Hardwood vs Laminate

Laminate and hardwoods cost about the same these days. Laminate never has to be refinished and lasts about 25 years. They also buckle and lift if you get water on them. Hardwood has to be refinished about every five years, but lasts pretty much forever, however you can preserve it by putting a clear acrylic finish on top. We have laminate; and are getting ready to pull carpet in the master bedroom to put down hardwood in there because it does not get much traffic. Personally, I think the hardwood is prettier and lasts longer.

Good luck
S. Winborn
http:www.lalaschildcare.com

I have had laminate flooring in 2 houses (pergo and armstrong). While it looks nice and wears well, I think if we ever get new floors, I will invest in hardwood. The laminate chipped sometimes and would come loose in some places. It was already installed in both houses, so perhaps it was not done properly. I don't have any idea what the $ difference would be, but I would prefer hardwood (or the engineered wood that looks and feels like real wood, but w/o the cost). Hope that helps!

We had laminate flooring in our old house for 6 years until we moved and loved it. We have two young kids and a dog and cat and it is better then having hardwood. Did not have to replace any of it when we moved. cleans up easily and no upkeep. Lots cheaper also. We even installed it ourselves, not hard to do and saves even more.

I like laminate, myself. With kids, it stands up really well.

I have never had laminate floors, so I can't speak to their longevity, but as we are currently searching for a house, I can speak to the resell aspect. I don't know if that would be a concern for you or not, but I can't tell you how disappointing it is to view an otherwise nice house where the seller has put in laminate flooring. It just doesn't look as good as wood and it certainly doesn't have the same "feel". When you walk across it, it sound like plastic.

I can appreciate your situation, too. My husband would carpet everything but the garage if I gave him half a chance, I think... on the other hand, I would have wood everywhere except for the bathrooms. :-)

Good luck.

P.

I have two labs that spend alot of time indoors. I was told laminate was more durable.

Hi Ginger,

I personally would not recommend hardwoods for a kitchen floor. We have it in our current house (not our choice). It is more difficult to clean than laminate or tile - you can't use normal cleaner on them, and think how often you want to clean your kitchen floor! It dents when things are dropped (although laminate probably does too, and tile could break). It gets marks on it from hot stuff being splattered on it. The main reason I would not recommend it is water problems though. We apparently had a leak in our fridge and it went undetected because the wood floor sits so much higher than the foundation - it was just dripping through the floor and spreading all underneath it. It has been a major hassle getting it all fixed. We were fortunate it was still covered under our insurance (I would recommend you check to make sure yours covers slow water leaks still - many don't any more)but it caused more than $10,000 worth of damage.

about 18 mths ago I was going through this same decision. we heard equal good things vs bad about each of the floors. we ended up going with hardwood because we were indifferent AND we were told that hardwood increases the value of your home and laminate does not.

We replaced our carpet with laminate and payed for it when we wanted to sell. NO BODY wants laminate.... It looked really good, did not scratch, swept and mopped great, but when it came time to sell we lost almost $30,000 in price because of it. We even offered to replace the laminate with a wood, but nope...people could not see past it....

Good luck, I would go with the wood. in our new house that we built we had "hand scraped" wood installed, it looks great and holds up with kids and dogs. everyone that has come to see our house mentions the floor before anything else

I just completed a huge laminate floor job in our living area last December. We went the cheaper route because we don't plan on being in this house for much longer. The houses in our neighborhood seem to be selling to a "non-particular" crowd so we felt we could live with the laminate (instead of the real wood) temporarly. If we were planning on keeping this house for more than 5 years, we would have invested the extra $ and done hardwood. I think you will be disappointed with laminate if you truly love the "real wood" look and feel. Good Luck!

Always go with hardwood. It is better for resale.

I have had 3 types of hardwood floorings due to the 3 different homes I have owned in the past plus I have had friends and family with laminate as well.
My first home had hardwood flooring that was engineered with partical board underneath with a tiny layer of hardwood on the top. Don't get this. Once a scratch sets in, it's there pretty darn good and no amount of sanding will make it look right. Don't get any sort of glue down too on the hardwoods. I could hear them pop every once in awhile. My second home had true oak hardwood all the way through that was nailed down. They were really nice and easy to clean however the best hardwood floors I have ever had are hand scrapped ones and they are the best thing ever. As my daughter would say, They are the bomb! They are easy to clean and if you happen to have a scrape, it won't show.

As I said prior too, I have friends and family with the laminate. They are nice floorings and very easy to clean too, I don't think they would be bad in a kitchen but all over the house, I am not a fan of. Both my mother and mother in law have this all over and it just doesn't have the appeal that hardwood has. I think laminate in certain areas are great just not all over. Good luck with your decision. :)

Hi Ginger,

In my previous house, we put laminate floors throughout the house, except wet areas and really liked it. I agree with the previous lister that some laminate floors can look very glossy, cheap, and plastic. We found a brand at Coker Floors that was plywood, but looked and felt like hardwoods (didnt have the cheap looking shine you see with many laminates). So it was affordable and nice.

Good luck!

Hey Ginger - We put in pergo 3 years ago in our entire downstairs....we asked the people at home depot b/c we were going back and forth between pergo and hardwood. They said if you are going to have kids and dogs...go with pergo. After we debated for a while we ended up with pergo - large planks....it looks awesome, and people always comment on our floors when they come in the house. We have a big dog and an almost 2 year old who has spilled anything and everything on the floors...they still look as good as they did when we had them put in. I think either are a great option, but I can say pergo has been really good for us. Good luck!!!

We had laminate in our kitchen and I hated it! The problem is that b/c of the house shifting b/c of the soil/foundation issues that this part of Texas has - the shifting caused the laminate to "wrinkle" a bit. Personally, I think hardwood is gorgeous!! If we could afford it, we'd do hardwood throughout the house!

We had the carpet ripped out downstairs and replaced all of the floors with real hardwoods and tile. I love the hardwoods. They stand up to my boys with most things and they add such warmth to our home. If you have a dog with large claws laminate might be better with that otherwise I would recommend going with the hardwoods. They add value to your home also.

We just put a wood laminate in our home office and we love it! What we used was a product called "Quick Step" that we purchased for a very reasonable price from Coker Floors in Plano. We had actually intended to do distressed hardwoods in the office, but since the room houses a rather large saltwater aquarium, we were told to go with the laminate due to its durability and water-resistance. The Quick Step even has a real distressed wood look to it. No one is able to tell the difference and it saved us a bundle of $$$$, too. My husband (who is very un-handy around the house) was able to install it himself in one D.! It also comes with a 25-year warranty, which was appealing as well. Good luck to you on your project!