Looking at some new flooring for our den/living/dining area. Waiting on cost estimates... Who likes hardwood floors and who like laminates? Opinions please.
There is NO reason to get engineered wood. Engineered wood shines less and looks less compared to solid hardwood. If you live on a slab then get 5/16 solid which can be glued down... Laminate flooring is a different beast. These are floating floors. made of composite board with a ultra strong plastic coating on top. More scratch resistant so if you have small kids or pets around, then this may be the choice. If you have a concrete subfloor, make sure to use a vapor barrier in addition to the underlayment pad. Solid wood looks better and has better appeal to the quality minded, and those that appreciate the beauty of wood.
I agree engineered wood is not the way to go. Cost wise, it's much more expense than laminate, benefit wise it still feels not as solid. We did laminate and loved it. Easy to clean and don't really that much about wear and tear since it is so cheap.
I suspect a gap in my knowledge... So there is: A. hardwood (not hard wood, Deckard ), B. Laminate and C. Engineered wood? I thought B and C were interchangeable. Can someone amplify the differences between B and C more fully.
As I understand it, laminate is just a "photograph" of wood that you can put on your floor. There is nothing wood about it except for the appearance from a distance. Engineered wood is real wood with several layers of wood in different directions and a nice finish on the top. It is not solid wood as Mattress Mac would say, but it sounds and feels like real wood. It is my understanding that a hardwood floor can essentially last the longest. When it goes downhill, you can keep stripping it and putting on a new finish. I think good laminate can last about 20 years while good engineered wood lasts about 15 years. I think the engineered wood can be stripped and refinished, but it is more complicated and can only be done a couple of times. When the laminate shows wear, it must be replaced.
There are a couple different products that are called "laminated" and "engineered" that have to do with how the flooring is constructed. They are both engineered in the sense that it isn't straight up wood boards but composite products and in the case of laminated flooring not even real wood. I think you have to be careful what you are asking for since there are some big differences between engineered wood and laminate flooring. Engineered wood can be sanded, not too much though, while laminate can't which gives engineered wood an advantage over laminate even though it is more expensive. Engineered wood is cheaper than hardwood but not as durable and able to be fixed.
Another option you might want to check out is bamboo flooring. This is a composite flooring manufactured like engineered wood using bamboo instead of wood. Info I've seen says its as durable as engineered wood but cheaper, more environmentally sound and from samples can be stained to look oak or maple hardwood.
A cheap alternative if you're handy: One of my best friends put in a pine floor, with regular construction-grade pine 1x6's. He just put down strips and nailed the 1x6's to them, sanded and laquered over all of it. He did most of his house, which is ~2000 square feet, for about $1200. It's unique, and looks nice.
Go away. Back to the discussion... We were told that the real hardwood floors can be fully sanded about 3 times before needing replacement while the engineered floors with just a slim layer or real wood surface can only tolerate one sanding in general. We have two little girls, three cats and a mid-sized dog. The carpet has taken a beating in the two years here: fruit juice, vomit, hairballs, animal kills and dog "bones" of various ilk. We need something that is easier to clean. Wish I were handy but I'm not. Back and knee issues keep me pretty upright.
