Got started on the kitchen yesterday. Plan is to pull down the walls, build an island and generally open things up more. We picked up laminate flooring for the living room on sale and are reconsidering lanimate or tiling the kitchen.

Demo began:
Anyone see something odd in the wall?
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After this picture Janet got ahold of the hammer and things really moved fast. She'* great at demo work.


Once the sheetrock was down and cleaned up, we stopped for the night
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The house looks bigger inside wtih just the sheetrock down. One reason why noise doesn't appear to travel well between rooms is that they put all their drywall scraps into the walls. All the decent sized pieces are in the walls. I am hoping to have the electrical moved this week. Then the LDL beams can be bought next week and possibly installed then as well. I'll cut about 18" of sheetrock out in the area where the beam needs to be removed the night before to keep things sealed up to keep the heat in the house.

Oh, found out the dining room floor is hardwood, not pergo or laminate.

Not sure if I'll end up doing the recessed lighting before or after the beams. Recessed will go into the master bedroom, office and kitchen. Laminate in the living room and ... Janet asked..why don't we put laminate in the kitchen as well. Thoughts? Would it look right on an open floor plan to have three different floor types? I'm thinking yes..yet she got me thinking.

Nice Action Shots. In all my days, I never put or seen people put drywall scraps in the wall. Find any beer cans???

I don't see a problem with dry wall in the walls. I didn't know they recycled as much back then as they did today?

anyway, when i think of laminate, i think of "floorpaper". If thats the case, don't do it. Its hard to clean and you can't see the dirt in laminate. We got an apartment full of it...it really sucks.

definately tile the kitchen. It adds A LOT style to the kitchen plus its low maitanence

Laminate flooring is basically particle board that looks like real wood on top. Then has a pad on the bottom of it. It'* 35 residential warranty and takes a heck of a beating.

I'll pulled my carpets up 4 years ago disgusted with constant cleaning (ineffective) because of my dogs. (5) I put vinyl flooring throughout and the wife hates it. She'* been after me about this newer Laminate flooring. But I wonder about the frequent "pet accidents" and it getting inbetween the cracks. Let me know how it goes Bill and some pics would be appreciated.

Bill,

Looks nice!! I am against three different types of flooring on one floor- it sends a sub-conscious sign to potential buyers, etc that everything was piece mealed. I have done extensive laminate in our home as opposed to hardwood because it is a waterfront property, add kids and pets and the hardwood is easy to ruin. Good laminate is the way to go- except it may add a stigma if you go to sell. Our laminate cost nearly as much as cheap pre finished hardwood.

Check out Peak Auctions for pre cut granite coutertops (only). You can do you entire kitchen in pre cut granite cheaper than laminate countertops.

I will upload pictures later today of the laminate and kitchen work I have done. There are a lot of tricks out there to get super high end cheaper than box store pre built, and it is easy to do.

Pictures upload- I wanted to show how same flooring flows and how well it works. I have done a lot of this work and a ton of research- call me anytime if you want to challenge ideas!

Guns..that'* what I was thinking. Although the dining room being different, has been ok so far as the rest was carpet. Kitchen was stand alone. Guess I'll be picking up more laminate while it'* still on sale.

John..I did laminate in the office 2-3 years back. It'* holding up great. '
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My cat doesn't have accidents, so I'm unsure how well it holds up to that. However there is a moisture barrier that should be put down under certain circumstances.

Did all tha tin my last house, not really my thing. Looks great Bill. You done yet?

COSTCO has the best price on quality laminate. I did extensive research and discovered the manufacture of COSTCO sells most of its product to high end independent flooring stores. We did COSTCO in the lower level (including kitchen and bathroom) and DuPont laminant on main floor from Home Depot. I highly recommend a laminate with padding already installed, and note that padding is where they clean your clock- they price the laminate cheap and they exploit the price of the padding (underlayment). I doubt you have them out East, but Menards has the best price of underlayment in the Midwest. Hope Depot was 4 times higher than Menards for same underlayment with different label.

Remember- you can always laminate over your hardwood. I have done it over tile, never an issue. If you go to sell you can always state hardwood underneath.

Just remember- the price of laminate matters, but the price of trim, underlayment and vapor barriers must be factored into the price. If they give away the laminate but exploit you on the transitional strips- the savings dissapear....