Tell me about laminate flooring please

[sherry7]

We plan on redoing the flooring in our entire house sometime this winter. My "builder grade" carpeting is 9.5 years old, and is totally shot. Plus, the bathroom are done in linoleum, which I don't like. We have 3 indoor cats and a 2 year old DD, so I'd like to completely get rid of all carpet and have floors that are easier to keep clean.

Our square footage is probably around 1500 square feet. I'd love to have real hardwood floors, but I'm sure that would be cost prohibitive. So, I'm thinking laminate flooring is the way to go. I've only done a small amount of research, but it seems like laminate prices (not including installation) can go from $1 to $10 a square foot. Why the huge difference in prices?

So, when picking out a laminate floor, what things should I be aware of? Is laminate a good choice for bathrooms, or is tile better for that? How about the kitchen? The laundry room? The half bath/powder room? My downstairs floor plan is semi open, so I'd rather it not look chopped up with different types of flooring.

I'm also very confused about what to do with my stairway. It's a center stairway, so you see it as soon as you walk in the front door. Right now, it's carpeted, which looks fine because other areas near it have the same carpeting. But, if we do the rest of the area in laminate, I think a carpeted staircase would look weird. After all, it would be the only carpeting left in the whole house. The actual staircase (under the carpeting) is just rough lumber, so it can't be just painted or stained to look nice. Any suggestions on what to do with that stairway? I'd love to have a nice wooden stairway, but I'm guessing that would cost a small fortune, wouldn't it?

I should add that we don't plan on doing this work ourselves, but hiring someone to do it. I've heard that laminate flooring is easy to install, but both DH and I are extremely UN-handy. Seriously, it takes us an hour just to hang a picture on the wall.

Any suggestions, tips, advice, etc will be greatly appreciated.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

My advice? Don't do laminate. It's not that attractive and other types of flooring are so much nicer. Explore other options, such as bamboo or hardwood. It may not be as expensive as you think, especially because your square footage is not that large. Get some estimates. Any flooring place can advise you as to what to do with problem areas, such as your stairs.

I would use tile in a bathroom.

 

[Pesky]

We looked into laminate a while ago when weighing laminate versus hardwood (we ended up doing neither given another huge expense that came up). We opted against laminate because at least then (this might have change), if something happened to a portion of the flooring, there was no resurfacing or ripping out the affected board but the whole dang thing had to come up. I didn't like the all or nothing so definitely ask if that is still a factor nowadays. I agree about looking into cheaper options like bamboo or even cork but make sure to do your research about anything to understand all the pros and cons. As for the stairs, I'd like do the wood on the stairs and then do a carpet runner.

 

[tajz90]

We have laminate in our kitchen. It's nice. My parents just laid laminate throughout their entire house including upstairs and on the stairs. It really looks like wood. They replaced real hardwood with the laminate.

We have real hardwood through most of our house (not including the kitchen). It cost us a fortune when we got it. I didn't know how we were going to afford it. 20 years later.... Turns out it was quite cost effective.

Good luck

 

[LJSquishy]

Laminate flooring has come a long way in the last 10 years. If cost was no issue, obviously you would choose hardwoods, but they can be very expensive.

Since you have somewhat of an open concept floorplan, you will want to go with laminate in the kitchen. The installers can do laminate on your stairs as well so don't worry about that! I would definitely do ceramic/porcelain tile in both bathrooms as well as the laundry room. Laminate is totally ruined if liquid sits on it without being cleaned up (like in the event of a leak that you don't notice right away) so keep it out of areas like bathrooms & laundry rooms. I would leave installation up to the professionals for the laminate...now if you want to tackle the ceramic tile yourself, that is an option. My husband and I did our laundry room floor & our kitchen backsplash ourselves and found it really easy to do.

 

[tajz90]

There is a sealer you can put in/on the joints that keeps it sealed from accidents. I've had no issue (knock on wood) for the 10 years I've had it in my kitchen.

 

[Suz D]

Our friends just installed tile that looks like wood. They did it themselves and it looks great. It's a dark color. I don't know about the cost and they did the work themselves.

 

[ssawka]

We had laminate flooring put in several years ago. I think it's been 9 or 10 years now. I loved it in the beginning. It was put in well and I loved that you didn't really have to worry about "dinging" it. We also had really think padding put under it so it wasn't so hard on your feet (our house is built on a concrete slab, so this was a big issue for me). However, recently a few of the boards in the kitchen have now started to buckle. I have extras, but as PPs have already stated, It is pretty difficult to replace just a few boards.

 

[Debbie7452]

I have a couple of bedrooms with laminate. I like the look, but it got damaged SOO easily. Plastic under the bed storage boxes left deep gouges when pulled out and then pushed back under the bed! Now we didn't buy the expensive kind, but it wasn't the cheapest either.

I have some flooring to redo downstairs and I'm considering those wood look vinyl "planks" (one of the brands is "Allure") they look pretty nice and are supposed to be indestructible.

 

[Bell30012]

I have laminate throughout my house except the bathrooms. I love it. People are always complimenting about how nice it looks.

One of the bedrooms I used the really inexpensive stuff that they sell at Home Depot. I think it ran about 69¢ a square foot. All the rest is Pergo. The difference between the cheaper priced stuff is in the thickness and connection ease. My living room was done several years ago and there has never been an issue with seams.

 

[Styx Fan]

We had a product called DuraCeramic installed in our eat-in kitchen, front hall and 1/2 bath almost 2 years ago. We went with this product for many reasons, but one of the reasons was we didn't want the coldness and hardness of ceramic. We didn't want wood in the potentially wet areas. And our floor plan runs together enough we thought it would look strange and cut-up if we used different floors. A friend had used this product a couple of years before us. It is a laminate, made out of composite materials. Don't remember what right now and it's too late to go looking it up

DuraCeramic comes in many colors and looks like tile. It can be installed with or without grout. We went with grout, my friend without. We just liked the look better with. And that way if a square gets damaged, we can hack it out and replace it. My friend has heard hers in about 4 years. In the beginning, they had a few tiles replaced due to some cracking. We have had no real issues yet. It is softer than real tile, so it can scratch, but we only have a couple. And our family can be a bit hard on floors.

 

[taymaesmom]

I wouldn't do the laminate either. We have it in most of our house and with pets, it shows every single pet hair. Its awful. I sweep everyday sometimes twice a day, its that bad and I only have one little dog. While I loved the way it looks when its first installed over time its hard to keep looking shiny. My cousin just put it in her whole house, I warned her against it as she is a clean freak and she HATES it and is saving to buy new carpet.

Our friends had it in the kitchen, their dishwasher leaked and ruined the entire floor. Also by their front door it got damaged from walking in with wet shoes.

 

[4GoofyCrew]

We have laminate in our kitchen, laundry room and entryway. It is 10+ years old and still looks like new. No scratches, buckling, etc. I love the warm look that it gives our home. I don't find that it requires any more/less maintenance than real wood floors (we had those in our old house).

Probably the biggest difference I noticed back when we moved was that the laminate shows the dust quicker (but it could just be because it is in a higher traffic area and is a slightly darker color).

I have often wondered how laminate would hold up to pet claws. We don't have a dog so I have always been curious about that. But so far it has been able to withstand plenty of matchbox cars, heels, an occasional steak knife falling (augh) and even a major leak from the washing machine! Our real hardwood floors in our old house were in excellent shape but I did manage to scratch them in a few spots buy dropping stuff and moving furniture. So that being said I think that laminate it definitely more durable.

I would NOT recommend laminate for in the bathroom, however. I would opt for tile in there. The moisture in the air from the shower, etc. would probably be too much for it.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

We have laminate it is 7 years old. We put it in when we bought the house. We have 2 dogs and two cats they have been here the whole time and the flooring is holding up great.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

We have snap stone in our bathrooms

 

[ekatiel]

We have Allure plank flooring in our kitchen and living room area, and in our secondary bathroom. We LOVE it. It is water resistant (I think the new Allure Ultra is actually 100% waterproof, but it didn't exist when we put ours in). It is inexpensive, and it looks great! We have little boys, so we wanted something inexpensive and ultra-durable, as well as something that would be OK in wet areas. Allure fit the bill. I have heard that pets' claws can scratch it-- we don't have any pets. It also does scuff some-- you can choose to be picky and buff out every scuff or just leave it be (the scuffs only show when light reflects off it at certain angles). We would buy it again in a heartbeat. Here's the link: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/ContentView?pn=BP_Trafficmaster_Allure --Katie

 

[tajz90]

We have Allure plank flooring in our kitchen and living room area, and in our secondary bathroom. We LOVE it. It is water resistant (I think the new Allure Ultra is actually 100% waterproof, but it didn't exist when we put ours in). It is inexpensive, and it looks great! We have little boys, so we wanted something inexpensive and ultra-durable, as well as something that would be OK in wet areas. Allure fit the bill. I have heard that pets' claws can scratch it-- we don't have any pets. It also does scuff some-- you can choose to be picky and buff out every scuff or just leave it be (the scuffs only show when light reflects off it at certain angles). We would buy it again in a heartbeat. Here's the link: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/ContentView?pn=BP_Trafficmaster_Allure --Katie

We just put this floor in our upstairs media room. Love it. I wish we had it in our bathrooms. We have tile and I hate it! If it wasn't so much trouble, we'd pull the type up and put this floor down

 

[kamom]

We have the Allure in our kitchen, living room, and hallways. LOVE it! It was suggested to us by the flooring store because of its resiliance in moisture areas - like the kitchen. We have a few scratches on it from moving heavy furniture but I am the only one that notices it. I liked the fact that if one gets damaged it is simple to replace - cut an x into the piece with a blade, blow hot air on the seam with a blow dryer and replace with a new piece. We have had this done and it worked perfect. The only area that has buckled a little bit is one of the planks the fridge sits on and I only notice it if I am wearing socks. We have had it for over 5 years and it still looks brand new. It was more expensive than other wood flooring but it was cheaper on installation.

 

[Happyjen27]

The answer depends on the kind of resale you want on your house. If it's in a nice area, and you expect to sell to discriminating buyers, go with hardwood. Even if it seems cost prohibitive, you may be losing money by using laminate in a market that requires upgrades. What kind of flooring are the houses around you using? You will want to have commesurate values.

In our old home, we installed a laminate floor in our kitchen. It was a step up from the linoleum currently there, and I was very happy with it. It held up very well to the nails of two large, active dogs. My sister has laminate in her kitchen, and she is in a heavy electric wheelchair. The floor is showing some wear, but one would expect that after 2 years of 500 lbs rolling over and over it.

One drawback to laminate is that the dark laminates are nearly impossible to keep clean, more so than dark hardwoods. Another drawback is that it just doesn't "feel" like wood.

I would not use laminate in a bathroom. Buyers want a solid, hard surface in there, such as tile, for ease of cleaning and disinfecting. The cost difference between tile and laminate is not much, if anything.

For the stairs, you can buy hardwood treads to replace the wood that is there now under the carpet. I would definately go hardwood on stairs, even if you do choose laminate throughout the house.

Also remember to calculate that in some rooms, you will be paying for flooring twice. Once for the hard surface, and once for the area rugs to go on top to soften the space and make it comfortable.

 

[S. C.]

I just bumped a 4 page thread about laminate on the community page for you.