laminate floors

[longshot]

are they worth the cheap price or should I spend the extra $ to lay hard wood? what about in a bathroom? hard to beat a pre-finished price & look of the laminate at only a buck/ sq ft

Rob

[Leon]

Laminate flooring is cheap and durable but has that look. Ultimately it will wear out and have to be replaced. Wood floors can normally be resurfaced after years of use. One last tidbit. I was considering a premium laminate flooring that had a fabulous warranty. 50 years IIRC. When talking to the local flooring store, they indicated that a home with ceramic tile or wood flooring increases its appeal to perspective buyers where as laminate flooring typically adds little if any. I ended up having the tile put down for less money.

[PDQ]

| Laminate flooring is cheap and durable but has that look. I ended up = having=20 | the tile put down for less money. |=20

When looking into the bathroom I always remind myself that the dribbles = on the floor by the toilet eventually add up to a slight odor that does = not smell very woody. As a result I always recommend tile and in-floor = heating or a nice bath mat.

--=20

PDQ

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[roger garber]

[Robatoy]

Laminate flooring can be very good quality. In fact, it can be very heavy duty commercial traffic grade....another Wreckoid already mentioned Wilsonart. The cheap stuff?... just that: cheap stuff. It just won't last and cannot be refinished. The commercial high grade stuff is more money than real wood.

I don't mind a wooden floor that is worn. It adds character. That just doesn't happen with cheap laminate. It ends up lookning like crap.

FWIW

0¿0 ?

Rob

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Real wood is always the best if that is an option. Next, I'd go with engineered wood. I used Mannington almost two years ago and I'm very happy with it.

I put it over a concrete slab so real wood is not an option from a practically POV.

[xris]

I've installed a couple laminate (cheap not premium) floors. They go down blazing fast and look fine, but they don't look like solid wood.

I've also helped lay a couple of solid wood floors. Recently a friend got a deal on B grade maple... we threw out a few pieces, cut down some long warped ones, and ignored a few short missing sections of tongue/groove, but the price was right ($CAD 2.50 ft²) and the floor looks great. My friend recommended buying the pneumatic nailer required for the job rather than renting... be prepared for many weekends of work.

[Paul in MN]

Hi Rob. I'm looking at the laminate also. I had some $2.50 /sq ft. put in a hallway, bathroom a couple of years ago & it has held up O.K. The thing to remember is to get the "green" or waterproof for near the shower or toilet. I did not and have to be very careful to clean up any water left around after showering and make sure the small rug outside the shower is hung up after or else the joints will swell up. I am going to put a cheap laminate in the living room as we are planning a rebuild in 2-3 years so I don't want to invest a lot. We will be going for hardwood (real) during the rebuild. There is no substitute for the real stuff in my opinion. When you have laminate it looks like laminate. Not that it looks bad, but it won't be confused with real wood.

My $.02 worth,

Paul

[longshot]

I am quite happy with the looks for that price. I don't live in New England where no one would skimp on any type of material for fear of being ridiculed by their neighbors, friends , & colleagues...( I did construction on the coast of Maine, NH, & Mass for years.)

[Zeke]

(snip) I've seen this before, ask them what they put into the mop bucket. 10 to

1 they were using bleach or some other harsh chemical. Disolves the laminate from the inside out. Vinegar and water only on laminate floors, or else. The cheap snap together (no glue) floors are worst for this.

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