Any budget alternatives to real hard wood floors???

[busy mom]

We are looking at a inexpensive floor option, that looks like wood, is durable and easy to install. Any suggestions???

 

[DawnM]

We couldn't find anything that looked enough like wood that wasn't wood, so we put in wood.

DH put it in himself to save $$ and it is GORGEOUS!

Dawn

 

[Kellydelly]

laminate wood flooring

 

[mikehn]

You will be amazed at the price variance on installed hardwood floors from one retailer to the next. The price of the wood is probably similar across the board, but there is a vast difference in the cost of labor to install. Just check around and you will see.

 

[jgreco]

We have the engineered plank wood floors from Bruce. They are gorgeous and 1/2 the price.

 

[luvmy3]

We have the engineered plank wood floors from Bruce. They are gorgeous and 1/2 the price.

I know someone who recently put these in their home (not sure if it is Bruce or not) and they are gorgeous. If they didn't tell me they were engineered wood I would have just assumed they were solid wood floors, they don't look any different.

 

[DawnM]

Half the price of what?

We bought sold oak Bruce flooring at Lowe's for $3/sq. ft. on sale. These are not engineered but solid hardwood. DH installed them himself. The cost was about the same price as carpet or laminate, maybe even a little less.

I believe it is this one:
http://www.lowes.com:80/pd_48113-97...|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&facetInfo=Solid

Dawn

We have the engineered plank wood floors from Bruce. They are gorgeous and 1/2 the price.

 

[DawnM]

The top layer IS hardwood, which is why they look like hardwood.

They aren't bad, but you can only refinish them a couple of times, which can be a drawback if you need to refinish more than that. But usually it isn't a problem.

Dawn

I know someone who recently put these in their home (not sure if it is Bruce or not) and they are gorgeous. If they didn't tell me they were engineered wood I would have just assumed they were solid wood floors, they don't look any different.

 

[soonerfan2008]

I hate laminate because it is so loud. However, after visiting a friend's $$$$$ home and seeing her resiliant plank floor, I think that is the route we will go (can't do real wood due to kids/dog). I could not believe that what she has is basically a vinyl peel and stick floor. They used the Allure product from Home Depot--it is textured, not hollow sounding like laminate, looks wonderful.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

Half the price of what?

We bought sold oak Bruce flooring at Lowe's for $3/sq. ft. on sale. These are not engineered but solid hardwood. DH installed them himself. The cost was about the same price as carpet or laminate, maybe even a little less.



Dawn

As long as its not in a traffic area of the house, you will be fine..

 

[DawnM]

We will be fine either way. We put them in almost 4 years ago now and they look like we put them in yesterday. We walk on them every day.

In fact, our last house was built in 1910 and had the original hardwood oak flooring in it. They were still in excellent shape.

Dawn

As long as its not in a traffic area of the house, you will be fine..

 

[HHSTigerFan]

We will be fine either way. We put them in almost 4 years ago now and they look like we put them in yesterday. We walk on them every day.

In fact, our last house was built in 1910 and had the original hardwood oak flooring in it. They were still in excellent shape.

Dawn

It should look good after 4 years... but there is a reason a product like that comes with a 15 year warranty and quality stuff comes with 25 or 30 years..

 

[DawnM]

The OP is asking for opinions on lower end wood LIKE substances....I personally think that real hardwood is a better alternative to wood LIKE substances.

The product comes with a warranty on the coating on top.....we don't expect that to last at all.....we do expect to refinish it. We also don't plan to be in this house longer than 10 more years, so honestly, it isn't that big of a deal to us.

Dawn

It should look good after 4 years... but there is a reason a product like that comes with a 15 year warranty and quality stuff comes with 25 or 30 years..

 

[Frannie115]

We just ordered the click-n-lock laminate wood floor for our bedroom. Never thought we'd go laminate but the price was amazing and looked good in the store. However, salesperson did agree with me that it does not really add value to your home like hardwood. Oh, well.

Last year we put the engineered wood floor in living room and that looks great too.

 

[pixiewings71]

We have laminate, it's bamboo laminate. We wanted bamboo but with all our pets (cats & dogs) and kids in and out we thought laminate would be better. I think we got ours for about $1.67 a square foot, that was about 5 years ago and I can't remember what installation was. We had to rebuild after a fire destroyed most of our house (the only "room" that survived was our master closet) so the install was built into the scope for repairs.

Anyway, our floors look great and have been here for 5 years. Everyone compliments us on them. They are super easy to clean too.

 

[luvmy3]

The top layer IS hardwood, which is why they look like hardwood.
They aren't bad, but you can only refinish them a couple of times, which can be a drawback if you need to refinish more than that. But usually it isn't a problem.

Dawn

Yes I know, but they are not solid wood floors therefore they will have differences like what you said about refinishing. However if you want just the look of real hardwood they are an affordable alternative which is what the OP wants.

 

[Shanan]

I am in the process of putting in tile floors that look like wood floors. We just love them and would do it again.

 

[buzz5985]

It should look good after 4 years... but there is a reason a product like that comes with a 15 year warranty and quality stuff comes with 25 or 30 years..

All the warranty covers is the color. Not the finish. Huge difference.

 

[neatokimmo]

We are looking at a inexpensive floor option, that looks like wood, is durable and easy to install. Any suggestions???

What is your budget, how much do you need, and where is it going?

At one house I have the bruce hardwood floor and it's still beautiful after 10 years. At the other, I have 68 yr old hardwoods that are so seasoned they are like concrete. They are imperfect which makes them more beautiful.

In the older house we are building out the basement. Because its a concrete subfloor in a half buried room, we are going to use inexpensive laminate that sort of looks like wood (I don't think any laminate looks like real wood).

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/ca...&categoryId=500&sectionId=473&subCategoryId=0

If I were doing an upper level, I'm super fond of this:

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=3877

or this

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=2051

I personally wouldn't buy engineered stuff including bamboo.

 

[fakereadhed]

We were unable to use wood or laminate in our kitchen because our house is an old Victorian and the floor is uneven. The installer said they wouldn't interlock properly. We went with peel and stick floor planks, much to my DH's horror- he comes from a family of contractors. The floor is beautiful! We get compliments on our "wood floor" and they can't believe it's vinyl. It's been down for 5 years and still looks great. I have 2 large dogs- no scratches and I'm sure all the times they have dumped their water bowl would have ruined wood or laminate by now. Cost under $200 to do our kitchen and dining area.
Here is a thread with people's pictures of the same flooring. We have Golden Oak.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flooring/msg0911023312366.html