Hardwood Vs Laminate ????

I've been trying to decide whether to go with hardwood or laminate flooring. What are the major differences, and the pro and cons involved between the two? Anything to assist with ny decision would be appreciated.

 

I work for one of the Big Box Home Improvement Centers in the flooring dept for the past few years.

Couple of questions:
Q1: Do you have any cats or dogs. If so Laminate (good quality) as it is a lot more durable and much harder to scratch.
Q2: Hard wood do you mean engineered or 1/2 or 3/4?
Engineered is where they use a thin veneer over the top of other types of wood. This type of floor if you get a deep scratch you can't repair it (as is having pets with claws)
Q3: What does your sub floor consist of?
Cement can use Laminate with a 6 mil plastic over the floor or engineered only no 1/2 or 3/4 hardwood unless you build a wood subfloor over the top of the cement first.

Closing there are floors that you attach to the floor (nail, glue, staple) and also float (not attached)

Any other questions? Just ask

 

I have no pets at this time. I am looking for something that looks really good will possibly increase the price of my house in the future. The subfloor is going to be linoleum and carpet, but I will probably rip the carpet out as it is in really bad condition. Will I have any problems with this, and do you suggest any specific brand that will install relitively easy and still look good.

 

Me I highly recommend the Pergo brand American Cottage which is exclusive of Lowes. It already has the pad attached which makes it an easy install.

The reason that I recommend this one is that the way that it is made it gives the floor the look of natural wood.

Good luck any other questions just give me a call. Ray

 

if your budget allows hardwoods, go with hardwoods. they're the real deal, they look real & they feel real, they can be refinished, and they will increase the value of your home.

 

Laminate flooring will not increase any value to your home, unless your living on concrete now.

Wood!!

 

Sorry to disagree with you but laminate does increase the value of your home. What increases the value of your home is something that makes your property different from another a home of the same value.

A wood floor with a person that has pets (cats and or dogs) should choose laminate or keep their animals out of that room or have their claws removed which is a painful procedure and if the animal should get out it would be like getting a death sentence for that animal.

Engineered floors if they get damaged in anyway that really is no way of fixing as what you are dealing with is nothing more than a veneer.

Vinyl floors is what does nothing for a home.

Laminate floors are more maintenance free than any type of floor with the exception of a ceramic floor but not everyone wants ceramic.

 

Disposable laminate laminate adds no more value then carpet or sheet vinyl flooring, period!!
Your not going to find Wilsonart, Pergo Select, or Manningtons Nature Form or I-Core at any big box.

Laminates micro scratch and cause it to dull in the traffic lanes. They will scratch, but not as easy as the finish on wood.

" Engineered floors if they get damaged in anyway that really is no way of fixing as what you are dealing with is nothing more than a veneer."


Before you make this statement, do your research about quality engineered wood floor such as the products listed above. Owens plank can be sanded as much as a ¾" solid hardwood. Mirage is close to ¼" of sandable suface as is the Studio B. Not all engineereds have a 1/16" wear layer, as the budget ones sold at the Big Orange & Blue. You get what you pay for.

I wouldn't say they never need maintaining, but if everyone vacuumed their carpets, as much as they sweep and swiffer their laminate or wood, the carpet would last for years, and they wouldn't say the carpets are causing them allergies.

 

You cannot possibly make this statement with any amount of accuracy. Many, many homebuyers consider laminate an upgrade from carpet or vinyl. Some will not, but it's a preference, not an absolute.

Sure, hardwood will, all things being equal, increase the value MORE, but ANY upgrade will increase value. And 'upgrade' is subjective.

Before you make a statement like that, please do a little research. And if you have market data to show this, we'd love to see it.

 

When laminate first hit our shores it was the newest best thing since sliced bread. For the first 5 years of laminate in the US, it did raise home values somewhat over carpet, but that has all changed since the new has worn off, and the problems and lasting value of the first laminate floors were being replaced.

Sure there are 4 laminates out there that will hold thier own with value in the eyes of the buyer, but come resale time, no value has been put into the home.

Laminate is considered a disposable floor. Disposable floors don't add value. It will help sell a home though, because of the trend to get away from carpet, because of the allergy myth.


I have never taken up a hardwood and installed laminate. I have never installed laminate over hardwood. I have however on numerous occasions, taken laminate to the dump, and installed engineered hardwood.

 

and you know all of this how?

First off, it is virtually impossible to determine what adds real value and what is appreciation of the property itself. Maybe to you it doesn't add value, but to someone else it might.

Hardwood of course adds more value, i.e. a house selling for 900K with hardwood is more attactive then the same house selling for 880K, but in different parts of the country, for example, different trends are taking place.

Where I live in CA no one wants carpet. So, if a buyer sees a house with wall to wall at an asking price of 900K, and the house two doors down is exactly the same (of course it wouldn't be) but has laminate instead of carpet and was selling for 950K, they may make an offer.

It's all relative. Unless you have market data, then of course it still relative, and bias.

 

The way that a house's value is measured is from the previous sales that have occurred within a short distance from the house that people want to sell. Any fix-ups will sell a house faster, however will not necessarily increase the market value. I have to agree with Carpet done wright, laminate is a disposable product.

 

I agree with that; not all fix-ups will increase the value...but it is impossible to conclude that adding laminate will not increase the value PERIOD.

Maybe 'in my experience' would be a better term.

 

Well, I am not a flooring expert, but I am also trying to decide between Pergo and hardwood. Price favors Pergo, especially with some of the specials going on at the big home centers. I also have an english bulldog and he has the run of the house. I love the guy! So, I am leaning toward Pergo. The Pergo I have seen in model homes looks good. Again, I am no expert.

Now, in regards to adding value to a house. Well, if you buy a house in a new subdivision, when you go to add your options, carpet, pergo, hardwood, tile, etc., are listed as options. Carpet is less expensive than Pergo. It costs more for the Pergo floors. Also, if you buy a spec house, one that is already complete, and it has Pergo floors, and another spec house has carpet, and the houses are identical, the one with Pergo is listed at a higher price. I have seen this in multiple subdivisions. I live in California. So, I tend to believe that Pergo raises a house value somewhat, but not to the extent of true hardwood, but it does not cost as much as true hardwood.

So, anyone else have any opinions as to hardwood vs Pergo? I am debating!

 

Here is my 2 cents....

Where I live in California laminate (Pergo, Wilsonart etc) definately raise the value of your house. I've seen multiple ads where they use it as selling points for the house. I do agree though that real hardwood looks nicer and probably add more value.

After long deliberation I decided for laminate instead of real hardwood. My main reasons for chosing laminate were:

1. More durable. All the rooms that were considered have door to the patio, garage or main entrance. In the US people walk in with shoes on all the time and tons of dirt will be tracked in to the house. Putting in real hardwood would have killed me every time we have guests over.
2. Cost. Laminate of average to good quality is significanly cheaper than real hardwood of the same quality.
3. "Ease of install" Laminate seemed easier for me to do myself than hardwood. Not sure if it's true though but I felt more comfortable doing laminate.

I'm now done with all three rooms and it looks awesome (I chose not to use Pergo and went with another brand). I'm very happy with the results and the floors look great. The average visitor wouldn't be able to tell it apart from real wood floors.

I got lots of good tips from this site on how to level the subfloor. The leveling of the subfloor is by far the most difficult part of putting in laminate. Spend time on doing this right and you will be very happy with your floor.

 

What brand of laminate did you use on your floors? Where did you buy it? How is the sound of the floors when you walk on them?

 

I hope it's ok to post brand names and company names. If not I expect it will be blocked out and you can send me a private message and I'll tell you.

I went with Quick Step UniClick Planks 8mm. You can see it here: http://www.ifloor.com/item_102569/qu...rench-oak.html

I paid more than what you see at the online link above since I bought it from a local store here called ColorTile. The people at ColorTile were very helpful and gave me lots of help and answered all my questions. I particularly liked the fact that they didn't try to sell me the most expensive floor.

I used the UniSound underlayment from Quick Step which is more expensive than the standard type of underlayment. I opted to pay a little more since this underlayment is supposed to take away a lot of the laminte click sounds when you walk on it.

The Quick Step floor was very easy to install and the quality of the floor was great. The seams between the planks are very tight and no gaps can be seen. The floors have no been in the house for about 5 months. Soundwise it's a lot better than some of my friends houses with laminate floors. It doesn't sound like the hard, hollow sound you get in a lot of houses with laminate. It doesn't sound/feel like real wood either but it's close enough.

In summary I'm pleasantly surprised with the look of the floor now when it's installed. I looks better than I expected and I'm very happy with the results and the quality. I would definately go with the more expensive Unisound underlayment since this seemed to have taken away the hollow, hard sound of laminate. All in all I'm very happy with the floor and really proud of the work I did myself.

The best tip I can give you is to spend a lot of time making sure the subfloor is level. In one of my rooms I spent well over 40 hours levelling out the floor, then putting in an additional 1/2 inch layer of subfloor to make it even. Carpet Done Right's tip on using roofing paper was the best tip ever. I was much easier to use than levelling compound and the results were much better. Feel free to message me if you want more info on my experience or pics of the end result.