I had very little experience in buying flooring. All I knew about materials for floors of a home is that when I went into someone’s home, I noticed the floor and said that it looked great. When the homeowner proceeded to tell me it was laminate or oak hardwood, that meant nothing to me. Now that we are building a new home, I am much more informed about the choices available.
When we discussed the type of flooring we would have, I wanted the best, but that didn’t mean I was willing to pay an exorbitant price for it. I started out by researching all the different types of material by scouring Internet websites and reading the pros and cons of each one. Then I visited the home improvement retail stores in my area and requested information on the various types. In these stores, I could see several planks of the flooring put in place, but there were so many varieties that it was difficult to choose right then and there.
After months of wavering from one type to another, we decided on bamboo flooring. I liked the colors – there were only two to choose from – and the coffee was my choice. It wasn’t too light nor too dark and perfectly complemented my furniture. Another reason was that bamboo was suitable for a kitchen floor. Even though it can be used in bathroom because if its water resistance, we still decide to go with ceramic tile for the bathrooms.
Once that decision was made, then we started to look at prices. Since we were building a fairly large house – about 1900 square feet – we were looking at a significant outlay of money Prices were almost the same in every retail outlet, averaging about $4.49 per square foot. On one of these pricing trips, I went to Costco for some unrelated shopping. To my surprise, there was the bamboo flooring in the color that I wanted. I was astounded to find that the price was $2.24 per square foot – half price from what the other retailers were charging. Needless to say, we purchased what we needed for our home at Costco for a saving of almost $5000. There were also lots of other types of hardwood there as well, and although it was more expensive than what we wanted, it was still cheaper than the other retailers’ price.
