Flooring? Tile, wood or laminate?

[Comanche]

We bought our house in 1999. It was a new build with the standard flooring in the house. Vinyl in the kitchen, laundry and bathrooms and carpet in the rest of the house. The carpet has seen better days and would like to replace all with new flooring.
We have two cats and a dog.
I would love to have hard wood floors but now there's tile and laminate that look like wood floors.
Can anyone give me ideas on whats the best value and will last a long time while looking good.

 

[THDNUT]

Friends of mine put Pergo laminate "wood" flooring in their house. This was in 1998 or so. They had an aquarium in the room that leaked but they were unaware of it. The flooring absorbed water and swelled up like a sponge. It had to be completely torn out.
They installed ceramic tile after that....no problems since.

 

[firesgt911]

Just jumping in because I've been thinking about replacing my floor too.

 

[LtDave32]

I would recommend against any laminate flooring that has paper/particle board for backing, especially in the kitchen/bath/laundry area. Water (beer, soda, etc) gets on that, and it could swell and get really screwed up.

Wood flooring, or laminate with wood backing however, is very affordable, looks great, wears well, and is easy to install.

I like the "floating floor" install; padding underneath and not nailed/glued to the subfloor. Very nice on the feeties.

 

[LtDave32]

Friends of mine put Pergo laminate "wood" flooring in their house. This was in 1998 or so. They had an aquarium in the room that leaked but they were unaware of it. The flooring absorbed water and swelled up like a sponge. It had to be completely torn out.
They installed ceramic tile after that....no problems since.

Pergo's the worst. Not much more than a "photograph" on particle board. Kids can wear right through the "picture" of wood grain.

There's plenty of real wood laminates with good backing to be had for a buck a square foot.

 

[niceguyrichy]

or laminate with wood backing however, is very affordable, looks great, wears well, and is easy to install.

^ that
it's what i put in our kitchen, been abused beyond belief for years & years, still going strong

 

[KP11520]

If you're around Phoenix (warmer climate) ceramic will undoubtedly be the last time you do this. It's also cooler for the pets when they lay on it and doesn't feel cold in Winter like up North.

They have tread ratings. A rating of 5 means you can expect it to wear like iron in a mall or high traffic area and handle accidents better as well.

If you save some extra tiles and one gets chipped or broken, cut out the grout and shatter it and scrape it out and reset a new one and regrout.

Laminates and water... Naaahhhh

Real wood? Are you on a slab? If so, look into the proper steps to get the best results. Wood directly over concrete is not a good idea. When done well, are a very warm and luxurious looking. And as they get worn, can be sanded and refinished. So go solid dimensional wood and not veneer topped!

Carpet? I do like it in Bedrooms and Living Rooms. But that's not for everybody!

Good luck!

 

[Brians Evil Twin]

I have solid oak, prefinished hardwood in the entire downstairs including the kitchen, a combination of Pergo and carpet upstairs and porcelain tile in the bathrooms. If any water is spilled on the Pergo, it leaches into the seams and swells. It also creaks a bit, otherwise it's pretty indestructible, but I've only had it for 5 years. It's very easy to maintain and goes down fast with a chop saw to cut to fit.

Carpet is carpet, it stains, pets destroy it, and it holds odors. Figure on replacing every 5 to 7 years, 10 at the outside if you clean it regularly. But it is quiet, something to think about in the bedroom areas.

If money was no object, I'd have done the whole house in hardwood (or engineered / real laminate wood) and the kitchen and bathrooms in tile. Then area rugs for the spaces I want to keep quiet. At least those you can take out for cleaning or replacement.

Good flooring contractors are hard to find....

Just my $.02

 

[KP11520]

And about Laminates and free floating floors, just make sure your substrate is FLAT. Otherwise you feel it bending down between the high points as you step. That also contributes to premature failure. It's not meant to be a trampoline!

If the substrate is wavy, flooring supply houses sell a Dash Patch kind of mortar that gets mixed with latex milk and has great adhesion and body to fill the voids. Sometimes several coats get it like glass.

This applies to wood flooring as well!

 

[six-string]

I have solid oak, prefinished hardwood in the entire downstairs including the kitchen, a combination of Pergo and carpet upstairs and ceramic tile in the bathrooms. If any water is spilled on the Pergo, it leaches into the seams and swells. It also creaks a bit, otherwise it's pretty indestructible, but I've only had it for 5 years. It's very easy to maintain and goes down fast with a chop saw to cut to fit.

Carpet is carpet, it stains, pets destroy it, and it holds odors. Figure on replacing every 5 to 7 years, 10 at the outside if you clean it regularly. But it is quiet, something to think about in the bedroom areas.

If money was no object, I'd have done the whole house in hardwood (or engineered / real laminate wood) and the kitchen and bathrooms in tile. Then area rugs for the spaces I want to keep quiet. At least those you can take out for cleaning or replacement.


Just my $.02

i agree with this
when i moved into my place i tore out all the wall to wall carpet and put hardwood everywhere. except tile in the entry foyer, bathrooms and kitchen.
but something to consider for pet owners- dogs toenails can tear the living crap out of most hardwood finishes in just a couple years. especially if Rex is an "active" dog. true you can sand and refinish hardwood. but you don't wanna be doing that every few years. just a thought!

 

[Sin Nombre]

I have installed three laminate floating floors. I had been consistently warned against installing it where it might get wet so I didn't.

You get what you pay for. One floor in a second home got bargain basement artificial wood from Home Depot. It is fine for the amount of wear it gets but I would not put in my primary residence. A better grade of artificial wood was used in a more heavily used room and it is much better looking but still looks artificial.

In our primary home we installed bamboo laminate and it cost more but is thicker, very durable and does not look like a photograph.

 

[Dolebludger]

Of course, the most wear and water resistant flooring would be porcelain tile, not ceramic, because the color goes all the way through the tile. Really a must for baths, utility rooms, entries, and some say kitchens. Real 3/4" hardwood ( not thinner, glue down plywood ) is very good for living room, bedrooms, dining rooms, and interior halls. Pergo and other laminates are good for a few years, but then begin to wear through the finish layer. Ditto for bamboo and vinyl fake wood.

 

[nauc]

tile = kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms

the rest of the house is a toss up. if youre animals arent crazy, id get some quality, multicolor carpet

if your dogs are crazy, laminate or tile.

downsides of those...

laminate pieces can come apart if theyre not high quality, water can ruin them (or dog pee) its noisy, you have to clean it a lot if you want it to look good (foot prints etc) and it doesnt last a long time

tile = cleaning it a lot to look good, grout to deal with, pieces can break if you drop something hard on it. (get color thru, so if it does chip, it wont look like a different color)

id get tile out of those 2. id get big, multicolor, color thru tile and seal the grout

ps, tile or lam will made your house LOUD!!!. get some throw rugs

 

[Comanche]

Its a single level concrete slab. Termites are a big issue in Arizona. They'll eat carpet backing here.
I'm liking ceramic/porcelain tile.

 

[rcole_sooner]

We have the laminate wood flooring. It has held up well.

We had all tile, but have been slowly replacing it with the wood.

The wood is warmer on the feet in the winter.

 

[Bohacker]

I'm with Nauc on this one, specifically tile in the kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms. I have wood laminate in the MB, lv rm, dining rm and entrance. Carpet for the other bd rooms and associated hall. We have a pretty active dog and the wood laminate has held up well.

BTW, I wanted solid wood flooring but my idiot county inspectors do not allow power until CO is granted. Too humid to have non laminate flooring installed without letting it acclimate with the hvac running.

 

[WaywerdSon]

You considered stained concrete? If you are on a slab this is a really easy and durable way to go, you can do ALL KINDS of stuff with it, and its virtually maintenance free forever. And it can look REALLY cool!!

http://www.concretestained.com/photos/residential-photos.html

http://www.concretenetwork.com/stained-concrete/comparison.html

 

[PraXis]

Kitchen... laminate or vinyl...bathroom... tiles... the rest of the house go 100% real wood. We have oak and it's very high quality. You get what you pay for.

If you plan on staying there for a while, invest the money in some real wood. Then again, even if you plan to move, the real wood is a good selling point since then the buyers won't have to modify anything.

 

[Dolebludger]

Comanche,

If you have a bad termite problem, I suggest porcelain tile is the way to go in all parts of your home. As has been mentioned, Pergo, other laminates , vinyl, bamboo, and plywood glue down wood are all pretty much crap. It is a difficult job to install real 3/4" wood over slab, and the termites would eat it anyway! And carpet makers have been working at making it more than a temporary flooring, but have not yet succeeded. And if the termites ate your carpet pad, they'll do it again.

Really like that barn wood patern tile in your pic. You could use that in most, or all of your house, and use area rugs to soften the look if you wish.

 

[KP11520]

If you do go with Porcelain, get glazed. Porcelain, although non porous, stains.

So as I mentioned above, whenever you shop for Ceramic or Porcelain, go with the highest tread rating possible so the glaze holds up for way longer than your years.

I've always suggested a granite look with an exaggerated orange peel bump. Always looks clean. DO NOT GET A SOLID OPAQUE color unless nobody will ever live there. LOL

Many years back, I did a job that used something very similar to the wood look tiles you showed above. Bastard wanted it done in a herringbone pattern offset 45 degrees from the room (diagonal orientation).

It did look good when finished though! A relatively easy job just went exponential! Every cut was a wet cut and there were way too many of them. Bastard!

If you go ceramic/porcelain, some installers set everything in a deep mud job and create cliffs entering into other rooms (carpet and so on) Find one that can keep it tamed.

Again, always have extra tiles so if necessary, you can replace badly chipped tiles. Extra grout too and always mix the grout with the latex additive.

I hope this helps!