real ...dont know how much for install since im doing the labor myself when remodeling or building a home, its amazing how cheap you can get nice stuff for you if you just do a ton of research
I don't think lumber liquidators does the install, but they just sell the wood. Last week we got wood laminate put in our new house and we love it. We got the middle of the road stuff, and it costs $4.50 sq/ft installed.
That sounds like a pretty good deal from what I can see. Were you satisfied with the install? Who was the company you worked with?
Well....the stuff looks good and the price was decent, but there were some things I wasn't thrilled with. For instance, they said we'd have it installed within a week when we bought it, and it ended being over 2 weeks. They were actually reccomended to me by someone on the bbs. Like I said the stuff looks good, but I don't think I would reccomend them. They also installed some carpet for us in the bedrooms which involved even more issues. Another thing to watch out for - That price does not include any leveling/floating that they have to do to your floor. I already knew our floor was pretty unlevel so I was expecting the extra expense. But initially they told us they thought we would need around 3 bags of floater, but they really don't know for sure until they can tear up your existing floor and look.....they ended up needing to use 19. At $35/bag, that was an extra $700. Make sure you find out about that sort of thing up front.
I've never heard of this. As a matter of fact I've put hot pans straight on top of my granite with no problems. The fact that it doesn't burn is one of the drawing cards of granite - at least from talking to a few installers and reading a bajillion websites. The main components of granite and the manmade stones is quartz and it's going to take a whole lot of heat to "burn" quartz - more heat than you can generate in your kitchen (hopefully).
Ive already met with 4 stone masons who all confirmed that. In addition, our neighbors have sealed granite and the last, and only time they put a hot item (im talking out of the oven or straight out of the stove), it burned the sealer. Maybe it depends on the type of sealer that is used. Give me Avanza any day over Granite regardless. Its flat out more durable and far less maintenance.
Marble tiles scare the crap out of me. Marble scratches and scuffs pretty easily. On top of that, it's porous. That's why it's hard to find any cleaning product readily available in the cleaning department of your grocery store that doesn't say "do not use on marble". I wouldn't use marble tiles anywhere you'll have a high amount of traffic unless there's something they do to the marble to make it less susceptible to wear. If you can swing granite or manmade stone like cambria, silestone, etc. I'd go that route in the entryway if you want something that has that "blow me away" appeal. I may eventually do something like this in my foyer. What I did was use ceramic tile instead of carpet for any high traffic areas. So the major walkways throughout my house is tile and the rooms or areas themselves are carpet.
I believe Home Depot sells Silestone, btw. With Silestone, Cambria, Zodiaq, Avanza, etc., just look for whatever pattern and color look the best to you. Otherwise, I think their composition is generally the same - a bunch of quartz mixed with a bunch of epoxy to hold it together. But you may want to research that - I'm not sure I'm remembering that correctly.
Aside from the durability, how are the looks compared to others? Sounds like you are going to have a pretty bad azz kitchen.
if you pick Avanza, be aware of the price per sq. ft. they tell you they classify Avanaza in 5 diffrent color groups (A to E) ...the nicer pattern and colors, of course, are in Group E, which is the most expensive also, bull nosed edging and what note is extra
No kidding! When i was in my 20's i don't think i used my kitchen much at all! I have single friends in their forties who i doubt have ever used their ovens! If it can't be barbequed or microwaved, then they pretty much eat out everyday! Congats on the houses all! Our bbs brethern are growing up...
In many cases it will look just like granite. The biggest complaint that most people have is that many of the manmade stones are too uniform in texture, but that didn't really bother me much. The granite is a natural stone, so nature made the patterns in it - it'll be hard to find those patterns in manmade materials. I've seen a lot of the synthetic stone counters, and some do look good. Others were blech, but then I've seen a lot of granite counters that are blech, too.
