On Friday afternoon, a water supply line broke under our powder room sink on our main level. The water was up to my ankles!!! 
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So far, we've gotten the supply lines replaced, called insurance, hired flood restoration company for dry-out phase, and hired separate flood restoration company for reconstruction phase. A mold expert was hired and cleared the home. An asbestos expert was hired to take samples and that has also been cleared now (as of an hour ago). We've had fans, blowers, and dehumidifiers going 24/7 since Friday evening. The carpet, padding, and linoleum were all removed early Saturday morning. The tile is being dried in place. Drywall and baseboards are being cut and removed any minute now to continue along the dry-out phase.
So, now I can focus on replacing flooring. We have a concrete slab across the entire downstairs. It is HARD! DD got a concussion from slipping on the wet ceramic tile in the kitchen in April. Many of our tiles in the kitchen are cracked in many places and we've decided to replace it at this time, also, since the kitchen cabinet "toe kicks" (lower edge beneath doors) have already been knocked out and the drywall and baseboards will be cut out today. The tile floor replacement is our financial responsibility while the rest is covered by insurance, but the company I hired to do the reconstruction work will do all the work for us and just bill us separately for the "extra". It is a family-owned business and the owners are friends of friends.
So, what type of flooring do you have in the following rooms? What do you like about it? What do you not like about it? Feel free to discuss friends' homes, too...
Kitchen (dining table is in this room, also)
Living room
Powder room
Laundry room
Foyer
TINY (less than 10x10) Bedroom (technically) - This room is used for a wide variety of uses in our development: dining room, office, workshop, family room/den, guest room, library, craft room, and so on... We tend to use it for messy projects since it has direct access to the back patio and has the only storage closet and we have a family office upstairs.
Keep in mind we live in California and the earth shifts frequently. Our slab is cracked (surface cracks, not structural cracks), which is why the ceramic tiles are cracked. We are not excited about ceramic tiles at all, but are equally not thrilled with linoleum due to resale value... What other options are there????
Links and resources and pictures and anything you can think of is all welcome and appreciated!!! Thank you!!!
:So far, we've gotten the supply lines replaced, called insurance, hired flood restoration company for dry-out phase, and hired separate flood restoration company for reconstruction phase. A mold expert was hired and cleared the home. An asbestos expert was hired to take samples and that has also been cleared now (as of an hour ago). We've had fans, blowers, and dehumidifiers going 24/7 since Friday evening. The carpet, padding, and linoleum were all removed early Saturday morning. The tile is being dried in place. Drywall and baseboards are being cut and removed any minute now to continue along the dry-out phase.
So, now I can focus on replacing flooring. We have a concrete slab across the entire downstairs. It is HARD! DD got a concussion from slipping on the wet ceramic tile in the kitchen in April. Many of our tiles in the kitchen are cracked in many places and we've decided to replace it at this time, also, since the kitchen cabinet "toe kicks" (lower edge beneath doors) have already been knocked out and the drywall and baseboards will be cut out today. The tile floor replacement is our financial responsibility while the rest is covered by insurance, but the company I hired to do the reconstruction work will do all the work for us and just bill us separately for the "extra". It is a family-owned business and the owners are friends of friends.
So, what type of flooring do you have in the following rooms? What do you like about it? What do you not like about it? Feel free to discuss friends' homes, too...
Kitchen (dining table is in this room, also)
Living room
Powder room
Laundry room
Foyer
TINY (less than 10x10) Bedroom (technically) - This room is used for a wide variety of uses in our development: dining room, office, workshop, family room/den, guest room, library, craft room, and so on... We tend to use it for messy projects since it has direct access to the back patio and has the only storage closet and we have a family office upstairs.
Keep in mind we live in California and the earth shifts frequently. Our slab is cracked (surface cracks, not structural cracks), which is why the ceramic tiles are cracked. We are not excited about ceramic tiles at all, but are equally not thrilled with linoleum due to resale value... What other options are there????
Links and resources and pictures and anything you can think of is all welcome and appreciated!!! Thank you!!!
:Cork Cork Cork!!!
We learned a little bit about "locking" floors (aka "floating"), which is apparently what works best for concrete slabs, and also happens to be what the environmental and health conscious sides of me strongly prefers. We didn't care for the bamboo flooring we saw, but honestly the salespeople STRONGLY discouraged it to the point of purposely damaging the sample of it. We kind of liked the cork flooring we saw, but need to learn more about it. Engineered hardwood (sort of a hybrid between laminate, such as Pergo, and solid hardwood -- the top layer is real wood, but the other layers are not) was/is handsdown the most recommended. We never got to any type of tile/stone/travertine/whatever or linoleum flooring.
). Of the two "woods" that I have, I really, really, really like the antique oak. If I ever have the opportunity, I'd do a whole house with it. I get many comments on the tile in the bathroom. Visitors think it's REAL tile and are quite surprised that it's click flooring. 
