I can't afford hardwood floors. Which alternative is better: Parquet or Laminate, and why?

Question

This is for our living room and formal dining room. I am referring ot the parquet wood square flooring of my childhood which I have noticed are much cheaper than the plank wood flooring, and are easy to install.

The parquet wood I'm talking about is cost-comparative to the laminate "wood," but I've heard so many horror stories about the durability of laminates, I want to compare them with my favorite Yahoo experts :)

Answer 1

i have laid both laminate and parquet floors. the horror stories you hear are mostly true. if you are going to lay your floor in a direct sunlight area i would strongly recomend you go with parquet floor. if not, then the laminate is ok. i have over 20 years of remodeling homes and building new ones. and i would say that the parquet floor rules. just so you know, i have ripped out my laminate and replaced it with parquet floors myself. they are beautiful i think. i picked my parquet flooring from menards at .99 cents a sq. foot. its easy to do and well the glue is a little messy. if you choose to go this route and want a tip on how to cut them without tearing them up, use a new panel cutting blade, and put duct tape on the back side of the tile(this will hold it together if you have to cut through the wire). if you have to cut through the wire on the backside GO SLOW, if not it could fly up and hit you in the face. really, it happened. anyway, if i can help ya anymore, my yahoo is on here.

Answer 2

Parquet is actually a pattern that is done with wood floors. You have 3 choices. 1. Laminate (cheapest) but not always the best looking and can never be refinished. 2. Hardwood which is a solid wood that needs to be sanded and polyurethaned and can be refinished several times with wear. It's a very messy job 3. Prefinised Hardwood floors (most expensive). They are already finished and can be refinished in years to come. When making an investment like this you really should consider resale value. Laminate floors have no resale value. Hardwood and Prefinished Hardwood had much more value to your home. Isuggest you go to Home Depot and learn everything you can before starting this project. Good Luck

Answer 3

Had parquet for years, but starting coming apart. We just put down laminate, which is not that much cheaper than real wood by the time you add in the underlayment, special trims etc. Already have found after only 3 weeks a chip in one piece, really aggrevating. I wasn't sold on laminate, but my wife was. Parquet in my living room where there is not a lot of traffic has been there 25 years and looks great, my entry hall still looked great as well, just the dining room adjoining it was really bad and coming apart. So if you take care of parquet, it will last, as long as you keep it waxed and clean it well. Note you do have to glue it down, whereas the laminate just lays on the floor. But laminate is not as easy to install as is claimed, I do all of my own handywork, engine work, built sheds and outbuildings, etc, so I know I can do about anything. Laying the laminate has been a pain, I use a table saw, miter saw and jig saw in order to do all of the trimming, and not everyone has these tools. Mine supposedly is heavy traffic rated, 25 year warrantly, yet as I said we already found a chip or gouge that we can't explain how it happened. You have to damn near remove all the floor to make repairs, or cut it out and hope it won't look lke crap.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
I can't afford hardwood floors. Which alternative is better: Parquet or Laminate, and why?

Answer 5

With a good quality laminate wood flooring, you'll have equal durability to plain hardwood (Since it's engineered to be durable) it'll be cheaper, and it will look just as good. It's also easier to install.

However, you won't be able to resand/refinish it more than a few times. If you tend to get a lot of scratches or scuffs on your floor, this can make all the difference.

I'd suggest staying away from the floating laminate floors though. A thicker, higher quality laminate wood floor that you nail to a wood subfloor is your best option.

Answer 6

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/ax75b

Where hardwood will raise the value of the property (which is not really to your advantage, but the property owner's), laminate flooring gives you the look of real wood, but with less maintenance. I've attached a few links below that talks a bit more about this. Good luck, whatever you decide!

Answer 7

parquet -is- hardwood flooring.:) It's very expensive.

Laminate is cheaper and not that hard to fit. I don't know how fashionable it is anymore though.

I chose vinyl floor covering for my kitchen and bathroom, but then I'm lazy and poor lol:)

Answer 8

I am assuming you mean parquet tile. True parquet is a wood floor. Tile versus linoleum? If you are looking to do this yourself, I recommend tile. It is less expensive and easier to put down than linoleum. The glue is basically the same.

Answer 9

I prefer laminate it looks more authentic, wears well and cleans easily