Laminate vs. Engineered Flooring?

[Jeff Guay]

Hi, I'd like to replace the carpet downstairs in our raised ranch with wood flooring. Since this will be installed on a concrete floor true hardwood is out. I know the Pergo type stuff can be installed on concrete but I'm not real impressed by the product. I've heard of engineered flooring but I'm not familiar with it. Is it better than the laminate type flooring? Can it be installed on concrete? Is it very expensive and where do I get it? Thanks, Jeff

[houseslave]

Pergo is a name brand for laminate flooring. There are other makers of the material. You may like theirs better. I used Pergo in my bathroom and didn't like working with it and wouldn't use it again. I did a search for engineered flooring and it seems to be a natural wood products with a super tough topcoat.

I've never heard of this material before but it looks very interesting.

[Art Begun]

What ever you do, read the warranties. Mannington's seem more reasonable than Pergo and some others from Europe. Don't believe lifetime warranty unless you read the fine print.

concrete?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I recently installed Mannington engineered wood in the lower level of my raised ranch. To install over concrete, you lay down a poly barrier, then the wood on top. The tongue and groove joints are glued to each other. I like it much better than the laminates for appearance. For information and dealers, go to

I did the family room and hallway, about 450 square feet. Took me two weekends to take up the old carpet and then put down the floor. The dealer will lend you a simple installation kit, a block to tap the boards in place and a puller to use on the ends where you cannot put the block to tap, spaces for the edges. Other tools you need are a saw to cut them to length at the end of a row, hammer, tools to remove the baseboards, and a saw to cut the bottom of the door trim so the floor can slip under it. I bought a dovetail saw ($10) in Home Depot that is made just for that type of work.

IMO, the flooring sold at a local decorating store was superior than what the big box stores have. Better selection of styles and colors, prices about the same. In addition to the price of the flooring, you will add 15% to 25% for the underlayment, glue, trim, etc.

If you go with Mannington, I'll try to answer any questions about how to install. The dealer would have charge me about $900 to $1100 for the job. Ed [e-mail]