While finding free hardwood flooring may not be an easy task to accomplish, it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility. You may need to invest a lot of time in seeking ways to obtain flooring for nothing because for the most part, you are not going to be able to walk into a store or go to a website and just ask for free materials with no strings attached.
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In order to find free hardwood flooring, you may have to get creative and think outside the box. Who knows…maybe the end result will be finding yourself the proud new owner of a hardwood floor along with a great story to tell to your friends!
Try Your Luck
If you feel lucky, there are always contests and sweepstakes to be found that offer a sum of money for home makeovers that you could use toward purchasing hardwood flooring. A search on the Internet uncovers a multitude of opportunities to enter for a chance to win money to redo your home. There are even websites that are devoted entirely to listing available contests to enter.
With all of the television networks and magazines devoted to do-it-yourselfers and home design, you may find opportunities to provide funding for your renovations.
Better Homes and Gardens magazine and HGTV with its sister network DYI often offer sweepstakes to redo your home. Many will require you to write a small essay as to why you think you deserve to win their contest.
While it may be a long shot, you may be able to get a free hardwood floor in this manner. The only downside to this may be that you may end up with an overabundance of email in your mailbox, as you will need to provide it in order to enter. To avoid this, create a free email address through Hotmail, Yahoo, or Google mail that you will use exclusively to enter contests. This will help you avoid littering your regular email inbox.
Home improvement stores and flooring stores may also run contests on a regular basis where you may be able to win a home makeover and get your flooring for free. You can either travel to the stores in your area, or you could make it a practice to visit their websites regularly to see what contests they may be offering.
Another good idea is to either “like” or become a friend on a social networking site such as Facebook. Many stores now utilize this method to communicate with their customers and quickly alert them to any events or specials that they may offer exclusively to these online customers.
Check out Home Shows in Your Area
You may find home shows in your area where contractors and building supply businesses will showcase their services and products. Many will offer sweepstakes giving anything from free vacations to free room makeovers and various free home improvements.
Keep in mind that you will be filling out a lot of entries where you will need to enter your phone number and or email address. Don’t be surprised if you hear from these businesses for months after their contests end. These sweepstakes are usually a way to gather names and phone numbers to provide to their marketers for them to attempt to sell you their products and services.
Find Homes That Are Going to Be Demolished
If you know of any homes that are being torn down in your area to make way for new construction, you may want to approach the property owner or contractor about allowing you to remove any existing hardwood flooring in the structure. You may be pleasantly surprised if they come back and say “yes.” The reason they might is to help decrease the amount of debris that they will need to dispose of.
Even if the home is older, you may find good quality hardwood flooring within it. All you need to do is utilize your own sweat and energy to pull it up before the house is torn down.
If the finish is worn, you can always give it a good sanding and refinish with stain, polyurethane, or a wax finish. Giving new life to an old floor is a good way to get your hardwood flooring almost free when you consider what you will need to purchase to install and refinish.
Check online listings such as those on Craigslist or Freecycle on Yahoo Groups because there may be listings offering free flooring for the taking. Again, all you would need to do is provide your own muscle to remove it before the building is demolished. This saves the owner the hassle of disposing of the materials on their own and can be a good way for you to obtain good quality hardwood for free.
Become Friends with a Builder
Do you have a friend or acquaintance in the remodeling or construction business? You can ask if you can take away any leftover hardwood flooring from their work sites. It may be worth their while for you to do this instead of them having to dispose of any cut or extra pieces. Most contractors will need to pay to dispose of scrap and excess materials, so you are in fact doing them a favor by hauling it away.
This may be a little more difficult to gather enough for just one room, but if you luck out and are able to work out an agreement with a builder who is working on a new neighborhood development, you may be able to collect quite a bit. This is because many builders will buy the same type of flooring in bulk to install in their new homes in order to save money on materials.
Think Green and Help the Environment
Many do-it-yourselfers and contractors are joining the bandwagon of reclaiming hardwood flooring from old buildings such as old warehouses, barns, and old homes that are being torn down. Not only is this practice good for the environment by promoting the conservation of existing trees, you may find yourself with an interesting piece of history in your home.
You may also find types of wood that are no longer available, due to being wiped out of existence. One such wood is wormy chestnut that, according to a Washington Post article, was a species that no longer exists due to being wiped out by disease during the early 1900s. With old buildings, there are also opportunities to repurpose wood from their beams, which can easily be cut into planks and then used for flooring.
If you are able to work with a contractor or salvage company that allows you to take what you need, you can find yourself with quite a bit of hardwood for free.
Some, however, may require you to pay for salvaging the wood. This is because reclaiming wood is becoming a popular business as more people want to help the environment and find interesting materials for use in their homes.
If All Else Fails, the Next Best Thing Is Deep Discounts
If you have exhausted all of your options and ideas to obtain free hardwood flooring, you may just have to settle for discounted flooring. Start shopping around; you may be surprised at the deals you may find. You may stumble upon special deals on manufacturer closeouts or find someone who is going out of business and is selling off their inventory for pennies on the dollar.
Searching online for flooring websites may result in finding tremendous savings on varieties of flooring that are being discontinued or sold off to make room for new inventory. Flooring dealers may find themselves with returns or extras left from special orders where a minimum amount was required in order to place the order with the manufacturer. Just be sure to get enough to complete your project; otherwise, you may find yourself scrambling if you come up a few pieces short during the installation.
You may also find great deals on various types of flooring at home improvement centers, where they may be offering a closeout because their buyers made an exceptionally good deal with a manufacturer to sell off remaining year-end styles. You never know what you may find in stores or online from week-to-week, all at exceptionally low prices that will make you feel like you are getting a great bargain even if you are unable to get it for free.
Getting something for nothing may not always be the best way to go. However, with a little ingenuity and creativity, you just may be able to locate free hardwood flooring and be surprised in what you can find in the process.
Imagine the stories you can tell your friends about how you obtained your new hardwood flooring in your home and the history behind it.
In the event you are not successful in your pursuit of free hardwood flooring, you can rest assured there are many deals and discounts to be found from various retailers both online and in brick and mortar stores.
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