Anyone installed flooring---hardwood or laminate?

[Sundog]

Am considering putting in a new floor when we get our house. We are looking at flooring options and like hardwood, but that may be out of our price range (will have to see). So we are also looking at laminate flooring but there are so many flipp'in kinds.

Anyone installed nail in, or glue or non-glue floating laminate?

How difficult is the floating glue or non-glue to install one's self?

 

[technogeeky]

What about lineoleum. It's a little more expensive but it's much more durable.

 

[Sundog]

Originally posted by: technogeeky
What about lineoleum.

That is what we are ripping out, all the cabinets are in oak and we want the floor to go with the cabinets.

 

[MrBond]

We did hardwood floor (oak, toung and groove) in the entire addition we built onto our house several years ago. A 26x26 foot addition took all of a saturday to cut/lay ourselves. Keep in mind that there was really no special cutting (except for the closets) so it went pretty fast. I don't remember how my parent's sanded it, we finished it a room at a time though, so it was probably all done by hand with a power sander. It was nailed down, we rented a nailer locally for under $100 for the weekend. The one we got wasn't pneumatic (good old arm power, you hit a special piston with a hammer).

Hardwood is VERY durable, much more so then lineoleum (it doesn't gouge as easily, and if it does, it's relativly easy to fix). It looks more expensive at first, but when you consider you'll NEVER have to replace it (sand/refinish maybe) unlike lineoleum or carpet which need replaced after a while (better stuff lasts longer, but of course, its more expensive).

We got a KILLER deal on our hardwood floor from a Contractor's Warehouse in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. We live about 70 miles from Ft. Wayne, but it was still worth it to drive there with a truck and pick it up. I don't remember how expensive it was, but I know it was way cheaper then we could have gotten it anywhere else. If you've got one of those near you, it might be worth it to check it out.

Hardwood looks great, I perfer it over carpet in just about every situation. It's a ton easier to keep clean (just an occasional Swiffer-ing) as opposed to carpet and the requied vacuum.

 

[danm]

We did the real wood laminated ( engineered ) floating floor a couple of months ago in our kitchen & dining room. It is very easy to put down but you have to follow the directions carefully or it is easy to get into trouble. There is very little waste , maybe 3% . We have radiant heat under that area of the house so we needed the floating stuff. It is very rich looking and satisfying to install , a couple of days to get the whole area ~ 400sq ft done. Cost was around $2000 Can ( $1200) Us. We expect to be here for a while so it is worth it to get something that we really like . The wood species is called Jatoba sometimes known as Brazilian Cherry. Go for it it's fun to do and your SO will think you are a hero.

 

[PlatinumGold]

i did 3/4" oak tongue and groove for my entire first floor about 1200 sq ft.

back breaking work, but worth it once you finish. took me about 30 hrs of labor.

 

[911paramedic]

I did a pergo floor for a friend in his kitchen and dining room a few years ago. The installation is not too bad (rent knee pads though, argh), but I don't like the feel it has. You know when you walk on those floors, it feels different, much different than hardwood. It is very durable and looks nice and many people just love it.

 

[Stallion]

we have pergo as well. The builder put it down though. But it looks nice. I have seen numerous magazine articles on how to lay it. We get The Family Handyman andthere has been a few "how-to" articles in them.

 

[broon]

I put down 3/4 in pre finished hard wood. But instead of nailing, I glued the pieces together and floated it. It took longer to lay than if I had nailed it. If I were to do it again, I'd rent the nailer. But it looks great. Wood will last longer and is more unique. If something happens to it, you can always refinish it. You cannot refinish laminate. Also, since laminate is manmade you will see repeating patterns on planks. No two oak planks look the same. And some have really neat finishes to them. Go with the oak if you plan on staying in the house for more than five years.

 

[Jzero]

You cannot refinish laminate.

You shouldn't ever need to refinish laminate...stuff is pretty damn durable. My parents laid Pergo in their kitchen floor. You can tell by sight that it's not real wood, but it still looks nice. A lot of people in this thread are touting hardwood, but I'll be honest with you--as someone who spend the first 15 years of his life in a house with all hardwood floors, it's a LOT of work. We constantly had to be dusting them and periodically polishing them. Always worrying about dragging something across them and gouging them. Once a window leaked and 3 of the planks warped. Replacing all 3 planks makes it obvious that they were repolaced since they don't have the patina the other planks had. Replacing the whole floor was a lot of work for 3 warped planks.

My mom mops the Pergo floor once in awhile. It won't warp, it doesn't discolor. Hooray for synthetics