04-13-2014, 09:48 AM
Also be aware that the subfloor here has a lot to do with how well the flooring will hold up (of course, after you take into consideration the mfg. variations as Carol mentioned)
We have friends with solid wood floors & manufactured wood floors that have held up well for years, and others have flooring failures in months..
We bought a slab house & were advised by 2 separate flooring guys not to even look at wood/laminate type flooring, as the moisture issues would haunt us.. the house we bought had a roll flooring in the great room. vinyl tile in the baths & kitchen & had had wall to wall in the bedrooms (the tack strips were still in the rooms, but we had asked them to remove the carpet as it was into the musty stage of life)
Based on what we found taking out the old flooring, the vinyl had the least uck-factor on it, the roll flooring had patches of weirdness on the underside, the tackstrip wood was a harbor for all sorts of mold/mildewnesses (and the carpet was most likely into the toxic realm...)
When we redid our toilets, we found evidence there probably was/is a vapor barrier, but almost a half century most like means vapor sized pukas in the barrier & there is never water seal around the things like plumbing holes...so there is never a complete vapor barrier in these...
We looked at acid etching the concrete (the slab was good condition) but our metal studs made that a no go..so then we decided on porcelain tile...we were very careful to find a tile that had a very low slip factor when wet (splashing water on tile samples in the store then trying to slip & slide on the tiles is a great way to meet the sale people!)
We have friends with solid wood floors & manufactured wood floors that have held up well for years, and others have flooring failures in months..
We bought a slab house & were advised by 2 separate flooring guys not to even look at wood/laminate type flooring, as the moisture issues would haunt us.. the house we bought had a roll flooring in the great room. vinyl tile in the baths & kitchen & had had wall to wall in the bedrooms (the tack strips were still in the rooms, but we had asked them to remove the carpet as it was into the musty stage of life)
Based on what we found taking out the old flooring, the vinyl had the least uck-factor on it, the roll flooring had patches of weirdness on the underside, the tackstrip wood was a harbor for all sorts of mold/mildewnesses (and the carpet was most likely into the toxic realm...)
When we redid our toilets, we found evidence there probably was/is a vapor barrier, but almost a half century most like means vapor sized pukas in the barrier & there is never water seal around the things like plumbing holes...so there is never a complete vapor barrier in these...
We looked at acid etching the concrete (the slab was good condition) but our metal studs made that a no go..so then we decided on porcelain tile...we were very careful to find a tile that had a very low slip factor when wet (splashing water on tile samples in the store then trying to slip & slide on the tiles is a great way to meet the sale people!)