laminate 'wood' flooring

I really wouldn't worry about it looking cheap at all if you pay up front for the good stuff. You are basically required to rent or have your own table saw to really get it done right and be prepared to throw out anything you cut even a little too short, don't fudge because that shit will slip underfoot and .05" at toe level translates to an unpleasant swing distance at your neck.

I actually personally prefer it to "real" wood floors because I'm sick and tired of looking at the real wood floors of the last three apts Tom's had in DC that have laquer peeling off of them, broken bits, stains, etc etc etc. Our current floor is pretty nice but still it's like we might as well have a floor made out of playdoh for how much scratches show up. Not to mention there's some weird enormous mark from prior tenants near the bar area. My parents have 18,000 animals (fact) and their floors look good as new, all the time.

yeah, engineered wood might be ok. it still seems hard to look after though. how often do you need to refinish wood floors in heavy traffic areas?

another flooring question...

i pulled up the carpeting in the dining room to look at the floors underneath. some of the wood didnt quite reach the wall in one spot and it looked all gross and dirty underneath. there appeared to be a lot of space under there. then the thought struck 'is this the sub-floor???'

well, is it?

There are more options than laminate vs. engineered vs. hardwood, though (engineered is the best compromise of the three) - I like cork floors a lot. Cheaper than hardwood, a little soft, supposedly good for people with allergies.

What I've thought about, should I ever get a house, is good stained maple-veneer plywood. I saw one house with that, and it look damn good if you're not trying to get on This Old House. I'm not sure what you have to go through in terms of leveling and subfloors, though.

!

yes sunny the floor underneath the floor you walk on is the subfloor. Even with carpet. What you are dealing with is shitty moulding installation which I've found is more typical than my upbringing would have had me believe.

Misery we put laminate down over slab and it was fine. Just have to put the insulating layer and plastic down to keep the moisture out.

laurel...hardwood is definitely my preference, but im sure we'd destroy them.

ally.. .i think you've sold me.

I really am determined to never have real hardwood floors in a house or apartment that I own...I mean it looks beautiful when it's brand new but christ having lived in a few apartments now that the landlords inexplicably thought, "I know! Hardwood flooring + tenants who aren't permanent and aren't going to give a crap = BRILLIANT! (insert slugging Guinness here)" I just can't deal with that pressure. Everything shows. And if you make a mistake when you refinish the floor (as happened in one of Tom's previous apartments) it turns into a completely hideous disaster. It's worth the extra expense of buying very top of the line engineered floors, IMO, to not have to worry about all of this, just cuts down on different costs at another point.

I sound like a Pergo sales man.

But that's an old house and there's no way we could replace the floors w/ material of the same quality without prohibitive cost -- plus our labor is basically free -- so it's worth it.

http://www.bobvila.com/BVTV/HomeAgain/Video-0920-01-0.html

xpost THAT is totally correct. Carpets are terrible.

unless its burnt orange shag in a wood panelled den, of course.

Oh my dear god you are all SO OTM about carpet. We couldn't have it at home, anyway, because all our heat to the 2nd story has to rise through the floors, and carpet padding would only turn the bedrooms into insulated ice boxes.

where should i get laminate?

what do you have? i need for kitchen and bathroom

I ordered mine from a place in kendal because it was cheap. Search the internet. Kährs and Junkers are the brands of quality.

mine came free with house

Laminate flooring almost destroyed my marriage.

I have Kahrs, although I wish I had gone for the slightly more expensive type that can be sanded and reoiled a few times during it's life.

what do you have? i need for kitchen and bathroom

I really, really suggest you don't do this. I flooded both my kitchen and my bathroom and now the laminate flooring is warped and ugly in both. In the bathroom, it's impossible to avoid getting certain bits regularly wet, which will also warp it.

If I could start again - and I may well do so - I wouldn't have laminate anywhere. It's easy to clean, sure, but it also really shows dirt, and if you happen to have it in areas crowded with stuff, you inevitably delay the cleaning in any case.

OTM, Tiles are so much better for the bathroom.

i covered my floor in OSB (oriented strand board) which, when it's varnished, looks better than any laminate i've ever seen. it has a nice industrial but warm effect.

also cost me around £60 to floor my entire flat.

laminate is bad. I can't quite imagine OSB!

Depends on the laminate, if the top layer of the laminate is a good wood veneer then laminate is good.

ok so tiles for bathroom. any recommendations for type, and where?

that's true, ed, but it's not what most people think of as laminate, unfortunately.

bedroom floor OSB actually RJG it looks much nicer than it does in this pic:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/colinohara/IMG_4067-2.jpg

Again, search online for tiles. I am a fan of Welsh riven slate for bathroom floors (needs to be sealed, though)

Our whole house is slate with the exception of the bathrooms. We haven't redone them yet. When we do there's a good possiblity we'll put slate there too. Can't be beat for durability and is an inexpensive option as far as natural stone goes. Cons: can be cracked if you drop heavy things, is cold and hard. Rugs easily fix this and the cold is welcomed in a warm climate.

Cermaic tiles are prettty standard for bathrooms. They're cheap, easy to install and you can get a wide variety of style/color. Avoid vinyl or lineolum style tiles. Nasty. Travertine's also a good, inexpensive stone but it can be kind of slick.

"oriented strand board" = "particleboard"?

i hope that some day 696 will have an opinion on this thread:

rip rap vs river rock

Wickes are good for tiles and they deliver for a small fee - I got lovely black ceramic floor tiles that look like slate with non of the faffing that slate involves for a very reasonable price. I had my heart set on white metro tiles but ended up settling for oversized creamy ceramic wall tiles. I'll post pics if you like.

It was just a pity that the plumber i got to fit and tile the bathroom was such a cowboy, his finishing was appalling. What made it doubly disappointing was that he'd fitted my central heating 3 years previously and made a great job.

seriously, slate for the kitchen and bathroom. feels so good underfoot. if i had a largish house id want to put slate right through

I wish I had gone for the slightly more expensive type that can be sanded and reoiled a few times during it's life.

i thought laminated was a photograph on some kind of compressed chip board type deal. how do you sand that??

Well, I don't know what I expected when I opened this thread.

It's not all photographs, some of the better laminate is an actual veneer of the supposed wood. The thickness of that veneer determines whether you can re-treat it later.

our particleboard is chipboard. OSB is stronger, w/ bigger, flatter strands, and built up in oriented layers, like plywood

your floor looks good, jed!

"oriented strand board" = "particleboard"?

OSB is what you'll find underneath the brick/siding on a modern building, also used as the initial layer if you're going to install real wood flooring onto a concrete slab. Strong stuff, roughly equivalent to plywood.

Particleboard has smaller particles glued together - not very strong at all, suitable for cheap, shitty furniture.

OSB is called "pressboard" in the states I think

My bathroom tiles (floor ones could do with a mop).

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb257/muddlinleigh/bathroom001.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb257/muddlinleigh/bathroom002.jpg

Here's an example of our slate on the dining room wall. But it's the same on the floors as well. We put in gorgeous 1x1 glass tiles on the kitchen backsplash. upload those later.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/158/346091235_3a0eba1c25.jpg

nice!!