The Girls' Mom Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 We must pick out flooring. :rolleyes: I don't even want the WORD carpet to enter our new house..lol. We initially wanted laminate (price) but love actual hardwood. We were wooed by the woven strand bamboo flooring last night, but brought some samples home and they scratched way too easily. I really, really like the idea of the new floating vinyl planks, but haven't talked to anyone IRL that has them in their home. Most reviews are good, but I've seen a few that had issues with gapping in sunny areas. We don't want to spend a fortune. Anyone have input? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwickimom Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 I have been researching too and we have settled on engineered hardwoods. We have kids and dogs and a ton of wear on our floors and that is going to be the only things to hold up that we can afford. They are durable and prefinished and we can install them. We are now stalking Lowes and Lumber Liquidators for a closeout deal on them. My cousin, a friend, and my dh's uncle got their hardwoods for the same price or less than laminate. DH is buying the nail gun and saw off of ebay or craigslist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 We have engineered bamboo in our living room and high-traffic hallway and love it! It's been about 6 years now. It does dent because it's a bit softer, but I don't mind (at least after the first ding, I don't!). If you have dogs I would go with something sturdier. We bought it from Lumber Liquidators for a great price. We have a concrete slab so we glued it down. A 15x15 and a hallway took us 12 hours with 3 people, one laying, one cutting, one measuring. It was about a 6 out of 10 for difficulty if you're a DIYer. The glue is difficult to work with. It looks great, cleans great, and handles 2 boys and their toys great. The reason we went with a product we could glue down is because I didn't want the echo I heard from lots of floating floors. I'm really happy with the result. In their bedrooms we have a laminate. We installed that ourselves and it took about 5 hours with 2 of us for a 10x10 room. If you are decent with measuring and cutting, it's maybe a 4 our 10 for difficulty. The product we chose was around $1 a sq. ft. from Lumber Liquidators. It has held up amazingly well. After 4 years there is only one ding in either room and that was from a large trophy falling and hitting the floor. We will be replacing our last carpeted room with the same laminate this fall. We loathe carpet here. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 We heavily reviewed floors for the basement and I think the vinyl plank seems to work very well and looks nice. We looked at bamboo and engineered as well. I thought the bamboo was too soft as well, although they do have some that is harder but it is also much more expensive. I think engineered can be good but it seems to vary in quality as to the thickness of the planks and the top layer. As to the hardness of any hardwood you want to look at the JANKA rating. We have regular, nailed down hardwood upstairs and got a very good deal on it as we knew an installer w/ an inside deal. We paid 47c sq ft. We then paid to have it installed and still ended up better than the prefinished we were looking at installing ourselves. We bought the wood directly from the woodmill, dh had to drive about 3 hrs but it was well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nono Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 If you walk around barefoot a lot, make sure you are OK with the feel of the laminate. I was not. I just found out that my nephew can't stand the feel of it either in his home. So, apparently, our soles are sensitive. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justLisa Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 I really love cork flooring. It is warmer/softer on the feet. It is more pricey though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 If you walk around barefoot a lot, make sure you are OK with the feel of the laminate. I was not. I just found out that my nephew can't stand the feel of it either in his home. So, apparently, our soles are sensitive. ;) this is why I always wear socks at my in laws house. The feel of their flooring squicks me out. I feel the same way about polyester bedding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 If you walk around barefoot a lot, make sure you are OK with the feel of the laminate. I was not. I just found out that my nephew can't stand the feel of it either in his home. So, apparently, our soles are sensitive. ;) MIL and SIL have laminate, so that isn't an issue for us. I really love cork flooring. It is warmer/softer on the feet. It is more pricey though. We didn't like the look of cork as much... We have engineered bamboo in our living room and high-traffic hallway and love it! It's been about 6 years now. It does dent because it's a bit softer, but I don't mind (at least after the first ding, I don't!). If you have dogs I would go with something sturdier. We do have a dog, and also track in a lot of farm dirt. Dents don't bother me as much as scratching. The samples we got yesterday :001_huh: They scratched SO easily! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 We have 50% hardwoods and 50% engineered floating planks. The planks have been great! Heavy traffic, and not a mark on them. We even put them in ourselves and we are NOT NOT NOT handy! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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