Jennifer132 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 We are building a house, and went to Lowe's to look at flooring. We like the look of hardwood, but not the price! We found some laminate flooring that looks similar to wood, and also some real wood that is low end. We are actually thinking of cutting costs by going with the laminate, but I was just wondering if that's a good idea or not? What do you think? Other than real wood looking a bit nicer, is there some other advantage to real wood flooring? And what about real wood that is kind of low end? The one we saw was like half an inch of real wood and then it was pressed onto particle board. Is there really much benefit to that vs. laminate flooring? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 We have birch floors. They're beautiful. They're also pretty scratched up from dogs and wear and tear. If you have dogs I'd suggest good laminate (to resist scratches) or really good hardwood that you can refinish a few times. I think the cheaper manufactured hardwood floors can only be refinished once or twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I don't know that there are major benefits to one over the other. I know that you can't refinish laminate like you can hardwood planks. So if it is damaged or you want a change, you have to rip it up and start over. On the other hand, solid wood planks will expand and contract over time. You might look into engineered hardwoods. They're solid wood all the way through, but the wood has been sliced into thin layers and put back together with the grains in alternating directions. They don't expand and contract like planks but can be refinished a limited number of times. The price is somewhere in between laminate and planks, or at least it was when we put them in our last house several years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 basically laminate is a printed picture of wood, glued down to a mdf base. quality varies widely. I was in a high end kitchen store that had laminate in one area - and it looked like garbage because it was so worn in spots all you saw was the base. there is no way to repair it, it has to be completely replaced. I have it in my basement, and it has a plastic feel to it. if you are sure you'll be in your home for many years, it's up to you. if you plan on selling in the next five or even 10 years, I would suggest something else. in our market, buyer's generally don't want laminate and it is considered a negative. you don't want it in wet areas either as water can cause the base layer to swell. there is also bamboo, and engineered flooring (which is a layer of real wood on another base. it's stable, and is real. it can usually be refinished once. it is repairable.) they are cheaper than solid, and some places say they are more stable than solid. because the top layer is real wood, it looks better than laminate. I would look other places besides lowes or home depot. I've not been impressed with the quality of their hardwood floors, and you pay more for them. you can try flooring specialty shops, and lumber liquidators. also consider cost of installation in your price. going through a contractor can also improve your cost basis. My hardwood preference is finish on site hardwood. with a more durable Swedish finish (not water based which is more prone to wear). It is expensive up front, but lasts a long time. I had a prefinished floor in my kitchen, and my dishwasher leaked. and because it's prefinished (re: has cracks), the water went below the boards. the only good thing about that was the insurance settlement paid for my new quartzite tile floor to be professionally installed. there are also porcelain tile that looks like a plank of wood. it comes in several colors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I've had/have both, and I think both have their pros and cons. Laminate is definitely better at resisting dents and scratches (dog nails) than my oak hardwood floors were. Laminate is louder when you walk on it than hardwood. But I believe there is some sort of soundproofing material that can be used under it? In the future if we re-floor this house (maybe) or build another one (likely) I'm leaning towards a good quality laminate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I would think real wood might be softer (for standing) and warmer, but I don't really know. We have wood. I recently came across a place that sells reclaimed wood from barns for hardwood floors - I'd love to do that but I have no clue on cost :tongue_smilie: . The guy at home depot thought it would be almost cheaper to put in a new hardwood floor than to refinish the one we have - I don't think so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Um_2_4 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 We got high end laminate (up and down) with the thickest sound proof barrier. You do not hear any sound. It has a thick coating, don't have the paper handy, but it was a new model with a Titanium oxide coating. I have had only one scratch in two years when a bookcase was dropped on it (where the corner hit). People think it is real wood unless we tell them. And that includes some people who work in house construction/realtors. I do have ceramic tile in the kitchen/bathrooms and I am very careful about liquids where we have the laminate. If I lived in an area with lots of rain or snow, I might have chosen different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I've had/have both, and I think both have their pros and cons. Laminate is definitely better at resisting dents and scratches (dog nails) than my oak hardwood floors were. Laminate is louder when you walk on it than hardwood. But I believe there is some sort of soundproofing material that can be used under it? In the future if we re-floor this house (maybe) or build another one (likely) I'm leaning towards a good quality laminate. Friends had Pergo wood laminate and I hated the sound as you walked across the floor - plastic sounding. Isn't pergo a good quality laminate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I've had laminate in some houses and wood floors in some houses. I generally prefer laminate (although our landlord hated it in one apartment we rented). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Um_2_4 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Friends had Pergo wood laminate and I hated the sound as you walked across the floor - plastic sounding. Isn't pergo a good quality laminate? That was what we thought when we started researching. Then our friend who does remodeling explained it like this: Pergo is a brand name and they have low end and high end lines. Plus the stuff UNDER it is REALLY important. Some installers skip on that part. And some charge big $$ just for the Pergo name iykwim. It is kind of like Kimberly-Clark company (they make paper products here in the USA), they have high end ($$$) line and cheaper ($) lines and the quality tells. When I tried their low end line and did not like it (worse than the store brand), they were unconcerned about my feedback (well, that is our less expensive line was their response! even store brands here stand by their product, so I was surprised to say the least). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne115 Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 We have nice laminate in most of our house. We love it. We looked at a lot of brands and ended up with Robina laminate. We have had several people mistake it for hardwood. We like it because it is durable and can stand up to the dog and kids. Suzanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 My favorite thing about my laminate floor is that it's waterproof. With pets, that's a big plus in our house. I don't know anything about hardwood floors. When we wanted flooring, we knew we wanted laminate that looked like wood so didn't compare it to anything. We got ours from Lowes and installed it ourselves. It was super easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin'sMom Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 We have high-end dark walnut laminate. I found out, too late, that you CAN waterproof it. I wish I had done this at the beginning, since dogs/kids equal small areas at the ends that are slightly lifted in a few places. I just couldn't afford any decent hardwood throughout the house, mainly because of the installation costs. The laminate is so much better than carpet ever was, looks nice most of the time, and I would put it down again, just would have put water seal on at the beginning. Another thing, I use Bono products in the living room, but in the rest of the house (we have it everywhere but kitchen and baths) I just damp mop with Mr. Clean with Febreze. It smells nice for a long time and doesn't leave a residue like some products do on laminate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I have been researching this myself. I concur with the view that Lowe's and Home Depot don't have the best laminates. I have a friend who is a contractor. He and his wife put very high quality laminate floor in their great room--kitchen, living room, and dining room. It's been there for years and it's beautiful, and I honestly thought it was hardwood--it feels and sounds and looks like real hickory flooring. He told me that they had a small leak in their fridge that was hard to find and that he didn't get around to, that every day there would be a little water on the floor for a while. He said that it was 6 months before this effected the looks of the floor there, and that with hardwood it would have been visibly damaged in 1-2 days. That settled it for me. I'm getting hardwood upstairs, because I love it, but not in the great room. I don't want it near appliances that could leak. Also, the newer hardwoods that are prefinished are not the only ones available, and they cannot be refinished at all, some of them, or only once for others, because of the way they are installed. The nail heads are too high to refinish them. So to get that function (which is what I originally wanted throughout the house) you have to make sure to get unfinished hardwoods and an installer that will put them in the old way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Another option you might consider is the new WATERPROOF vinyl planks. They look like wood and have a slight grain to them but are waterproof. We did our main floor all in laminate and then later they came out with this stuff. It is quieter than laminate and waterproof. Then again for longevity, a top quality hardwood floor is very nice. Just with our rural farm living with tons of snow, mud, etc. I wish we would have done the waterproof vinyl planks. They also come in various qualities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSOchristie Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I don't like our laminate floors, if your child spills something and you don't immediately notice and clean it up, it makes it swell at the groove. One of mine spilled a small container of bubbles and I didn't notice it until several hours later, now we have a slight bubbled look at that spot. Ours looks fake, too. Our friends have laminate that looks like a shiny hardwood and I like it much better. VS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanitaL Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I don't like our laminate floors, if your child spills something and you don't immediately notice and clean it up, it makes it swell at the groove. One of mine spilled a small container of bubbles and I didn't notice it until several hours later, now we have a slight bubbled look at that spot. Ours looks fake, too. Our friends have laminate that looks like a shiny hardwood and I like it much better. VS What's the name of the company for the 2nd picture? I'm googling "Natural Flooring" but only coming up with a rug company. ETA: When in doubt, google the highly obvious phone #. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSOchristie Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Quality must make a difference in scratch resistance, too, because I'm pretty sure ours is low quality and it scratches fairly easily. I don't even let my kids push their toys around on it because it will scratch from that. The previous owners of our house put it down to sell (and their new house has real hardwoods :lol: ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 We are building a house, and went to Lowe's to look at flooring. We like the look of hardwood, but not the price! We found some laminate flooring that looks similar to wood, and also some real wood that is low end. We are actually thinking of cutting costs by going with the laminate, but I was just wondering if that's a good idea or not? What do you think? Other than real wood looking a bit nicer, is there some other advantage to real wood flooring? And what about real wood that is kind of low end? The one we saw was like half an inch of real wood and then it was pressed onto particle board. Is there really much benefit to that vs. laminate flooring? Thanks! Our almost-20-year-old house has hardwood floors downstairs (carpet upstairs). I love, love, love my hardwood floors. They wear like iron, and they're just beautiful. I plan to always have hardwood. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macmacmoo Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Long term consideration: Wood floors can be refinished, laminate can not. So if you for see yourself in this house for a long time, there may come a point where you have to either refinish or replace your flooring depending on what you went with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ofus Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Honestly, I think it just comes down to how much you want to spend. We have hardwood & tile downstairs but had carpet & vinyl upstairs. When it was time to replace the carpet we replaced it w/laminate b/c I didn't want to spend the $$ for hardwood & I really didn't want carpet again. So..for me anyway..it all came down to $$. We like the laminate MUCH better than the carpet, but I think if I were doing it now I'd research vinyl planks. If it were the main/common rooms of my house, I'd choose wood or tile if I could afford the costs. If the price wasn't do-able, I'd choose laminate or vinyl planks. They're all good options ;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okra Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 8 years ago, we put in nice laminate. I have loved them! I think laminate is better if you have young children. My babies and young chidren have rolled trucks, toys, screwdrivers, and we don't have a single scratch. My toddler found a permanent marker and colored all over the laminate wood floor, and yes it came off. We have a nice quality, and it does not look fake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 We have laminate flooring in our second floor master bedroom and hardwood on the first floor. I love the hardwoods! The laminate is okay, but it feels and sounds like plastic to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeteranMom Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I would never have wood floors again due to my dogs. The floors have been scratched up. We have a wide plank laminate in one area of the house and those floors look fabulous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 We have a dog who is afraid of the nail clippers and a power wheelchair. Once they completely kill the carpeting (it'll take them about 5 more minutes) I think I have to decided between good laminate or the pre/distressed wood so that the scratches and dings are part of "the look." Better Homes and Gardens will NEVER photograph us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stratford Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Having had laminate, engineered hardwood, hardwood, and bamboo flooring at different times in different homes, I can say that my personal preference is hardwood, then bamboo, then engineered hardwood, then laminate. (We have small kids but no dogs.) I recently installed a strand bamboo flooring in my living room and I've been very, very impressed with that - we have NO scratches at this point, in spite of some crazy objects being dropped on it (did I mention I have small kids? Kids who like to haul around metal tools and pointy things?) It's only been around for six months or so, so I won't give it my full 5 star approval yet, but so far, completely happy with it. We paid less per square foot than the high-end laminates and it looks much nicer to me. Have you looked at Lumber Liquidators? They have some pretty good sales and we've been very happy with the purchases we've made there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanitaL Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 This thread may have sold me on vinyl planks. Does anyone have the vinyl planks that also has dogs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn&charles Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 We are building a house, and went to Lowe's to look at flooring. We like the look of hardwood, but not the price! We found some laminate flooring that looks similar to wood, and also some real wood that is low end. We are actually thinking of cutting costs by going with the laminate, but I was just wondering if that's a good idea or not? What do you think? Other than real wood looking a bit nicer, is there some other advantage to real wood flooring? And what about real wood that is kind of low end? The one we saw was like half an inch of real wood and then it was pressed onto particle board. Is there really much benefit to that vs. laminate flooring? Thanks! We put in Pergo laminate because we couldn't afford wood. I originally preferred/wanted real wood because you can refinish it and in my mind is seems like it would be "higher quality" because it's real. However, I was concerned about how it can get scratched up easily. All of the research I did seemed to show that a good laminate would look nicer than real wood for a longer period of time. We've had our Pergo floor for about 3 years or so now and it's holding up great, even with dogs running around, etc. It's SO easy to keep clean and it's really helped my allergies too (compared to when we had carpet). I think it looks really nice and the fact that it doesn't get scratched easily keeps it looking like new. After seeing how it performs, I'd probably go with Pergo again, instead of wood, especially because we will probably always have a dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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