ᐅ Engineered wood flooring instead of solid hardwood floorboards offered
Created on: 24 Dec 2021 01:58
Y
Ysiysaia
Hello, actually a quiet reader until now, but I have a question.
I am renovating an old half-timbered house step by step and trying to base it on the original building materials.
Therefore, oak solid wood planks were planned as the flooring. Since the floor is still in quite good condition, with only some boards repaired, and the floor needs to be raised anyway because of the other rooms, the plan—discussed with the flooring installer—was:
to sand the old floor level and screw the new planks onto the old ones.
I want to avoid using adhesive, filler, or plastic materials.
Now he gave me an offer invoiced at €90 where he intends to glue 3-layer engineered parquet onto a filled floor at about €150 per square meter (approximately 14 dollars per square foot).
This does not correspond to the order at all and seems quite expensive to me (both per square meter and for the entire offer).
How should I proceed with this craftsman?
It feels like: he is creating an impossible offer that will never be accepted and wants to get paid well for it...
I am renovating an old half-timbered house step by step and trying to base it on the original building materials.
Therefore, oak solid wood planks were planned as the flooring. Since the floor is still in quite good condition, with only some boards repaired, and the floor needs to be raised anyway because of the other rooms, the plan—discussed with the flooring installer—was:
to sand the old floor level and screw the new planks onto the old ones.
I want to avoid using adhesive, filler, or plastic materials.
Now he gave me an offer invoiced at €90 where he intends to glue 3-layer engineered parquet onto a filled floor at about €150 per square meter (approximately 14 dollars per square foot).
This does not correspond to the order at all and seems quite expensive to me (both per square meter and for the entire offer).
How should I proceed with this craftsman?
It feels like: he is creating an impossible offer that will never be accepted and wants to get paid well for it...
B
Benutzer20024 Dec 2021 10:09Ysiysaia schrieb:
After inspecting the site, the floor installer prepared a quote that is 0% in line with the clear requirements. Additionally, I find the quoted 150 €/m² (about 14 USD/ft²) rather high.Whether 150€ is too high is debatable.I would send the quote back to the tradesperson with a note explaining that you accidentally received a quote intended for another customer. You specifically requested solid wood planks installed with screws.
Then just wait and see.
M
Myrna_Loy24 Dec 2021 12:40Yes and no. If an onsite measurement has been taken, it is not unusual to receive an invoice for this service, which includes travel and labor time.
Nida35a schrieb:
I only know it this way: quotes are free of charge and non-binding.
Only after prior notification and corresponding services/planning work can quotes be subject to a fee.
Myrna_Loy schrieb:
It’s sort of a yes and no—if a site measurement was taken, then issuing an invoice for the travel and labor time isn’t unusual. But shouldn’t the quote at least reflect the customer’s request in terms of content?
If I want to have my tires changed, I wouldn’t pay an estimate for a full repaint.
I’m happy to compensate them for their efforts, but in this case, it would basically be the cost for “dropping by and leaving again after 15 minutes,” which is €90.
In the €150 per square meter (€150/sqm) price, €50 are for materials, €100 for installation.
With 20cm (8 inch) wide floorboards, a square meter is laid quickly...
M
Myrna_Loy24 Dec 2021 13:3920cm (8 inches) wide solid oak planks for 50 euros per square meter??? That must refer to the parquet flooring.
And installing a floor like that in an old house isn’t that quick. A lot of adjustments and leveling are necessary.
And yes, ask why the offer is so different. Maybe it’s a mix-up.
And installing a floor like that in an old house isn’t that quick. A lot of adjustments and leveling are necessary.
And yes, ask why the offer is so different. Maybe it’s a mix-up.
P
pagoni202025 Dec 2021 13:06We have had our 30mm (1.2 inch) thick solid Douglas fir planks, 24cm (9.5 inches) wide, here for a few weeks now. When you choose solid wood, you know that it can occasionally creak or the gaps between boards may change depending on the season. In some places, I think we fastened the planks too tightly to avoid gaps, which obviously was a mistake. However, we really like the floor as it is now, although someone else might not appreciate it.
Since I also had solid wood planks in my previous home, I see the typical characteristics of wood as a natural part of it. For those who want a gap-free floor, I would advise against installing solid wood planks. Every material has its own specific properties, even though nowadays people often use hybrid materials (I hope this term fits here), such as tiles or vinyl with a wood appearance, or floors with about 0.1 millimeters (0.004 inches) of wood dust on the surface that already qualify as wood floors, effectively eliminating the typical material characteristics. I personally cannot imagine that.
Without knowing your project in detail, I would definitely not want to use adhesive; for wood on wood, I don’t see any necessity for that. Depending on the height and condition of the subfloor, I would, for example, screw your planks onto joists installed as a floating floor, which is what we did here, with loose insulation material between them as desired. We screwed into the tongue edge and pre-drilled the holes, which prevented the planks from splitting.
What I don’t quite understand about your offer is why the subfloor should be extensively sanded—this could probably be easier compensated with joists. Apparently, you have enough height clearance, so joists would be my first choice.
We bought our planks before the so-called wood crisis through an online classifieds site for about €40 (approximately $44) from a great carpenter who had a large stock. If you keep an eye on the market and are somewhat more flexible with the wood species, you could certainly find something interesting; oak planks are definitely more expensive, but I wouldn’t necessarily need them. We chose Douglas fir because of availability, price, width, and the excellent seller and accepted a variation in color, which ultimately worked out, although we were quite concerned about this; Douglas fir tends to turn reddish, which we wouldn’t have liked. A pigmented floor oil made it possible to avoid that.
I wouldn’t pay the €90 (approximately $99) quoted for the offer, nor would I have that craftsman install the floor. I always pay my bills promptly but have lately experienced that others tend to reach into my wallet quickly because builders seem grateful if anyone shows up at all. In my opinion, such a quote should be free, but the craftsman clearly did not understand what is important to you, and that will probably become apparent in the further work.
I believe you can find a craftsman who will install those planks for you; after all, that is not rocket science for a professional. Maybe your future wood supplier will have some ideas as well. From my point of view, I would encourage anyone to install a “real” wood floor like this in their home, as a 4mm (0.16 inch) wood layer feels more like veneer to me. As I said, that may be my personal preference—I like one or the other clearly.
In our utility room, we installed a 30mm (1.2 inch) thick spruce floor from our wood supplier, and to be honest, I really like it too. It’s great quality, and the price ranges between €25-40 (approximately $27-$44) per square meter, depending on quality and supplier. I don’t see any added value paying around €150 ($165) for another wood species for my purposes.
Charging €100 (about $110) per square meter for installation is, in my opinion, completely unreasonable; I would rather pay by the hour. I think you will find the right craftsman once you have found the right supplier; try contacting a local sawmill or checking online. From what I have read from you, it seems that the customer and the craftsman are not a good match in this case!
Since I also had solid wood planks in my previous home, I see the typical characteristics of wood as a natural part of it. For those who want a gap-free floor, I would advise against installing solid wood planks. Every material has its own specific properties, even though nowadays people often use hybrid materials (I hope this term fits here), such as tiles or vinyl with a wood appearance, or floors with about 0.1 millimeters (0.004 inches) of wood dust on the surface that already qualify as wood floors, effectively eliminating the typical material characteristics. I personally cannot imagine that.
Without knowing your project in detail, I would definitely not want to use adhesive; for wood on wood, I don’t see any necessity for that. Depending on the height and condition of the subfloor, I would, for example, screw your planks onto joists installed as a floating floor, which is what we did here, with loose insulation material between them as desired. We screwed into the tongue edge and pre-drilled the holes, which prevented the planks from splitting.
What I don’t quite understand about your offer is why the subfloor should be extensively sanded—this could probably be easier compensated with joists. Apparently, you have enough height clearance, so joists would be my first choice.
We bought our planks before the so-called wood crisis through an online classifieds site for about €40 (approximately $44) from a great carpenter who had a large stock. If you keep an eye on the market and are somewhat more flexible with the wood species, you could certainly find something interesting; oak planks are definitely more expensive, but I wouldn’t necessarily need them. We chose Douglas fir because of availability, price, width, and the excellent seller and accepted a variation in color, which ultimately worked out, although we were quite concerned about this; Douglas fir tends to turn reddish, which we wouldn’t have liked. A pigmented floor oil made it possible to avoid that.
I wouldn’t pay the €90 (approximately $99) quoted for the offer, nor would I have that craftsman install the floor. I always pay my bills promptly but have lately experienced that others tend to reach into my wallet quickly because builders seem grateful if anyone shows up at all. In my opinion, such a quote should be free, but the craftsman clearly did not understand what is important to you, and that will probably become apparent in the further work.
I believe you can find a craftsman who will install those planks for you; after all, that is not rocket science for a professional. Maybe your future wood supplier will have some ideas as well. From my point of view, I would encourage anyone to install a “real” wood floor like this in their home, as a 4mm (0.16 inch) wood layer feels more like veneer to me. As I said, that may be my personal preference—I like one or the other clearly.
In our utility room, we installed a 30mm (1.2 inch) thick spruce floor from our wood supplier, and to be honest, I really like it too. It’s great quality, and the price ranges between €25-40 (approximately $27-$44) per square meter, depending on quality and supplier. I don’t see any added value paying around €150 ($165) for another wood species for my purposes.
Charging €100 (about $110) per square meter for installation is, in my opinion, completely unreasonable; I would rather pay by the hour. I think you will find the right craftsman once you have found the right supplier; try contacting a local sawmill or checking online. From what I have read from you, it seems that the customer and the craftsman are not a good match in this case!
Ysiysaia schrieb:
But shouldn't the offer at least match the customer's content requirements? Yes… but dwelling on it endlessly doesn’t help either – especially since there are already tips above on how you can handle it. Making mistakes is legitimate and forgivable, see #1 😉