RTTPYO #6—The Loooong Floor Install, Part 1
- nvilu7
- Jun 11
- 7 min read
Updated: 14 hours ago
How to Choose Hardwood Flooring
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About the RTTPYO Series
RTTPYO stands for Removing Things That Piss You Off — the small home problems we tolerate for years before finally fixing them.
In this series, I tackle one everyday annoyance and show how a simple design change can make a space work better.
Driven by sisterly envy, deteriorating carpet, and one very yellow oak floor, I decided it was finally time to replace the flooring throughout my condo. In this post, I’ll cover how to choose hardwood flooring, the selection mistakes to avoid, and why you should never let a flooring salesperson rush you through this major purchase.
Flooring Envy Is Real
When I bought my condo, the flooring situation was…mixed.
The kitchen and great room had narrow-strip oak hardwood. The bathroom had ceramic tile. The bedrooms had wall-to-wall carpet. Compared to the other condos I toured—which mostly had destroyed carpet and questionable smells—it actually felt like a win.
The hardwood wasn’t my style. It had yellowed over time and looked very builder-grade. But it was real hardwood and it was in decent condition, so I decided to live with it for a while.
That “while” turned into 13 years.
By Year Two of the pandemic, the carpet had gone flat and tired-looking, and the hardwood floors looked increasingly dingy the more I improved the rest of the condo. Eventually, the flooring became the visual weak point in every room.
Then my sister installed gorgeous new hardwood floors in her home.
That was the beginning of the end for my old floors.
What I Wanted My New Floors to Do
Before looking at a single flooring sample, I spent time figuring out what I actually wanted the new floors to do for my condo.
Dramatic? Overblown?
Nope. Flooring is one of the largest visual surfaces—and one of the most expensive elements—in your home. It changes how every room feels.
I wanted to get it right.
And I knew that my flooring design goals would easily translate to selection criteria.
Here were my goals:
Create Visual Flow
I wanted one continuous flooring material throughout the condo to make the space feel larger and more cohesive.
Using the same flooring throughout a small home helps the eye move naturally from room to room instead of stopping abruptly when the flooring changes from hardwood to something else.
Warm Up the Condo
Hardwood immediately adds warmth because it’s a natural material in a mostly man-made environment.
My condo already had plenty of cool colors, reflective surfaces, and clean lines. I wanted the floors to soften things visually.
Add Calm Instead of More Visual Noise
I love color and pattern. Because of that, I didn’t want highly dramatic flooring competing with everything else in the condo.
My sister’s Brazilian cherry floors were stunning in her large home, but the strong variation in color and grain would have overwhelmed my much smaller space.
I wanted something quieter and more understated in my vibrant home.
Replace the Baseboard at the Same Time
If you’re installing new flooring, it’s the ideal time to replace old baseboard.
I chose a simple 4-inch Craftsman-style baseboard to replace the stumpy 2½-inch builder-grade trim throughout the condo.
How to Choose Hardwood Flooring Without Being Overwhelmed
Walking into a flooring showroom without a plan is a fantastic way to freak out in under 30 seconds.
There are hundreds of flooring options.
So before my showroom appointment, I narrowed down the characteristics I wanted.
Flooring Color: Warm vs. Cool
Hardwood flooring has undertones just like paint does.
My old oak floors leaned very warm and yellow, while my current home color palette leaned cooler. I wanted a medium neutral brown that would work with multiple color palettes.
One thing I learned the hard way:
Very dark hardwood floors are gorgeous for approximately 11 minutes.
Then you notice every:
Dust particle
Cat hair
Footprint
Scratch
Speck of lint
I had dark cherry-stained floors in my Pittsburgh house years ago. Beautiful? Yes. Practical?
Absolutely not.
This time I wanted something medium-toned and forgiving.
Especially for cat hair. I often asked Zoey my cat if she was going bald (she never answered).
Wood Grain Matters More Than You Think
In a smaller home, busy wood grain can make the entire space feel visually chaotic to the point of rattling your windows.
I already knew I didn’t want oak again because the grain pattern is fairly prominent. Instead, I gravitated toward hard maple, which has a finer, straighter grain.
Less grain = calmer floor (makes for a good mantra, yes?).
Hardwood Durability and the Janka Rating
Hardwood durability is measured using something called the Janka hardness scale, which measures the force required to press an 11.20 mm steel ball halfway into a wood sample (Mr. Janka clearly had some unresolved issues).
Janka Hardness Ratings: Douglas Fir=660, Red Oak=1290, Hard Maple=1450, Brazilian Cherry=2350
The higher the number, the harder (and spendier) the wood.
I wanted something harder than red oak but not so hard that the flooring became wildly expensive.
Hard maple ended up being the sweet spot for me.
Flooring Finish: Matte, Satin, or Gloss?
High-gloss hardwood floors photograph beautifully.
They also show every scratch and every speck of dust.
If you have:
kids
pets
heavy foot traffic
functioning eyeballs
…you may want to think carefully before choosing a glossy finish.
I chose a satin finish because I wanted the floor to glow without looking shiny or reflective.
Solid Hardwood vs. Engineered Hardwood
There are two primary hardwood flooring categories:
Solid Hardwood
A single piece of hardwood throughout the board.
Pros:
Can usually be refinished multiple times
Long lifespan
Traditional option
Cons:
More sensitive to humidity changes
Typically more expensive
Engineered Hardwood
A hardwood veneer over a plywood core.
Pros:
More dimensionally stable and moisture resistant than solid hardwood
Available in wider boards than solid hardwood options
Cons:
Refinishing depends on veneer thickness
I was open to either option. My final decision depended more on appearance and construction quality than category alone.
Flooring Alternatives I Considered
I also looked at:
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP)
Laminate
Bamboo
Wood-look tile
Modern LVP has improved dramatically in the last decade and some versions look surprisingly realistic.
If you live in a muggy climate, where wood floors are under constant assault from extreme humidity, wood-look tile is also a surprisingly realistic hardwood alternative.
But ultimately, I wanted real wood.
Possibly because I am apparently incapable of making inexpensive renovation decisions.
My Flooring Showroom Strategy
I intentionally arrived early to my flooring appointment so I could walk around the showroom alone before meeting with the salesperson.
That turned out to be one of the smartest decisions I made.
Without pressure, I started pulling flooring samples that matched my criteria:
medium brown
neutral tone
satin finish
minimal grain
wider boards
Almost every sample I liked was hard maple.
Now I knew where to focus.
The “Stand and Stomp” Flooring Test
My salesperson Debi—who was excellent—had me do something surprisingly helpful.
She told me to:
Put each flooring sample on the ground
Stand on it
Walk on it
Stomp on it slightly
Genius.
You experience flooring from standing height—not while holding a sample at chest level.
Some samples looked completely different once they were on the floor.
Some sounded hollow.
Some felt cheap under my feet.
Some suddenly looked far busier than they had in the display rack.
The samples that passed the Stand and Stomp Test made a satisfyingly solid thumpy sound and felt firm underfoot.
Flooring Board Width Changes the Entire Look
I expected to like wider boards better.
I was right.
Board width was important.
Very narrow boards felt busy and dated to me. Extremely wide boards seemed to lean rustic.
I landed in the middle:
5-inch to 6-inch boards
cleaner look
contemporary without feeling trendy
That width worked best with the refined, lower-contrast look I wanted.
Take Flooring Samples Home. Seriously.
Do not choose flooring entirely in a showroom under fluorescent lighting.
Take samples home.
Then look at them:
in morning light
in afternoon light
at night
next to your furniture
near your wall colors
in every room
Some samples I loved in the showroom immediately failed once I got them home.
One developed a weird pink cast in the bright sunlight of my living room that I didn’t see in the showroom. I gave it second and third chances in the bedroom and office, but the pink cast remained.
Pink Maple ended up in the reject pile.
I rotated flooring samples throughout the condo for days like a professional dealer distributing cards at a Las Vegas poker table.
Debi wisely never called or texted asking about next steps—for which I was grateful.
I was preparing to spend roughly $16,000 on flooring and installation, and I was not going to rush.
Important Flooring Advice
If a flooring salesperson pressures you to hurry through the selection process, leave.
Seriously.
Flooring is expensive, disruptive, and difficult to reverse. Take your time.
The Finalists
After multiple showroom visits and an embarrassing amount of flooring sample rotation around my condo, I narrowed everything down to three finalists.
All three were:
engineered hardwood
hard maple
medium-toned
relatively low variation
satin finish
In the showroom, I stood on each one last time and made my selection.
Ordering New Hardwood Floors
Debi scheduled an appointment to come to my condo to:
verify measurements
confirm installation pricing
review baseboard requirements
explain installation prep
One important detail:
The flooring store did not sell baseboard, which actually worked out in my favor. I ordered my trim separately from a big box store and had the installers pick it up along with the flooring order.
If you’re replacing flooring, strongly consider replacing the baseboard at the same time.
Removing old baseboard without damaging it can be difficult because standard pine trim dents and splinters easily during removal.
If you live in an older home with original hardwood trim, that may be worth preserving. But builder-grade pine baseboard? Usually not.
I couldn’t wait to get rid of my stumpy builder-grade baseboard.
Hardwood Flooring Deposit
In most cases, the flooring price you see in the showroom does not include installation.
That’s because installation pricing varies depending on the flooring type.
The flooring store required a 50% deposit upfront (flooring and installation), with the balance due after satisfactory installation.
That’s fairly standard.
But, if your contractor or flooring company demands 100% up front, run.
Also, before paying for anything:
Read the entire contract
Read the terms and conditions
Never let anyone rush you through paperwork
That advice becomes very important in Part 3.
Up Next
The Flooring Install Begins
I signed the contract, paid the deposit, and confidently expected beautiful new hardwood floors before New Year’s.
This did not happen.
But, because I do not own a crystal ball, Part 2 covers the preparation process before the hardwood installation actually began, including:
why hardwood flooring needs to acclimate inside your home before installation
how to protect your home and belongings from installation mayhem
a surprisingly useful U-Haul hack for storing breakables during a renovation
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