have lots of space to grow and find sun. They're not shooting straight up at the canopy like forest trees are. Demand for ornate slabs is tiny compared to good straight grained lumber. Milling lumber doesn't really pencil out except as a giant industrial operation or small scale cash only side gig.

1-6 2y ago

We can live without exotic hardwood species splattering our floors. The look and feel of laminate/engineered wood can be quite good and it will only improve with time. I’m not a conservationist but I don’t think it’s proper to cut down trees only to waste it on flooring if the replenishment of the tree species cannot be accomplished. With that said, I think all floors should be made out of bamboo.

ekidd 2y ago
In the northeastern US and eastern Canada, pine, oak and maple are definitely renewable resources. Pine is easier and quicker than the local hardwoods, to be fair. Using renewable wood for flooring is a carbon sink for the lifetime of the building, which can be a hundred years or more in New England. And like I said, I know of one softwood floor from the 1850s that's still gorgeous enough to photograph. And that wood had been abused over the century plus—it had been painted badly, and the building had been outright abandoned for a while. Laminate and engineered wood is unlikely to see more than a quarter century without clever care, because you can't actually sand the wood. If you never let it wear down to the wood, I suspect you can carefully hand-sand, and bond varnish to varnish, and buy an extra 20 years each time if you never delay a refinishing. But that's just a guess.

quickthrowman 2y ago

> Meanwhile, linoleum starts looking sketchy after a decade and carpet is just awful. Linoleum is a high quality product made from natural materials, you’re thinking of vinyl flooring. Well maintained linoleum flooring can last 40 years easily.