Pergo laminate floors: Lowe's vs. Home Depot

[Ray K]

Lowe's sells a line called American Cottage. HD sells a line called Prestige. A carton of either contains 7 planks, covering 17.59 sq ft. Each plank is identical in all three dimensions, and the planks interlock with each other. The only visible difference is than the American Cottage comes with a blue attached foam underlayment; the Prestige's foam is white. Lowe's charges $59.27 per carton ($3.37 per sq ft), vs. HD's $52.24 per carton ($2.97 per sq ft).

Using a key, I tried to scratch the surfaces of samples I've bought; both are equally resistant.

Ignoring any special promotions or discounts for opening a credit card, can anyone see a reason (related to the quality of the product) to buy the more expensive Lowe's product?

Thanks,

Ray

[Frank Robinette]

No difference in composition lowes sells the same product as home depot, but the box is different, and the color selection is different. Same locking system and wear layer... My suggestion is go home depot

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Why not try a floor covering dealer to see what they have? I bought some engineered hardwood at a great price from a local dealer less than a mile from my house. They can beat HD or Lowes any day. And have a better selection.

[Ray K]

My original plan was to go with engineered hardwood, but Consumer's Report's tests showed that laminates are superior to regular and engineered hardwood with regard to dents and scratches.

A HD salesman made a very vivid impression on me. He took his car key and scraped across an engineered hardwood sample. The finish was damaged. He did the same with a Pergo sample - not a hint of damage. The difference was very dramatic.

I did try a local store; no bargains. What did impress me was a Bruce laminate that was about 1/2" thick. Very quiet when you walk on it, even without a foam underlayment. But I didn't care for some aspects of the appearance. So I'll go with the Pergo Prestige. It has the nice higher gloss I prefer, and it comes in the oak appearances I like.

[Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov]

True it's tougher, but we put down a laminate similar to Pergo and hated it. Biggest complaunt was the noise reflection and the noise from the dogs walking on it. It was also very hard to clean, to our satisfaction. We tried numerous products but it always had a dull lustre is spots. A clean wet towel (water

0nly) was the onlt thing that would leave a good look to the floor.

On the next house we did a hardowwd and found it to be much better. Both quiter and easier to clean. IMO, the Pergo must be so dammed hard it's a perfect sound reflector. The hardwood is apparently a bit softer and attenuates the reflections. I compare it to running on concrete versus running on asphalt. Both would hurt lke hell if you smacked you noggin on them, but the asphalt has just enough give to be easier on the feet.

If I was installing in prep for a sale, I'd use the laminate. If I was staying and wanted beauty, I'd use the hardwood.

YMMV

[ndenning]

Although I'm sure that hardwood flooring is superior in many ways, thus the much higher price, there is a difference between "laminate similar to Pergo" and Pergo. We have not yet installed our Pergo laminate, but we have two friends who are home builders who both said Pergo is different from other laminate. Also, according to the Pergo Web site, if you use anything other than plain water or a water/ vinegar solution to clean the floor with, you will dull the look of the flooring. I would assume most laminate is similar in that respect. So, that is not a flaw in the laminate; it's by design.

Also, I did some tests on some Pergo samples and found an interesting thing: Scratches did show up somewhat on the smooth-surface samples, but I could not get any marks to show up on the textured samples.

To the OP: We had a similar experience at HD. The sales associate was very knowledgeable and pointed out that the Pergo Prestige is 10mm thick, which is the thickest on the market I think. The underlayment already being attached is a big plus also. I'm very glad we went there before settling for what we saw at Lowe's

[Ray K]

Since my original post, a Pergo tech support guy said the locking systems on American Cottage vs Prestige are different. I mentioned that I had bought sample of each and they interlocked perfectly. He said that was because they are just samples.

At first I thought that the long edges may have the same locking systems, but the short end edges don't. (Samples don't have the short edges.) But I stuck an end tongue from Prestige into the groove on an American Cottage and they interlocked perfectly. Maybe there's a subtle difference, but I certainly can't see it.