Laminate Flooring in upstairs bedrooms - UPDATE,samples arrived - color choice now

[Jeninindy]

Good Afternoon,

We need to replace 10 year old builder grade carpet in the entire house and are considering replacing the carpets in the bedrooms with good quality laminate flooring. The cost will be about equal laminate vs carpeting especially after purchasing some area rugs for the rugs.. DS10 does have Asthma so eliminating the carpet would be a good thing for him.

My concerns are:

1. Resale - would you immediately not buy a house because of not having carpet in the upstairs bedrooms.
2. Noise issues - we plan on putting a thick underlayment to reduce noise transmission - Do you have laminate on the second floor and if so how noisy is it?

It would be a DIY project for dh and I and the brand we are looking out has the Perego locking system (Toklo) so it would be easy installation. The floor we are looking at is rated as AC5, which is rated for high traffic commercial use. http://flooring.builddirect.com/Laminate-Flooring/Result_N_4294967290+4294966291+94_Ne_90.aspx

Thanks for your input.

 

[TwingleMum]

Carpet is not a plus for me. I think of all the germs and such hiding in there. I put laminate flooring in my twins bedroom. I didnt have a lot of $$ and the salesman actually recommended it. He said it was more durable than regular hardwood and would hold up to 3 boys antics. I have had the floor over 2 yrs and I'm very happy with it.

 

[Darcy03231]

I won't buy a house that has carpet it in. When we were looking we told our RE Agent it was either hardwood or laminate throughout. With a lot of people have allergy/asthma I would go with the laminate. We have area rugs on all of our hardwood floors that cover almost all the room and leave about a foot of floor showing all the way around.

 

[eeyore65]

I think it would help resale. We put laminate going up our stairs and in the loft/playroom. I never noticed a noise issue and I love that floor. It is a very high traffic area and it is so easy to clean. My DS has dropped and rolled all kinds of toys and substances on it and it still looks new.

 

[missj1975]

I can't offer an opinion on laminate upstairs because I have a ranch style house but I do wanted to say putting laminate in is an easy project if you are a handy person.

My boyfriend and I installed laminate in my front room one Saturday. We started early and finished about 6 pm. The only difficult parts were trimming the pieces to fit around my fireplace and trimming the last row.

I absolutely love the look and might tear up the crappy carpet in my bedroom and lay down laminate in the future. I don't remember what brand of laminate I bought but I do remember I bought it from Home Depot on Sale for 99 cents a square foot. The padding underneath cost 49 cents a square foot. Of course I bought way too much padding since it came in pre-measured rolls but no biggie, I have found many uses for the leftover padding, like packaging material for ebay stuff.

Anyway, just wanted to say laminate is a good choice for a do it yourself project.

 

[nuttypretzel]

Bedrooms are the one place that laminates work really well. Less traffic and no source of water. We also removed all carpets from our home because of asthma issues. For the first floor we have ceramic tile everywhere. Upstairs we have tile in the hallway and bathrooms and laminate in the bedrooms. We selected the Kendall brand laminate because they seal the edges with wax so the planks won't come apart from moisture. It has been 4 years and the floors still look perfect.
You have to look at laminate as being the same as carpet. It can be changed out just as easily so if a buyer wants carpet it is no problem. Pull it up and replace it.
I don't find the laminate flooring to be any noisier on the first floor than the carpet was. The ceramic tile in the hallway transmits more noise than the laminate in the rooms.

 

[Christine]

I didn't do laminate but removed all my carpet and put hardwood throughout the house (upstairs bedrooms included). I love it and it seems so much cleaner. I would never want to buy a house and inherit someones yucky carpet.

 

[Jeninindy]

Thanks for all of the input!!!

We have regular hardwood in the family room and entryway - I have been disappointed with the way it hasn't taken the wear and tear from the family and the dog.

We are waiting for samples of the floor to come before I order online but going with the laminate for the bedrooms definitely seems like a good move.....

Thanks again...

 

[raysnkaysmom]

I'm one of those people that can't tell the difference between hardwoods and laminate, so it wouldnt' bother me at all. We are in the process of taking up carpet and replacing as well... just not sure which direction to go

 

[Jeninindy]

We selected the Kendall brand laminate because they seal the edges with wax so the planks won't come apart from moisture. It has been 4 years and the floors still look perfect.

The type we are looking at also has the wax sealed edges......I will take a look at the Kendall brand as well. Which of their floors did you select?

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[quasar4legs]

We have no carpet in our house. Both my son and I have allergies and we have found having hardwood floors wonderful. They are easy to keep clean, help with the allergies and if somebody spills something it is no big deal.
We would never have carpet again.

Trish

 

[Sammy]

DH and I put laminate in our living room last year and I LOVE it! We did it ourselves and for a 24 x 12 living room, it only took us a weekend to complete. We have three kids, a big dog who likes to do 90 mph "runs" through the house, and three cats...and the floor is holding up beautifully. Just a vaccuum and damp mop and its good to go! I want to rip up the carpet in our bedroom, but I was wondering about the noise issue with laminate up on the second floor.

We got our floor through Lumbar Liquidators....we found a better quality than what we were able to find at Home Depot, at a much better price. Don't know if there are any in your area, but they do have a website and a mail catalogue.

 

[Disney Doll]

I am assuming that when you say laminate you mean one of the ones that looks like hardwood. If so, I wouldn't have a problem with that.

 

[disykat]

I'm interested to hear that people think noise isn't an issue. We ended up with carpet again, despite our allergies, because we were worried about noise. High ceilings, a barky dog, lots of musical instruments... we needed all the sound absorbtion we could get.

 

[ilovejack02]

We put in a higher grade of laminate wood. It has beveled edges and looks like the real thing. Holds up great with the kiddos and the dog.

 

[Jeninindy]

Ok, I ordered the samples yesterday afternoon and they already arrived today via Fed Express Overnight from the company, which is in Canada.

They look incredible. Very thick bases - I have taken keys to the top, grabbed the dog's paws and scratched his nails across it, dropped them etc etc.

Now I need to decide on the color. I ordered 5 samples and rle out 2 of the colors so far. My two favorite are on the opposite ends of the spectrum the are:

http://flooring.builddirect.com/Laminate-Flooring/toklo_12mm_flooring-Peruvian-Gingerwood/Additional_6951_0_10056272_3736_0.aspx

and

http://flooring.builddirect.com/Laminate-Flooring/toklo_12mm_flooring-Classic-Maple-Merbau/Additional_6951_0_10068424_5470_0.aspx

but this one isn't bad either
http://flooring.builddirect.com/Laminate-Flooring/toklo_12mm_flooring-Sumba-Teak/Additional_6951_0_10056274_3740_0.aspx

All of the bedrooms would have the same floor. Kids room's are about 12x10 each, my bedroom is 19x14 with a small hallway with two step down.

Any favorites? The downstairs has Bruce hardwood in gunstock http://www.discountflooring.com/shop/hardwood/bruce/bristol_strip/10012915.htm, which you really wouldn't see from the upstairs, but if I really like this stuff in the bedrooms, I may tear up the beat up hardwoods (that need refinishing) and replace it with more of the same in the whole downstairs. I am torn currently, but I am sure dh will have an opinion when he gets home.

 

[luvmy3]

I like the last choice for the laminate.

 

[lulugirl]

I prefer darker woods, so I really like the "classic maple"

 

[OctMtnWoods]

Ok, I ordered the samples yesterday afternoon and they already arrived today via Fed Express Overnight from the company, which is in Canada.

They look incredible. Very thick bases - I have taken keys to the top, grabbed the dog's paws and scratched his nails across it, dropped them etc etc.

Now I need to decide on the color. I ordered 5 samples and rle out 2 of the colors so far. My two favorite are on the opposite ends of the spectrum the are:

http://flooring.builddirect.com/Laminate-Flooring/toklo_12mm_flooring-Peruvian-Gingerwood/Additional_6951_0_10056272_3736_0.aspx

and

http://flooring.builddirect.com/Laminate-Flooring/toklo_12mm_flooring-Classic-Maple-Merbau/Additional_6951_0_10068424_5470_0.aspx

but this one isn't bad either
http://flooring.builddirect.com/Laminate-Flooring/toklo_12mm_flooring-Sumba-Teak/Additional_6951_0_10056274_3740_0.aspx

All of the bedrooms would have the same floor. Kids room's are about 12x10 each, my bedroom is 19x14 with a small hallway with two step down.

Any favorites? The downstairs has Bruce hardwood in gunstock http://www.discountflooring.com/shop/hardwood/bruce/bristol_strip/10012915.htm, which you really wouldn't see from the upstairs, but if I really like this stuff in the bedrooms, I may tear up the beat up hardwoods (that need refinishing) and replace it with more of the same in the whole downstairs. I am torn currently, but I am sure dh will have an opinion when he gets home.

May I ask what company / brand / line those samples are? I would like to see what other colors they have for myself. Thanks.