Need flooring advice asap!

aprildawn

HI My husband and I bought a house about 2 yrs ago that had white carpet. Well, we have 2 dogs and 1 cat. The carpet is a tragedy with urine stains and just regular wear. We are wanting a different flooring option. We cannot decide if hardwoods, bamboo, or laminate is best. I LOVE the look of bamboo, but have heard bad things about the finishes on it scratching quite easily. Hardwoods concern me because how delicate they can be, although they can be refinished if needed. I am thinking of laminate, but my parents had a bad time with pergo that they installed back in 1999 that bubbled up because of an unknown pet accident that ran under a piece of furniture. Also, our front door opens up right into our living room and our floor can get pretty wet their when it rains or snows. We are also probably going to not live in this house for more than 5 more years and want something that will last until at least then and that will increase the value of our home. What is our best option. Also, whatever we decide, is lumber liquidators a good company to deal with>?

Brik

I don't like the look or feel of laminate (fake picture of wood) and feels flimsy.

If you like the look of bamboo then I would say go for it

Alternatives are a prefinished hardwood, or a decent engineered wood floor. These factory finishes are pretty tough.

Have you checked out Linoleum? The old fashioned stuff. Google it and read up.

Tile would also be a good choice but it may not fit the decor or style of the house.

Lastly, consider a decent vinyl floor. We have that in our kitchen where we keep our dog. two years and going strong.

Brik

Oh, and I think lumber liquidators is OK. I may find out soon.

K&G's Cabin

I'm in a similiar situation...I can't decide on either hardwood or laminate. I am leaning towards laminate because I have dogs and want a durable wood-looking floor. My neighbor has hardwood and there are scratches everywhere from the dogs nails...the floor is not even a year old! Is hardwood more prone to scratches? I don't know, that's why I'm torn!

I ordered some samples from Lumber Liquidators and they appear to be good. I am particularly looking at getting the "Mountain Pine" laminate.

Brik

I'm not sure about the finishes. Look at "engineered flooring" it may (if from the same manufacturer) have the same finish as that particular companies laminates. Its not hardwood but is made from real wood and has a similar finish to laminates.

Before you install a laminate floor you must walk on one. Compare walking on that to walking on a wood floor. maybe its just me. It drives me nutz the hollow flimsey feel that you get walking on laminate floating floors, they just feel chincy.

Pick up a sample of this
http://www.lumberliquidators.com/cat...CategoryId=194
Its the same price and similar look to what you are considering. take a nail and try to sctratch the sample of each and report back. I'm really curious.

mischka222

I have both laminate and hardwood. I have a big dog with big nails. No problems on either surface to date.

We put a laminate wood floor in the master bath - I wanted wood to match the rest of the house but husband refused, he wanted tile. We compromised. I do not like laminate enough to put it throught my house - just a my preference. No matter how hard they try - it just is not wood. The laminate I have in the bathroom is the highest grade you can get - even has the grooves in it to really make it look like wood. We had a toilet supply line burst in the bathroom and flood. Servpro came out and set up fans to dry everything out - that was over 2 years ago and I have had no problems with buckling or even the finish on the laminate.

My hardwoods are worn - not the newest and could probably use a good refinishing (we are attempting one room now). But - I have had no problmes with the dog scratching the floors, just the kids leaving trails of jelly and coke and whatever else they are carrying. A good finish will repell a lot of things and it is true - if the hardwoods get scratched - that is a much easier fix than a liminate floor. They do make pens with stain in them to "fix" scratches. I wouldn'e even know where to begin to fix laminate.

Mr. Michael

what about the laminate that looks like stone/tile? a friend of mine's parents used some in their kitchen and it looks really sharp. Unfortunately, a laminate floor will not add value to the house, I'm told. Hardwood, tile, yes, as they are an "improvement", and laminate is just an aesthetics deal.

flysndoc

I'm in the process of shopping for a laminate floor, but also looked at some engineered wood samples.

Kahrs has some pretty oaks in their woodloc line that are only a little over $4 (at least online at ifloor). very beautiful, but I don't think the acrylic-urethane finish will hold up to my little kids. Also looked at a engineered wood made by a company called Award. This has a ceramic finish-- and it is very tough, at least from a scratch perspective. I'm not sure about denting. It was too expensive for my budget -- it was about $5/sf at ifloor. These floating engineered woods also require an underlayment which adds to the cost. I have no idea what these products retail for at your local store.
good luck!!

Floorwizard

I have experience with Award AND Kahrs.

Both scratch.
that's all there is to it.
no less in the award brand.