Hardwood flooring

[MyAlberta]

I’m considering refinishing about 500 sq ft white oak flooring, and possibly replacing another 600 sq ft carpet with hardwood. Where would one find select 2-1/4*3/4 plank at reasonable pricing?

[RO CC]

in Calgary, I would check with TRC, next to the Timbertown on 12st in the northeast. They are the main go to supplier for unfinished hardwood floors.
I don’t know about reasonable pricing, but for white oak, expect to pay the market price. It should run about $3.50 - 4.00/sqft.

[eagleflyfisher]

Trc is our wholesaler, meaning no outside public sales.
I'm sure ways around it.
Pricing will be more than above post.
Timbertown is a retailer.
Magna is another vender we use.

[MyAlberta]

Thanks for replies. I’ll make some calls.

[nast70]

Doing hardwood floors is a great diy project. I did the top 2 floors of a 4 level split myself. I found it very relaxing, doing 2-3 hrs a night, taking my time.
I bought the flooring nail gun second hand, and used the floor as an excuse to upgrade my compressor! Once done, I sold the stapler and all the extra staples for a hair less than what I paid for it!
We went with brand new oak, 2 1/4" x 3/4", from Costco. Around 1400sq' cost a hair over $4500.00.
In our new house, I took out the living room / dining room carpet and matched the wood in the hall way and family room. Worked well, and I could still get the same wood so I also did the 2 bedrooms that were carpeted. All in that was about 900sq'.

[Dean2]

We did extensive hardwood in Calgary when we lived there. It was actually cheaper to buy and have installed than to replace the wall to wall broadloom. Waited for the big sale at Home Hardware and got top of the line Acatia hardwood for $2.35 a sq. ft., regular price was about $8 a foot. If they have what you want, they are hard to beat when they have their 50 - 70% off sales.

[artie]

Was thinking about flooring options and was leaning towards engineered flooring to stand up to the dog and heavy use. But the neighbor was having vinyl plank flooring installed and the installer said he has been installing flooring for over twenty years at first it was all hardwood but now it is all vinyl plank. He likes hardwood the best but people seem to want the snap and go vinyl plank

[Dean2]

Correction. Just noticed I made an error. Should have said Home Depot, NOT Home Hardware. To late to edit original post.

[Red Bullets]

I would suggest checking out some of the companies that take apart old houses and re-sell the wood. They would probably have some nice old hardwood flooring.

[MyAlberta]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I would suggest checking out some of the companies that take apart old houses and re-sell the wood. They would probably have some nice old hardwood flooring.

There is an ad in Calgary for ~2300 sq ft, free if you pull. Over my head.

[eagleflyfisher]

Any reclaimed we have worked with in the past waste is a high as 30%
No fun to work with, broken tongues, broken grooves, trimming ends.
Scraping muck from sides of boards etc...
Oh and taking nails out, we have used a grinder in the past to cut nails off.
IMO the labour is just not worth it and you still have a floor that may be 1/2 sanded out.
Buy new, install yourself if inclined, hire a pro to sand and finish.
Get a decent product and it will show in the end.

[ak77]

Don't have personal experience with hardwood, but my brother snagged pretty good deal on sale/last inventory/open boxes in Home Depot. I believe the price for hardwood was comparable to that of laminate. He had luxury of time to wait for the right deal to come around

[RO CC]

I doubt you’ll find unfinished white oak at Home Depot. Or Lowes. Or any of the other box stores. Curious about what it would go for actually. I know that white oak is in high demand for the last 3-4 years for my railings.

[EZM]

Neighbor just installed some Camaru (Brazilian Teak) flooring which is twice as hard as white oak at around the same price. Looks amazing, and if I'm ever going to do a re-floor job I would consider it based on the strength, stability and hardness of this floor not to mention it looks great.

[eagleflyfisher]

We are doing w oak 2 to 1 over red the past bunch of years.
10 yrs ago it was cheaper than red oak, maybe low $3 sq.ft. my cost.
Now flat sawn is in the high $4 and rift and quartered well over $6.
I have Merbeau in my house and Braz Cherry in some areas.
If I had a do over R & Q w/o all the way. Dimensionally stable, hard as heck and a beautiful traditional look. Whisky barrels are white oak.

[RO CC]

No matter the (real) advancements in alternative floors as vinyl, engineered and such, I would still go to the extra expense and get a real hardwood floor to walk on. It’s just something in the wood that feels warm to the touch. I love the character in the red oak grain, the ash, willow and the tavern grain maple.
1/4 sawn oak is just rich!
Thanks for the update on the w/o pricing, Dave.