[Victoriadawn]

I'm set to make an offer on the house of my dreams that only has one problem: stained concrete floors throughout. I really had my heart set on hard wood and had room in my budget to replace the flooring in my new house, but seeing as this house has no existing additional flooring, I'm concerned that trying to install a brand new floor might end up costing more than I anticipated.

If I do purchase the home and want to install hardwood in the living areas and tile in the bathroom, will I have to replace all of the baseboards and/or have the doors modified or replaced? If I do have to replace the baseboards is there a way to remove them without causing too much damage so as to have them reinstalled post flooring installation?

[joypulv]

No, you don't have to replace baseboards, but you should carefully remove them and reinstall them above any new flooring. You use one large and one small claw bar and put a shingle between it and the wall to prevent digging into the wall. It helps if 2 people do it when you want to save it intact.

Do not remove door trim. Cut a bit off at the floor with an oscillating tool, when you get to those spots as you install flooring, so it will be precisely the right height.

Cut a bit off the bottom of any wood door. Steel door? - might be easiest to remove the entire door jamb and move it up.

Back to concrete floors --- do not assume that any concrete floor can have a wooden floor cover it. It all depends on the moisture coming up through the concrete and through any side walls that are concrete. A new slab will have all sorts of vapor barriers under and around it. Any vapor problems, and thousands of dollars of work will be useless in a year or two. Concrete that is stained is that way for good reason! You can do a moisture test with a square of heavy plastic duct taped to the concrete for 48 hours.

Talk to any flooring seller about what to put down under wood floors. Generally, a heavy mil plastic with a thin layer of foam attached. It's not only a vapor barrier, it also softens the uneveness of concrete, which may look level and smooth but really isn't enough for click-in-place flooring. The tongue and groove has to fit on a really flat surface or it buckles and breaks.

The two types of non-solid hardwood flooring are called engineered and laminate. Engineered is laminated, but the top layer is real wood. Laminate is all fake, but the good stuff can really look realistic. No matter how much you may love real wood, I for one would think twice about putting it over a slab.