If you were buying a house.....

[amy g.]

Would you have a strong preference for hardwood floors over the kind of flooring that looks like hardwood but is really tile?

 

I am replacing the flooring throughout our house before putting it on the market. My realtor took me to walk through every similar house that is currently on the market.

 

Almost all of them had dark, engineered hardwood, light painted cabinets with a darker glaze and granite countertops.

 

I can't help feeling that those houses will feel so dated in a couple of years. Add to that, I personally do not like the look of the engineered hardwood floors. I don't think that they will wear well in the kitchen or in a farm house in general.

 

I am having a custom kitchen put in and the cabinets will be painted cream with no over glaze. I'm putting in soapstone counters instead of granite and I found a lighter colored tile that has the look of wood, but will look better much longer.

 

My instinct is to fix the house up to the point where it looks like a farmhouse that could have been built in any era rather than just another house with the exact same upgrades.

 

If you were my buyer, would you be turned off by tile in every room except the bedrooms?

[vonfirmath]

Its not tile. Its laminate. I've got tile in our bathroom and laminate in the living room.

 

I want to rip the tile up and put something else down. (Probably linoleum). It's COLD.

 

The laminate is fine.

 

OTOH, in our neighborhood, and with our house being the "Cheapest in the neighborhood" level, putting in real wood would be too expensive. The house was all carpetting when first sold.

 

[regentrude]

I would prefer either real hardwood or real tile.

"Fake" wood looking stuff is laminate - essentially plastic. I would not want this as flooring.

Real ceramic tile throughout the house would be fine, if it looked like tile and did not pretend to be anything else. Tile masquerading as wood - no way.

[Annie G]

I prefer real hardwood, but failing that I would choose real tile. I don't care for laminate though I know others really love it. It's just not for me. 

[MysteryJen]

Real wood or real tile.

I love tile. We wear slippers in the winter, but the tile helps the whole house feel cool in the summer.

 

I think your kitchen sounds lovely.

[Carol in Cal.]

I wouldn't mind some of the 'better' laminates.  What I would absolutely hate is the cheapo stuff that sounds hollow when you walk on it in heels.  Or, slate or other sharpish flooring that you can't walk barefoot on.  Or flooring that gets so slippery when it's wet that it's a safety hazard.

[Butter]

I really like laminate.  We had hardwood in our house growing up and I still shudder when I think about maintenance on that stuff.  Kitchens and bathrooms I like tile.

[Tess in the Burbs]

what do the other houses around you have?  a realtor would have a better idea of what your area market prefers.  

 

my dh hates laminate.  prefers real wood.  I don't care as long as it looks good.  

[Annie G]

I really like laminate.  We had hardwood in our house growing up and I still shudder when I think about maintenance on that stuff.  Kitchens and bathrooms I like tile.

 

I wonder if like laminate there are different quality levels of hardwood. Our house is 135 years old and has original hardwoods. We've lived here 21 years and have had about half the floors refinished but the rest looks fine after who knows how long since being refinished. All I do is sweep and occasionally use Boma, which takes just minutes. 

 

I have a friend who has a high quality laminate and her floors look great even though they have dogs and cats. And kids.   But I have other friends whose laminate looks just awful.  I'm guessing hardwood is the same- some is better than others. 

[amy g.]

I'm not talking about laminate. What I am looking at is ceramic tile.

[Guest]

I've become a hardwood only everywhere person. Concrete and tile are wearying to stand on and everything you drop shatters or dents. It's loud, too.

 

I have seen the light hardwoods come and go and now the dark hardwoods are "in" but I have come to love the same flooring I had our first home--honey oak. Quarter-sawn if possible. It never looks "in" but it never looks "out" either. And it always looks homey.

 

I put big ol' Persians around to denote "rooms" and to soften the noise. Persians because that's my dh's fave. I'd go with more modern rugs meself.

[TranquilMind]

I would prefer either real hardwood or real tile.

"Fake" wood looking stuff is laminate - essentially plastic. I would not want this as flooring.

Real ceramic tile throughout the house would be fine, if it looked like tile and did not pretend to be anything else. Tile masquerading as wood - no way.

No, there is real ceramic tile that looks exactly like hardwood now.  I don't think she is talking about laminate.  I think she is talking about tile.

 

I do think you are right that this tile is a short-lived trend.  I would not use it, and I just renovated several houses in the last couple of years. 

 

I personally would prefer hardwood to tile throughout, just because tile is cold and hard. 

[Annie G]

Almost all of them had dark, engineered hardwood, light painted cabinets with a darker glaze and granite countertops.

 

 

 

What is engineered hardwood? 

[Wildcat]

For me, it depends on the pricepoint of a house and how much flooring is at hand.

 

I don't mind laminate but I prefer hardwood throughout, hands down.  EXCEPT---- I don't like hardwood in my kitchen or bathrooms. I would prefer tile in those areas but if that isn't possible, then I would prefer hardwood over laminate and anything other than vinyl.

 

Tile that looks like laminate looks strange to me and I would hate it.

 

Ceramic tile is nice, but I despise cleaning the grout. Tile throughout would drive me nuts and in my neck of the woods, that isn't done. Florida, yes, but not here. A fully-tiled house here would have a very hard time selling. 

 

ETA I don't like dark flooring at all. There is house on the market now that has dark hardwood throughout. It is a fabulous house but I hate the color so I won't even ask to go see it. It makes it seem dark and dated.

[amy g.]

I agree about honey oak. We have the oak floors in the 2 back bedrooms. I love it.

[Orthodox6]

Laminate for kitchen and utility room. There now are laminates of such good quality that the eye truly is fooled.

Hardwood in other rooms, and high quality tile for bathrooms.

[Arcadia]

Tiles for kitchen and bathroom. Hardwood everywhere else. I have tiles in my dining room so we put a cheap big area rug to cover the floor since it is cold even in summer.

[Pawz4me]

I don't care for hardwood floors in any form (real or engineered).  I think they're way over-rated.

 

I would strongly prefer ceramic tile, luxury vinyl tile or laminate.  IMO they all wear much better than hardwood.

 

That said, as long as it was some sort of hard flooring it wouldn't be a deal breaker.

[Bluegoat]

Would you have a strong preference for hardwood floors over the kind of flooring that looks like hardwood but is really tile?

 

I am replacing the flooring throughout our house before putting it on the market. My realtor took me to walk through every similar house that is currently on the market.

 

Almost all of them had dark, engineered hardwood, light painted cabinets with a darker glaze and granite countertops.

 

I can't help feeling that those houses will feel so dated in a couple of years. Add to that, I personally do not like the look of the engineered hardwood floors. I don't think that they will wear well in the kitchen or in a farm house in general.

 

I am having a custom kitchen put in and the cabinets will be painted cream with no over glaze. I'm putting in soapstone counters instead of granite and I found a lighter colored tile that has the look of wood, but will look better much longer.

 

My instinct is to fix the house up to the point where it looks like a farmhouse that could have been built in any era rather than just another house with the exact same upgrades.

 

If you were my buyer, would you be turned off by tile in every room except the bedrooms?

 

I would prefer the real wood, hands down.  I think there are a few placed laminate makes sense - like a laundry room, basement, etc, and in a less expensive property, I might expect it and I would be ok with that.  Though often I prefer it when it looks like itself rather than like fake wood.

 

I agree too that the look you describe will be dated soon, just like an avocado refrigerator.  It's actually a look that might make me wonder if the house wasn't being flipped or at least renovated just for sale, which always makes me wonder how well done the renos were.  Personally when buying, I would rather buy a house that was just spotless and solid but not updated, so I wouldn't feel badly about ripping out crap for the landfill.

 

What you are doing sounds nice to me though.  (I think off the shelf cupboards can be fine if they are good quality, and to save that would probably be a reasonable choice too.)  I would not mind a lot of tile so long as it was well chosen, and I would much prefer it to laminate.

[Bluegoat]

My favorite for kitchens is actually real linoleum - that is, not plastic, linseed oil and sawdust.  It wears pretty well with not too much upkeep, looks great, is warm and soft to stand on, and doesn't off-gass like plastic.

[Jennifer132]

For myself, I would not like tile throughout because a) it's cold and hard, b) you have to clean the grout, and c) with little children, it can be quite jolting to fall on. That being said, I agree, hardwood isn't the best for pets, kids, farms. So, I would go with luxury vinyl tile, which looks like wood, but is softer underfoot, waterproof, and cheaper than hard wood.

[kewb]

Real wood or real tile. In a kitchen I prefer tile. Not a fan of laminate.

[regentrude]

No, there is real ceramic tile that looks exactly like hardwood now.  I don't think she is talking about laminate.  I think she is talking about tile.

In that case, I still stand by my statement that I don't want tile that pretends to be wood.

Either tile that looks like tile, or wood that looks like wood.

[MBM]

I would put tile in a warm, humid place near the ocean like Hawaii or Florida. In Illinois? Probably not all throughout the house.

 

If a house did have tile throughout and I liked it enough, I might consider buying but possibly not because, IMO, it's more difficult to remove tile than hardwood. I would not want to chip out an entire house of newly-laid tile; instead, I would consider removing the subfloor, reinstalling that and then putting in the floor I want. That's a lot of work. Yes, a different floor can be put over the tile (BTDT several times) but it's not how I like to do things if I can help it.

 

[amy g.]

https://roomology.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/up-for-debate-hardwood-floors-v-tiles-that-look-like-wood/

 

These are some photos and information about the wood-look tiles.

[Guest]

Anything but ceramic tile.

[Catwoman]

I think tile is fine in kitchens and bathrooms, but it seems cold when it is elsewhere in the home, unless it's a beach house. I would not put a lot of tile in a farmhouse because it would feel out of place to me. I would go with hardwood throughout the house, including the kitchen, and put the tile only in the bathrooms.

 

The thing that really bugs me is when people carpet the bathrooms. :ack2: I guess if someone in the house has a serious risk of falling, it might be understandable to not want a lot of tile anywhere to try to avoid injury (although I would try to use area rugs I could take up and wash,) but otherwise, the carpet thing is so weird to me. I keep thinking of the mold and bacteria whenever I see it.

[Guest]

I know which tile you are talking about, and we like it. (It's not laminate.) We plan to put that in a few different rooms in our house within the next year or so. We know people that have it and love it. I would not do real hardwood floor with our dogs. That being said, we have dark kitchen cabinets and granite and like them. :cool:

[kitten18]

https://roomology.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/up-for-debate-hardwood-floors-v-tiles-that-look-like-wood/

These are some photos and information about the wood-look tiles.

We have the tile that is the 3rd picture from the top. It is very nice but it is expensive. I wouldn't put it in a house I was selling unless the price point is pretty high.

 

I love tile. Our whole downstairs is tile and I'm going to put tile upstairs too.

We have kids and dogs. I've had wood floors. NEVER again, hated them.

We live in a hot climate, cold floors are not an issue here.

[kitten18]

I think it's ironic that people think that tile should look like tile. Virtually all tile is trying to look like stone.

[Seasider]

I'm not talking about laminate. What I am looking at is ceramic tile.

I know exactly what you are talking about and I think it's cool. It would wear better than wood in both kitchens and foyer/entryways. However, for consistency you want the same flooring throughout. Personally I would not want ceramic tile in my living spaces (living room/den). But that's just me.

[kitten18]

What is engineered hardwood?

It's sometimes called pre-finished instead of site finished. There's a few layers of wood over a base of something (mdf maybe, I'm not sure). If it gets scratched or worn it can be refinished a few times (depending on the quality), not over and over like site finished floors.

 

 

Much of what we see in houses today is engineered hardwoods. Especially in areas where there are no basements. The engineered hardwoods do better on a slab than a site finished hardwood does. We build multi-million dollar homes and they all have engineered wood on the first floor.

 

There's a HUGE range of price/quality in the engineered floors.

[gardenmom5]

do you have underfloor heating?  porcelain/wood tile could be nice. there are also some nice slates. I just wonder how the floors will be in the winter.  are they going to be cold to walk on?  or do you get so much snow that tile will hold-up better than wood?

 

 

I also don't like engineered wood.  (I have solid wood)   what that says to me is: it can be refinished once (maybe), then it will have to be ripped out and replaced. 

[gardenmom5]

It's sometimes called pre-finished instead of site finished. There's a few layers of wood over a base of something (mdf maybe, I'm not sure). If it gets scratched or worn it can be refinished a few times (depending on the quality), not over and over like site finished floors.

 

 

Much of what we see in houses today is engineered hardwoods. Especially in areas where there are no basements. The engineered hardwoods do better on a slab than a site finished hardwood does. We build multi-million dollar homes and they all have engineered wood on the first floor.

 

There's a HUGE range of price/quality in the engineered floors.

 

um, no.  solid wood can be pre-finished OR site finished. (I have both - in solid hardwood.)

 

engineered wood (prefinished) is a composite consisting of several layers with a VENEER of hardwood on top. it can sometimes be refinished twice.  some once, and some, not at all.

they are advertised as being more horizontally stable . . . .

[amy g.]

We put slate down in our old house. I loved it, even in the living areas.

 

We are in a pretty hot climate, and I am already hot natured, and I have been getting a few hot flashes lately, so tile being cold is not on my radar at all.

 

I'm so glad I asked!

 

I love real, old hardwood floors. Nothing is more beautiful to me. I don't love most of the newer wood floorings. I bet there is probably a product head and shoulders above what I've been seeing, but it probably wouldn't be worth the additional cost for a house we are selling.

 

 

Hmmmmm...decisions, decisions, decisions.

[mom2samlibby]

I would rather have engineered hardwood or hardwood. I like the look of the wood tile, but I wouldn't want it throughout the whole house. I think tile can feel too cold. We did the wood look tile in our laundry room.

 

And while, I love soapstone, I'm not sure that would appeal to buyer. I considered putting it on our new build, but we were building for us and plan to live here for a long time.

 

Some of what you've said doesn't sound like you are making changes to "sell", but for you. When selling, you need to consider your market and try to appeal to larger number of people.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I don't mind, even like, engineered hardwood floors, but all things being equal?  I'd choose a house with real wood floors over fake every time. Same goes for tile over vinyl. As for wood-look tile? No, not my taste preference.

[amy g.]

I get what you are saying about fixing a house to sell versus my taste.

 

I could easily put in engineered hardwoods and granite, but my hesitation is that there are 6 other houses on the market just like that.

 

Do buyers really want generic?

 

Maybe they do.

[mom2samlibby]

I get what you are saying about fixing a house to sell versus my taste.

 

I could easily put in engineered hardwoods and granite, but my hesitation is that there are 6 other houses on the market just like that.

 

Do buyers really want generic?

 

Maybe they do.

Yes, yes they do.

 

Spoken by someone that had their house on the market for a year because their house was not generic . . sigh.

:(

[amy g.]

Oh no!

 

That is just sad.

[mom2samlibby]

Oh no!

 

That is just sad.

Yes, it was. We finally got it rented last month.

 

Our kitchen had corian countertops that was put in by the previous owners. It was in great shape, so we left it alone, but several realtors mentioned that granite would have been preferred.

 

I'm not really sure what kept it from selling, except that it was not the standard ranch that most people purchase around here.

[kitten18]

um, no. solid wood can be pre-finished OR site finished. (I have both - in solid hardwood.)

 

engineered wood (prefinished) is a composite consisting of several layers with a VENEER of hardwood on top. it can sometimes be refinished twice. some once, and some, not at all.

they are advertised as being more horizontally stable . . . .

That's why I said sometimes referred to as pre finished and site finished. Engineered wood is always pre finished.

 

Some engineered wood has a veneer layer that is 4.5mm thick. They can be sanded at least 2x.

Some have a .5mm layer, they couldn't be sanded at all.

 

There is a huge range in quality.

[The Girls' Mom]

I would probably skip a house completely that was all tile.  I don't like the way it feels, and it causes me to have back pain after standing on it for very long.  It is a pain to replace.

 

I would love a hardwood floor throughout.  We've owned three houses that were all hardwood, and loved them.  Two have been farmhouses.  

 

ETA:  Although I love the look of the dark wood, the lighter is more practical in my experience.  The darker woods show every smudge and speck of dust.  Oak isn't my favorite for looks, but it is what we chose for our current home.  It wears well, and hides dirt and dust.

[Seasider]

I get what you are saying about fixing a house to sell versus my taste.

 

I could easily put in engineered hardwoods and granite, but my hesitation is that there are 6 other houses on the market just like that.

 

Do buyers really want generic?

 

Maybe they do.

I think changing things up a bit could be a good strategy for you. I'd go ahead and put in the engineered hardwood floors, though, because it's a look more people will be comfortable with, I think.

[Katy]

I put wood look tile in a bathroom remodel of a 1940's house with oak hardwood throughout.  If I had it to do over again I would choose something else.  The wood look tile looked cheap, became too popular, and I feel like it will be what looks dated.  Also, it was cold for just a bathroom.  For the entire house I think I would hate it, and it would be super cold.

 

There were also installation problems.  All the tiles took at least three times longer to set than it was supposed to, and that's even with paying more for the special mastic for huge tiles.  I doubt you could go a week not walking in your house while waiting for it to dry.

 

If you want something different than dark hardwood, choose a graywash or something variated like hickory and avoid the handscraped look.  Yes, it will look dated, but it will probably take ten years and it will need refinished by then anyway.  But dark floors are the elegant look at the moment.

[Carrie12345]

I do not like ceramic tile except in bathrooms.  I definitely would not like ceramic tile that tries to look like wood.

 

I am skeptical about laminate, though I'm fine with the look of it.  Our laminate happens to be cheap and poorly installed. It looks terrible after 10 years.  It wasn't so hot after 5, either..  But I've seen much nicer options while browsing Lowes, and I do think proper installation is key.  I know my aunt, who had the money to spend on whatever flooring she could possibly want, chose a high end laminate for its ability to stand up to large dog claws.

 

 

[Seasider]

  I know my aunt, who had the money to spend on whatever flooring she could possibly want, chose a high end laminate for its ability to stand up to large dog claws.

 

In my last house I put high end laminate in the upstairs kids' bathrooms. It was very easy to clean and I knew it wouldn't cost a fortune to replace if someone nail polished it (or worse, nail-polish-removered it!). I really liked it, but for resale value would not have put it in the kitchen or more public areas.

[Scarlett]

I'm not talking about laminate. What I am looking at is ceramic tile.

Yes we put this in the main bathroom. It is beautiful and durable.

 

I love wood floors....real wood, not plastic. But I would not be scared off by tile or tile that looks like wood.

 

Why are you against wood though?

[Btervet]

I love the look of the tile that appears to be wood. I love the idea of easy cleanup and water-resistance.

 

I HATE the feel of tile. It hurts my feet and back after an hour or so. My mom has an all tile house (common in her hot climate) and I'm always in serious pain while visiting her. So I wouldn't consider a house that was all tile. If it was just the kitchen/bath, that would be fine. Wood, carpet, vinyl, and laminate are all noticeably kinder to my feet/back.

[Scarlett]

I love the look of the tile that appears to be wood. I love the idea of easy cleanup and water-resistance.

 

I HATE the feel of tile. It hurts my feet and back after an hour or so. My mom has an all tile house (common in her hot climate) and I'm always in serious pain while visiting her. So I wouldn't consider a house that was all tile. If it was just the kitchen/bath, that would be fine. Wood, carpet, vinyl, and laminate are all noticeably kinder to my feet/back.

I have concrete floors and wear shoes all of the time. So I feel your pain.