Q. The sub pump in my basement failed twice in my 12 years living in this home, so im not sure if i can use laminate flooring in my basement, the wood kind. i really dont want to put tile down there

A. Carpet is the most preferred option for the basement flooring due to its low cost, softness and sound muffling quality. It is comfortable to use and provides warmth in winter. Cement flooring is also a popular choice for basement. In fact, it is the most affordable and durable materials till date. laminate flooring probably isn't a great choice because water could lift them.

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Q. I just got a new home with carpeting in the bedrooms. My dogs do sometimes have accidents, so I want to replace the flooring with something else.

A. Laminate wood flooring with throw rugs.

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Q. I am looking for a cheap flooring job in a room in my house, and it has to be wooden floors. I am friends with a guy that is a flooring contractor and he gets to keep all extra pieces that do not fit in the house. So he has all of the flooring that I need, they all fit each other, but not all of them have the same texture/gain and color. Is there any way to get them all to be the same? I was thinking that I would be able to sand them down and maybe stain them, but I'm not too sure.

A. Probably not. All woods accept stains differently. The only way to have uniformity with differing species and grains is paint.

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Q. I'm planning on purchasing and installing laminate flooring myself in my girls room. But I'm unsure as to what materials I will need to install the flooring. Other than the flooring itself, what materials will I need to purchase to install a laminate flooring over a concrete foundation on the first floor. Is it fairly easy, or would paying someone to do it be a much better choice? Hint: I'm trying to keep the budget for the flooring to $200 for a 160 sq. ft. room. Thanks!

A. PLus the under layment, which you ll need 2 100 s/f rolls you should get the installation kit , About 20$ This comes with a tapping block spacers and a pull bar. You also need basic power tools such as chop saw and a table saw. Everything can be done on the table saw , its just easier to have a chop saw. A skil saw and or a jig saw can also be used. You ll need a hand saw to under cut the trim and of course a hammer.And a basic utility knife for cutting the under layment. If your half way handy you can do this yourself. It isn t hard. Saving 300$ (+-) in the process. Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar . I ve attended several installation seminars as well as installed a few 100,000 s/f. GL

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Q. We are considering laying hardwood flooring in the living/dining room of our new house. The floor is concrete and we have been told we need to wait for a period of time before laying wood flooring. The time period varies with who we ask, but we've been told anything from 3 months to 2 years! Does anyone have any direct experience of this? Is it a load of rubbish or is it genuine?

A. Would have thought that after a week or so when the concrete was set it would be ok to lay flooring. Maybe the flooring contractors are trying to put you off until they can fit in the job!!

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Q. This is in the bathroom. Right now we are down to the bare wood planks. What should we use as a sub floor before installing the vinyl flooring?

A. Most commonly called luan, ( 1/4" smooth on one side ply) Screws, ring shanked nails or you can rent a special stapler to put it down with. Use a special joint compound on the seams and any small imperfections in the wood. Dries an matter of minutes , 1/2 hr at the most. Most commonly used for this is called Ardex, but there are others on the market. Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar..GL

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Q. I live in Sydney, northern suburbs. I'm trying to find the optimum solution for a bedroom floor to replace the sick carpets with an alternative healthy floor. My ideal is bright sand color flooring. Timber seems not that tough as bamboo, but bamboo products are imported from China and the quality may not be as good. If anyone has a bamboo floor for a few years now, I'd like to hear from you, and if you are happy with the quality, please let me know where to buy it from.

A. Well we haven't had it for two years, but we have had it for a couple of months. we have the dark maroon color and it shows dust and cleaning streaks retty badly so i have to clean it every other day to. i wish i would have went with the lighter color now like you are talking about. as for scratches, since ours is so dark, the deep ones do show but i go over them with a matching stain. i have never noticed lighter scratches. but since you are talking about getting the lighter colored flooring, the scratches wouldn't show up very easily. we were very happy with the quality. it wasn't like hardwood flooring where you have to inspect each piece before you put it down, each one that came out of the box was in perfect condition. and the brand we bought was nice and thick.

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Q. I have an invalid living in my house. He sometimes cannot control his bowels and makes a mess in the floor. I currently have carpet over hardwood floor. I need the carpet to be taken out and want to find some sort of flooring that can be mopped with Clorox or Lysol in water to destroy odor. I would like to avoid any type of flooring that would have to be glued to the hardwood. It appears that all vinyl flooring has to glued down. Does anyone have any idea what I can put over the hardwood that will stand up to some serious cleaning?

A. Try laminate flooring, it is easy to install by locking the pieces together like a puzzle and it floats(needs no glue). It also cleans like a dream, we just got it and love it. You can get the kind that looks like wood or tile. We have the ceramic tile type and it really looks like tile. GL!

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