I am wanting to get rid of the carpet downstairs and replace but not sure which way to go. I have young kids that make spills and play. We also have a small dog less then 10 lbs. I am leaning toward laminate. What would you guys recommend?
Laminate. Make sure, though, that you get a good underlayer. Some are a little more per ft², but they'll help with the sound. I put laminate in most of my last house and it was very nice. Probably the reason I sold it in less than a month.
You are leaning correctly. Once you do it, you'll wonder why you ever had carpet. The only place we have carpet left in our house is on the stairwell.
Reason being is carpet is such a hassle to keep up with. I am also thinking for the future when I sell the house for more appeal. With laminate I can do myself. I think I would keep the upstairs carpet though. Does anyone know a good place to get laminate at a good price? I have seen the Lumber Liquidators and a few places online for pricing.
I have not lifted up any carpet. I think it is on concrete. Upstairs the subfloor is plywood but I don't think I am going upstairs with it. There would be too many issues there I think.
go with laminate for your situation. Unless your house is high end. Definitely get a good underlayment. Don't cheap out on this. I put down Brazilian teak engineered and so far so good. They were snap together from home depot spills soaking in are a problem with any flooring so keep that in mind. If you can't clean up a spill before it seeps in (ie dog peeing during they day) you might want to do ceramic also lighter color shows less dirt. Mine are dark and the upkeep sucks
We have it upstairs. No issues at all. There are a couple of small closets upstairs where we left the carpet in. Guy, you are going to be soooo happy. :grin:
I have always liked laminate myself, but I am shocked that most of the people here recommend laminate. I have to ask then, in what situation would getting hardwood be better than laminate? And what are the pros/cons of it?
Since it's concrete, I assume you mean engineered wood. I'm a hardwood kind of guy but with a concrete subfloor, laying 3/4" is near impossible. Given that, I'd go with the next best thing, engineered. Looks like more like the real deal and can be resurfaced if need be instead of replaced. I was worried about putting hardwoods in the kitchen and bath because of reading about moisture issues but I decided to roll the dice. I've had hardwoods in for over 10 years and it's still nice. I did tile the laundry room though mainly because I was more afraid of scratches from an out-of-balance washing machine (pre-side loader days or at least out of what I wanted to spend for 1 at the time). And speaking of scratches, deep scratches can be touched up with hardwood. While the scratch is still there, the color match makes it disappear except in the right light.
Even with high end laminate, which I have, you can tell it's not hardwood. Hardwood has a more natural look if you look close enough. At a glance it's harder to tell. Is it worth the difference in cost? It's up to you but I do think hardwoods look better.
Aesthetics and durability mainly. I have a combination of hardwood flooring with marble in my apartment, and I think it looks much, much better, and it will last longer. I also don't like the way humidity or any water moisture feels on laminate. In the end, it's whatever money you can work with. If you're living there long-term, and you want to give your home a quality look, go for hardwood like bamboo which is a great value for flooring options.
I just prefer carpet. Small kids are always taking a fall and the stain resistant is great. Dust is less of an issue with carpet for me also. Get a decent vacuum and augment with professional cleaning when you need it.
What about a good quality stained concrete floor, done by a pro? Any ideas how that would compare cost-wise to laminate? Does the stain hold up over time? We have pets, and are really ready to ditch the carpet.
If you have pets or small children and a small budget... laminate is best overall in terms of price... upkeep...toughness and is looks okay too. For a more expensive/ higher end home that doesn't get much usage (no kids running around, pets etc) I'd go with hardwood. Never carpet.
Is carpet considered out of style or something now? In my experience if you get the good stuff, stains are not an issue. Softer walking surface, and quieter, incredibly so for upstairs.
IMO - (really trying not to be a snob). Laminate (at least when I was shopping) was particle board with an iron-on picture of wood (or whatever you wanted to simulate). From a distance it looks good but up close, you can see it for what it is. And my minimal construction days taught me that nothing good can come from using particle board. Maybe just a bias on my side but I mean really, it's glued sawdust. The good thing is that it does handle the sound better if it bothers you. Has more of a thud when you walk. Probably because the particle board is more dense. It also handles minor scratches better. Though a deep scratch will cause you to go buy a throw rug. While neither like long term exposure to water, particle board is much less forgiving to water accidents than real wood. Hardwoods and engineered wood is real wood. Hardwood is 3/4" solid wood. Engineered is 3 ply and is much thinner but still real wood. Both can be scratched but both can be touched up. Both can be sanded and refinished (solid more times of course but I think you can still get 2-3 out of engineered) if the floors ever got that bad or you wanted to change color. The finish they use now days will cause it to last much longer than those days in the 1950s. I have 3 kids and 2 indoor dogs (1 is 10 lbs and 1 is 45 lbs) and it's holding up very well 10+ years later. Summary - Wood looks better, lasts longer and ages better than laminate. Laminate is more quiet to walk on. FYI - I just put hardwood stairs in last week and they are almost too pretty to walk on - like walking on a piece of furniture. But I will say that heals on hardwood stairs are much noisier than even the hardwood floor.
