wood laminate flooring?

Question

If you had to choose between the snap together wood laminate boards that costs $1.50 or $2 per foot, or the wood flooring that costs $4.50 or $5 something, which would you choose? We're talking something for both the living room (large room) and the kitchen.

If you go for the laminate, would you choose the kind with the greenboard backing that is supposed to help in case you get the floor wet? $1.59. Salesman says it has a lifetime guarantee. Or choose the $2 kind that the salesman says is so great, and has a 15 year guarantee, but he also says don't get it wet?

I looked at so many products today, I did nothing but confuse myself.

Answer 1

i know salesmen generally know their business, but they are trying to sell a product as well. wood is almost always a bad choice in a kitchen. especially if you have children in the home. ceramic tile is almost always the more durable choice. it may cost a little more on the front end, but in three years when the dishwasher springs a leak while your on vacation the wood is history. not saying in the same situation tile will not let you down, but it's more likely to handle it.
with that being said if wood is a must, go with the true wood at least in the kitchen. i would also recommend gluing it down rather than nailing. it would make replacing wet boards somewhat less painful.

Answer 2

When making the decision, it's very important to know what are the layers making up the laminate?

In some cheaper brands, the "wood" layer is actually a color photo copy of wood grain.

In some brands, there is actually a thin lay of real wood vaneer that CAN be sanded and refinished if necessary. So it's not ALWAYS true that you can't refinish laminate. It depends on which laminate.

Personally, I wouldn't go for the cheapest. There are just too many corners cut with the materials and the finish. Casual water damage that's cleaned up right away shouldn't ruin any floor. Standing water, especially entering from below would be a problem for almost any laminate because it would saturate the pad and at the very least could cause mould.

Answer 3

Get the wood. I have both and would love to get rid of the laminate. The laminate supposedly has a great guarantee but what does that really mean. It means they will replace the product not the labor. It is very sensitive to water, especially the snap together kind, and is very loud to walk on. I can't hear people walk on the wood floor, but the laminate I can hear my cat walk on, something I didn't know would bother me so much. It still looks very nice but the other issues I mentioned would keep me from getting it again.

Answer 4

All of the laminates are on top of pressed cardboard, if they get wet enough, they will look terrible.....
Check if there is a lumber liquidators near you...i bought brazilian cherry hardwood for $3.75 a foot, which is less than lowes or home depot sell oak for.
The good thing about laminate is that it goes in quickly....but nothing looks better than real wood. There are some engineered woods that also click together, and i have just seen 3/4 inch hardwood that clicks together.
I put pergo in the living room, and it looks good, and wears extremely well....but it isnt real.
If the hard wood gets wet, you can let it dry out, and if it hasnt buckled, you can refinish it...The lowes in my area has an ugly greenish looking oak floor for about 2 bucks a foot, and they also have the unfinished stuff...
I probably wouldnt put wood in the kitchen, vinyl or ceramic is better in there

Answer 5

We just removed 700 sf of laminate flooring and replaced it with Bruce pre-finished tongue-in-groove flooring. It was about $4.25/sf which might seem pricey. But we've had it in a few other rooms for over 7 years and it's wearing beautifully...unlike the Pergo we tore out that was under 2 years old. I don't know which flooring you're looking at, but if it comes with a lifetime warranty, that alone would sell me on the product. Replacing something in a few years just isn't an easy thing to do...especially when my dining room set had to find new living quarters for a week...and if they're willing to stand behind the product, that's a major selling point.

Answer 6

With laminate, you can't refinish it. There just isn't enough real wood to sand away. With the real wood, you can refinish it if there's a boo-boo.......like scratches.

Lifetime guarantee is a joke. Read the guarantee very carefully.......there's often a prorated schedule, all the first year and then quickly drops to where you are paying more and more as each year passes. Or there is an "exception" clause that covers just about everything.

When it comes to floors, don't go cheap. They take a lot of abuse.

Answer 7

I put in that kind of flooring in my house and i would recommend getting the product that's not the cheapest but not the most something in between