"Real" hardwood floors vs. laminate hardwood...pros/cons

[marshallandcartersmo]

What are the differences....besides the huge price difference!?!

Is laminate hardwood easy to spot? Does it hold us as well? Get knicked/scratched/stained as easy?? Does it look cheap?

Our house is not very pricey....just your basic 3 bedroom middle class home. We are thinking of removing the carpet, but the price of real hardwood is CRAZY expensive!

Just looking for how well laminate hardwood would hold up to two DS's and an 85 pound dog.....or if we should bite the bullet and go for the real stuff.

thanks

 

[okeydokey]

We have laminate in our home. It was there when we bought the house. I love it. If you spill a bit of paint on it, you just scrape it right up with your fingernail. It is extremely durable.

We have friends with hard wood and their dog has scratched the floor all up and it has lost it's shine and needs to be refinished already.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have had both. The hardwood holds up and the laminate scratches badly and chips.

Now I do admit that the dogs nails have faintly scratched the hardwood we have now however it really holds up to the punishment we put it through. We are very hard on floors.

We did not have a choice with this hardwood or the laminate in the other house. So quality of the laminate was pretty poor even though it was the "in" thing.

I have heard Pergo really holds up however I am leary of the water problem it has. We seem to always be splashing water from the fridge drinking dispenser, dog water bowls and the MUD and wet paws. We do dry the paws however sometimes.....it is just not enough.

If you plan on staying in your home for a long while I recommend laying out the cash for some high grade hardwood. It will last for a long, long time.

Anyway that is my experience.

 

[brittsmum1998]

We just redid our SC home w/ bamboo laminate. We were told by the salesman at the flooring store that laminate holds up better w/ dogs.

I really didn't want to put out all that money for the downstairs flooring. I figured sand from the beach, running around, I didn't want to have to put that much effort into it.

I don't want to be holding my breath every time my dog chases a ball or Britt comes in w/ sand on her flip flops.

 

[Pakey]

I had Pergo and would not do it again. We now have tile floors.

 

[mamamary]

About 1 1/2 years ago we put hardwood floors in our living/dining room. I kid you not by the end of the first day I saw scratches from Baxter. After the first few months I decided that I wouldn't dwell on it but I just never knew the amount of scratches that would be put onto it. Many people told me that it would hold up to dogs nails. Maybe I just was unlucky - I don't know

 

[disneybound2010]

We have laminate in our hallway and in DS's bedroom and are planning to redo the kitchen floor with it. I love it! I grew up with hardwood floors and they were so scratched and dull from 3 children and a houseful of animals. My parents were constantly trying to keep up with them to no avail.

Our laminate,on the other hand, has held up beautifully, which was a big concern with all the foot traffic and various children and pets running about. It's easy to sweep up and then I go over the floors with Windex once a week. The shine lasts and they look great!

 

[tlbwriter]

You refer to it as "laminate hardwood" - you do know that it's not wood at all, right?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

So what kind of laminate do you folks have that holds up so well?

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I have laminate in our kitchen and I have been happy with it. It does dent easy though if you drop something on it. I had rather have had real hardwood, but for the money this was a good choice for us.

 

[momof1princess]

i have pergo laminate flooring throughout my house, and i LOVE it. it's very easy to clean, doesn't stain, and has held up very well the past 10 years. there's a small bad spot in our spare bedroom where a water leak from the bathroom next door warped the flooring, but that would have happened with hardwood as well. i've had no issues with it, and wouldn't hesitate to use it again.

 

[si-am]

We have Pergo in our kitchen floor and have had no problems with it. It was installed just before we bought the house, I think, which makes it 3-4 years old and it still looks great.

We have two cats and the people who owned the house before we did had two dogs.

 

[RadioNate]

We chose laminate in our house in FL over real hard wood. Cost was absolutely a factor but not a huge one because a good chuck of the cost was being covered by insurance money from TS Fay.

So far it has held up beautifully. We've had renters in the house for 3 months, they have 2 dogs and cats so I am a little concerned but it held up under the wear and tear of our pets and kids!

My mom and cousin have real wood and it is pretty scratched up. My mom dropped a pot and put a huge dent in her wood.

Good laminate isn't super cheap but it does hold up well. The previous owners put cheap laminate in our house and it looked cheap and didn't wear well at all.

Here's the stuff we put it. I'll see if the renters have destroyed it in 2 weeks.

I couldn't get the photo to show up right. Ours is Tarkett. It was a good choice for us especially given the circumstances when we got it. It looked good and now that we have renters I'm glad they aren't destroying actual $$$ hard wood!

Real wood and humidity can be an issue in FL. But I do know that both our old laminate and my friends hard wood had equal looking water damage from Fay.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alisonkl/5055226604/in/set-72157625102608846/

 

[disneybound2010]

To be honest, I'm not sure what brand it is! my FIL had it here when he turned the house over to us and DH installed it. I was just happy to have floors(the house was a complete mess!) I'll have to ask DH what brand it is, but we've had it for 3 years and no real chips, dents or fading for us.

 

[shortbun]

Yes, it's easy to spot. We recently bought a new home and when we walked into a house with laminate, we walked out. We have stained wood floors that need to be refinished in our new home and I much prefer them. Are you trying to sell? I'd buy new but inexpensive carpet rather than put in new wood floors. If you're staying, get the wood even if you have to do it a few rooms at a time.

 

[sue1013]

If you are planning on staying in your home for a long time get the hardwood. I've read many posts about hardwood and scratches I don't get it. 28 years, 2 kids, mulitiple dogs usually 2 at a time 60 lb average size my floors were refinished in 1990 now are just getting to the point they are starting to look like they could use it again in the next few years. Refinishing is no where near the cost of replacing these floors are 70 years old laminate won't hold up that long. If you have laminate and like it I'm happy for you but it does not look like hardwood.

 

[ksjayhawks]

I have hardwood and wouldn't trade it for laminate. We just added hardwood in the dining room and had the floors refinished--we sanded down and changed color since we were adding the other room. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had to sand all the way down. It had been almost 8 years since we had it done--with a dog, kids, grandkids, and my mom with her walkers.

Around here putting laminate in my price range house would be a waste as it would reduce the sales price if we would ever sell and would reduce the number of people who might potentially make an offer as people expect hardwood in certain price ranges, not laminate. I know I would not make an offer--or would drastically reduce my offer on a house with laminate versus hardwood. It just has a different look to it.

I would check out resales in your area in your price range and see what type of flooring is being put in. That might help you decide.

 

[cabloom]

When we built our lake house, we chose laminate because we have two active dogs, and knew that most of our guests would have dogs or kids or both. I'm the type that scratched up floors would drive me crazy!

We love them. It's been 3 years with lots of traffic and they look like new. We couldn't be happier. Most of our company comes in and says "Oh, I love your hardwood!" and is surprised when we tell them it's laminate. So I guess it must look pretty good!

 

[punkin]

I have hardwood and wouldn't trade it for laminate. We just added hardwood in the dining room and had the floors refinished--we sanded down and changed color since we were adding the other room. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had to sand all the way down. It had been almost 8 years since we had it done--with a dog, kids, grandkids, and my mom with her walkers.

Around here putting laminate in my price range house would be a waste as it would reduce the sales price if we would ever sell and would reduce the number of people who might potentially make an offer as people expect hardwood in certain price ranges, not laminate. I know I would not make an offer--or would drastically reduce my offer on a house with laminate versus hardwood. It just has a different look to it.

I would check out resales in your area in your price range and see what type of flooring is being put in. That might help you decide.

So how often do you think hardwood should get refinished normally? Would laminate have to be completely replaced during the same time frame?

 

[kirstenb1]

We have both hardwood (house), and laminate (upstairs detached garage guestroom). You can spot the difference. But our garage room rarely gets used, so it was a good economical choice.

But, more to the point, a good friend of ours also has both, and her dogs have scratched the heck out of the hardwood. Seriously, new construction, and 3 yrs later, she had the entire 4000 sq feet refinished!!

She has laminate (can't remember the brand, she bought it at Sam's Club) in her basement, and it really looks good. It has a great deepgrained depth to it, like real hardwood. And her dogs haven't put a scratch in it.

However, she and I have both noticed when you damp-mop the laminate, there are faint water-stains. So, I guess I'm saying there are pros and cons to each.