After reading many posts here, I had settled on doing a new house in red oak finsihed with Waterlox. (About 1000 sq ft of flooring). I looked at laminate and was not impressed by the beveled sites, fact that there was a limited amount of life for refinishing and etc. When my wife was in at a big box, the salesperson mentioned how great laminate was – no care – could walk on it all day without wear and impervious to liquids. THis was certainly not what I had heard and we argeed to search further.
NOW the big problem is that in the real estate section of the local newspaper, there is an article on a high high end condo development. They interview a condo owner and they mention how happy they are with the laminate – can spill any thing and wipe up later – don’t worry about tracking water over it and wears forever. WIth this most of my arguements disappeared.
The bottom line is that we want an easy care floor that can last and look great for a long time. My thought is with Waterlox and avoiding walking on the floor with sand and grit repeatedly, we should have a floor that should last decades and be as easy care as any. THoughts?
Replies
go with the real thing and the waterlox. for something that's easy to install but beautiful, try quatersawn red oak.
nothings easy but laminate is ugly....high end means nothing other than expensive.
Go with the real deal and pay attention.
Anything good takes work!!! Hmmmmm....am I thinking about my wife????
Be well
a...
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LAMINATE flooring can't be refinshed PERIOD. There is no wood in it and other to refinish. Also laminate does not have beveled edges.
I thing that you are confusing it with other products.
Here are some of the options.
1. Laminate flooring - This is a high presure laminate with picture of the desired finish cover with clear plastic overlay. This is related to the common "formica" type of counter top material. The most common brand is Pergo. It comes in faux wood and tile styles.
2. Engineered wood floors - These consists of 3 to five layers of wood. One of there main advantage is stability and they can be used in places where solid wood floors can't. All (or most) engineered wood floors come prefinished. Many do have micro bevels, but there are also brands that come square edged. Depending on the quality some of the can be refinished as often as solid wood floors.
Engineered wood floor are often mistakenly called "laminate" because of the layers, but they are a total different type of product.
3. Prefinished solid wood floors. AFAIK they all have some kind of bevel as they are not as stable as the engineered wood floors.
Prefinished floors use a harder finish than what is used for site finished floors and often has warantees to match.
4. site finished solid wood floors.
Ron,
It's almost impossible not to scratch a floor due to grit embedded in a shoe. A solid wood floor can be sanded and refinished. Go down to the Big Box, use a knife point to put a scratch in a sample piece of laminate and ask the salesperson how to repair the damage. I suspect the answer will be one neither you or your wife will like.
I'm not promoting the laminate floors like Pergo, Wilsonart, and ohers, but I can tell you this from what I know about the coatings.
You just might be surprised how tough they are. They are high tech ceramic-based catalyzed clearcoats, and have unbelievably wear indexes as compared to even the toughest on-site floor coatings.
You've seen the steel buttons that are on the bottom ends of wood chair legs, when the chairs are meant for hard-surface use. In wear testing, these floor coatings will abrade the steel all the way through.
Pergo is the flooring of choice in many college dormitory buildings, all over northern Europe, and has been in place there for many years. That might tell us something about durability.
Furthermore, these floors are put down using the "floating floor" method, over a thin layer of foam sheet. A floor like this is very easily replaced . . . far, far more so that a wood floor. A floor like this is very pleasant to walk on, because the foam layer gives a cushion-like feel.
I agree that a real wood floor looks good when finished, but owners should not dismiss the laminate products entirely. Wood floors require care and attention, much more so that a laminate floor.
And finally, for a DIY situation, almost anybody can get excellent results putting down a laminate floor, with simple tools. Doing one in real wood takes gear that typically only flooring contractors own, and a DIYer can really mess up the job if he or she doesn't prepare for and execute the installation, sanding, and finishing well.
Just my own contrarian view. But hey, what do I know?
Gene,
I did the scratch test at a flooring showroom and just "Uh, uh" and a dropped jaw when I asked how to repair it.
I don't know how much surface damage those dorm floors have but I suspect my wife would very unhappy if her undestructible laminate floor had ANY scratches. What is acceptable in a public building may well be unacceptable in a home.
I would also imagine that different products have differing coatings with differing wear resistance.
Despite all that, there are certainly places where I would seriously contemplate using a laminate product - my wife's sewing room comes to mind. But I don't think I would be happy with it in my living room (actually, when the carpeting reaches the end of its life it will be replaced with an inlaid solid wood floor).
And finally, while you may be a contrarian, I, Sir, am seriously pursuing the title of Master Curmudgeon!Formerly just 'Don' but not the 'Glassmaster Don' or the lower-case 'don'.