Opinions on laminate?

[shane_c]

What is everyone's opinion on laminate flooring? Currently in the living room we have hardwood. But the dogs have it all scratched up and there are a few spots where there is a bit of a gap (not huge but noticeable). Since we hope to sell at some point soon do you think it'd be better to have real hardwood that needs to be refinished, or laminate?

[InSutterWeTrust]

Laminate is great stuff very durable. My parents have two big dogs an alaskan malamute and a german sheppard and they play fight all the time and the laminate has lasted very well there might be a couple tiny marks but no markings like Hardwood would give you. They have had the laminate installed for about 5 years and its lasted well!

[Agamemnon]

I just put down about 400 square feet of it, it seems much more durable than real hardwood... looks great too as far as I can tell. Real easy to put in, the whole apartment took less than a day.

[shane_c]

And if anyone has any pics of what you installed, how about posting them.

[Log]

I have 2 dogs (one is 60 lbs and the other is 70 lbs), then play fight all the time. Anyways we have laminate flooring in throughout our main level. I but it in about 3 years ago. The only blemish is a minor chip which was caused by me. The dogs haven't caused any damage on the flooring what so ever.

We are building a new house right now and we will opt for laminate over the hardwoods because of its durability. If our dogs weren't in the picture we'd go hardwood, but that isn't the case.

Also once you get going, it's super easy to install!

[redforever]

A lot will depend on the quality of the laminate you choose of course. The better the quality, the better your top surface will be.

Here is another choice for you, cork. It has so many effects now. We are doing a huge renovation and have decided to go with that in our walkout basement. We have chosen one that looks like burled wood.

Again, a wide range of product and quality. We chose a burled look, almost commercial grade, made by Wicander's. We have dogs too, that like to rough house when inside and I think this will even be better than laminate, which was the other product we were considering for the walk out portion of our house.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

I put laminate in my basement and really like it, but I would not put it in your main living areas if you are thinking of selling soon.

I doubt you'll get your money back, and worse, you'll drive away people who don't have dogs / durability issues and don't like laminate. Some people just hate the stuff.

[TurnedTheCorner]

I'll be curious to see how all of the laminate flooring installed within the last 5 or 10 years holds up over the next 10-20 years. Will it really still look good, will problems with the installation (as opposed to the product) crop up, etc.

I'm not sold on it yet, personally.

[TheDragon]

I used to be a Hardwood Service Tech, and I can tell you from experience that I absolutely hate the stuff. It's usually harder and less characteristic than real hardwood, and as far as lasting value goes, nothing beats the real stuff. Most prefinished hardwood is coated in polyurethane to prevent any real damage from happening to the wood, itself. You'll get scratches in the finish over time, but I personally think it adds character. I've got 3 small dogs myself, running around on the floor I put in 2 years ago, and I can't see any scratches in it unless I get down on my hands and knees.

Most prefinished hardwoods will also last you 25 years without having to refinish it, and even then, that's only if you're super nit picky about scratches or anything like that. I highly recommend aganst refinishing, though, as it's messy, expensive, and the whole floor has to come up if you get it water damaged or anything like that.

Laminate is usually pretty cheap and easy to put in place and fix, though. Just depends how long you want it down for, and what area of the house it's in. But, just a fair warning; My cousin, who is an interior decorator, does inform me that laminate does depreciate the value of your house/store. Give it 8-10 years, and you'll probably want to replace it.

That's just from what I've experienced, though. The biggest difference is the cost of supplies and installation.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

How about stairs? Doing those in laminate seems to be quite tricky from what I've seen. My entire house is done in Oak hardwood (and I mean everything, floors, steps, window moulding, baseboards) but has carpet in the basement that needs to be replaced. Could I put oak like laminate in without sticking out too much? Didn't I read somewhere that laminate is preferred in basements due to the humidity factor?

[TheDragon]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

How about stairs? Doing those in laminate seems to be quite tricky from what I've seen. My entire house is done in Oak hardwood (and I mean everything, floors, steps, window moulding, baseboards) but has carpet in the basement that needs to be replaced. Could I put oak like laminate in without sticking out too much? Didn't I read somewhere that laminate is preferred in basements due to the humidity factor?

Absolutely. Plus, it's kind of hard to nail down hardwood into a cement floor. Of course, you could put down a few sheets of plywood, but that would raise up the level of the floor itself, taking away space. Laminate is definitely the better alternative for basements if you don't like carpet.

You're absolutely right about humidity, though. It's the cause for 99% of the non-water damage related warping in hardwood.

Another alternative is to get engineered hardwood. It's a big hit in places like apartments and basements, because it combines real hardwood boards with the "click and go" theory from laminate. It's also quite rugged and when it's in, you can't tell it's not real hardwood unless you tear it up. Plus, it's glued together so you don't have to worry about things like major gaps or a few boards shifting out of place when spring or winter roll around and your house shrinks/expands.

The only set back is the incredibly high cost of supplies for it. It's not cheap, and most installers have to take their time with it.

[shane_c]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

I put laminate in my basement and really like it, but I would not put it in your main living areas if you are thinking of selling soon.

I doubt you'll get your money back, and worse, you'll drive away people who don't have dogs / durability issues and don't like laminate. Some people just hate the stuff.

The main reason we're thinking about it is because the hardwood is scratched up and we have a feeling that potential buyers will come in and complain about it and try to get money off the price.

[ken0042]

Can you re-finish the hardwood prior to selling? If so, I would look at doing that.

To me, laminate says "I took the cheap way out"- no matter if it was picked for it's practical purposes.

[shane_c]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Can you re-finish the hardwood prior to selling? If so, I would look at doing that.

To me, laminate says "I took the cheap way out"- no matter if it was picked for it's practical purposes.

I heard that it's an expensive/messy process to re-finish it.

[ken0042]

I'm just going by what they show on "Sell this house" on A&E- but for them it was easy.

(Mind you with Tanya Memme being on the show; it wouldn't be hard to motivate people to do stuff for her.)

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by redforever

A lot will depend on the quality of the laminate you choose of course. The better the quality, the better your top surface will be.

Here is another choice for you, cork. It has so many effects now. We are doing a huge renovation and have decided to go with that in our walkout basement. We have chosen one that looks like burled wood.

Again, a wide range of product and quality. We chose a burled look, almost commercial grade, made by Wicander's. We have dogs too, that like to rough house when inside and I think this will even be better than laminate, which was the other product we were considering for the walk out portion of our house.

Plus cork repairs itself. I like the idea of cork. It's very unique and soon to be rare. I recall hearing that cork trees are low in supply, so it would be a good idea to act soon on that type of flooring.

[Sylvanfan]

Well you'll get your money back if you refinish the hardwood. If you take out the wood and put in new laminate you WILL NOT get your money back. If you leave the floor as is for the next party to refinish or leave as is, the value probably won't be affected. Bascially if you take out the wood and put in laminate, you're wasting time and money.

If you want to get more money out of your house, you have to make improvements. Refinishing the wood is an improvement, taking out wood and replacing it with a cheaper product isn't.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by shane_c

The main reason we're thinking about it is because the hardwood is scratched up and we have a feeling that potential buyers will come in and complain about it and try to get money off the price.

And no doubt they will.

Some will also complain about the laminate and try to get money off the price. If you're going to risk that a buyer won't like your floor, you're probably better off with the option that doesn't cost you money.

I'd check into the refinishing as Ken suggested. At least get a quote and know the cost, so you can offer that info to the buyer.

[Flames_Gimp]

at least with wood you could probably get a wood filler/crayon and touch up the scratches. or ya, give the floor a sanding and a coat of varnish

[V]

This is why I'm a big fan of site finished hardwood. Well, one of the reasons. Very easy to refinish, you don't feel the seams between boards, looks better (IMO).

Laminate looks cheap, regardless of whether it was or not, and it will definitely hurt your resale value.