Doing the hall would not be an issue -- just lay down hardwood. Though
you will need to consider door thresholds/opening and such as the wood
is 3/4" thick. Carpet and pad have some thickness, close to that so it
might not be a big issue.
Stairs are possible but it depends on how they are done now -- you would
have to look at them. Issues are trim, floor/tread/floor height (again
adding 3/4" to treads), and rails, etc. On stairs you usually use solid
treads (not strips), which can be 3/4" to over an inch thick.
If none of this is done yet, you are in luck. Just specify wood instead
of carpet, let them build it out that way. I can't imagine they don't
do this as an option or spec, so it should not be a huge change. Wood
will likely cost more (than cheap builder's carpet) but it will last
longer and look nicer with little care required. Pay now for wood or
pay later for regular carpet cleaning, replacement, etc. Note that the
new manf wood flooring (the good stuff) has an extremely hard and
durable finish on it, applied in the factory, that is much better than
site-applied varnish, and comes in many flavors.
--R
Zoltan Finks wrote:
My wife was wondering if we could get them to make the stairs and
halls hardwood. I told her that would probably be very expensive,
because it was not designed that way, and they'd have to design in the
hardwood stairs just for us.
