Best cheap laminate flooring? Ikea or elsewhere?

[lokiju]

I'm thinking its about time to replace my worn and torn carpet soon and also because I have such bad allergies, it could help with that.

I might even be able to write some of the cost off if my allergist will write a note/do some forms saying it'd help my health.

My wife and I do not intend on staying in this house beyond another year from now but realize things like that are hard to predict.

Either way the place needs new carpet or other flooring before we'd even try and sell it and figured if it's cheap enough and ok enough, we'd go the laminate route.

Has anyone does laminate on a budget and had good results?

Any places or brands to stay away from?

I'd probably do the install myself as current prices to install seem to be around $1.99 a SF which is a good bit more than the per SF cost of the flooring materials I've been looking at.

 

[Jeraden]

I got the stuff from Costco about 6 years ago and it's still holding up perfectly. If you get it when there is a coupon on it, it's a great value. Even without the coupon, a pretty good price.

 

[Imp]

Home Depot has a system similar to Ikea, but with a lot more options (stuff looks nicer too).

Ikea has the "simple", clean-cut appearance, and instructions/buying stuff feels a lot more straight-forward. We did it for a small section of our house, and it's held up for a few years well. It was installed half-assed with poors edging/trim though.

You need a mitre-saw to do it well. Don't go cheap and buy a jig/saw or any other manual option.

 

[amdskip]

I installed cheapish stuff from Menards in 2007 and it has held up pretty good. I prefer real hardwood but laminate has it's purpose.

 

[CPA]

Lumber Liquidators.

 

[Capt Caveman]

fwiw - a couple of times a year IKEA does have a sale on their flooring

 

[KB]

Lowes had a closeout sale for some laminate flooring last time I was there. It looked decent, and had a great price. 0.89 / foot

http://www.lowes.com/pd_56306-30029...br|0||p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

 

[vi edit]

How many sq/ft we talking?

Check out ifloors.com and see what is available in their odd lot section. I bought some really nice maple laminate complete with a true bevel for $.93 a sq/ft. It was $1.19 a sq/ft after shipping costs.

Also look at Sam's Club. They have a fairly thick (9mm) with a foam underlayment available in stock for around $1.55 a sq/ft.

Lumber Liquidators is also worth looking into. Every now and then they have 12mm stuff on sale for $2.00 or less a sq/ft.

The thicker it is, the less...laminatey?...it feels. It's just a much more dense flooring that doesn't have that squishy feel that the thinner stuff does.

When it comes to installing, get a laminate cutter (it's like a paper cutting board for laminate). No dust, and just makes very easy cutting to length.

 

[vi edit]

You need a mitre-saw to do it well. Don't go cheap and buy a jig/saw or any other manual option.

Nah. A laminate cutter + jig saw is all you need. Try making a cutout around a floor vent, door jam, ect with a mitre saw. Also try ripping down a 6' plank to half width when you get to an edge with a mitre saw.

 

[dquan97]

How many sq/ft we talking?

Check out ifloors.com and see what is available in their odd lot section. I bought some really nice maple laminate complete with a true bevel for $.93 a sq/ft. It was $1.19 a sq/ft after shipping costs.

Also look at Sam's Club. They have a fairly thick (9mm) with a foam underlayment available in stock for around $1.55 a sq/ft.

Lumber Liquidators is also worth looking into. Every now and then they have 12mm stuff on sale for $2.00 or less a sq/ft.

The thicker it is, the less...laminatey?...it feels. It's just a much more dense flooring that doesn't have that squishy feel that the thinner stuff does.

When it comes to installing, get a laminate cutter (it's like a paper cutting board for laminate). No dust, and just makes very easy cutting to length.

I've installed a lot of laminate flooring before and never heard of the cutter. I'll try it for my next project! How long does the blade last?

 

[vi edit]

I've installed a lot of laminate flooring before and never heard of the cutter. I'll try it for my next project! How long does the blade last?

http://www.amazon.com/QEP-10-35-Lami.../dp/B001PPXEKC

It's not really a "sharp" blade. It doesn't get dull. Most of them have a lifetime warranty.

 

[lokiju]

Home Depot has a system similar to Ikea, but with a lot more options (stuff looks nicer too).

Ikea has the "simple", clean-cut appearance, and instructions/buying stuff feels a lot more straight-forward. We did it for a small section of our house, and it's held up for a few years well. It was installed half-assed with poors edging/trim though.

You need a mitre-saw to do it well. Don't go cheap and buy a jig/saw or any other manual option.

Already been pricing out Miter saws and have a SlickDeals email alert set to notify me of any deals that come up.

So far my cheapest option is roughly $100 from Harbor Freight.

 

[vi edit]

If you have allergy issues...then consider the cutter. It doesn't make dust. It just leaves little laminate strips that fall on the floor. Cutting laminate sucks. It's a dusty, nasty mess.

 

[Imp]

Nah. A laminate cutter + jig saw is all you need. Try making a cutout around a floor vent, door jam, ect with a mitre saw. Also try ripping down a 6' plank to half width when you get to an edge with a mitre saw.

Cool. Never seen that thing before.

We were smart and tried using a hacksaw... When that got too hard, we "splurged" on a $15 jigsaw sans clamps/cutting board/table.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Check out the Pergo factory outlet... free shipping, nice quality, but very very limited options.

I went with Resilient Vinyl "fake oak" for my living room (alure ultra from Home depot), install was a bit of a PITA, but the floor looks damn nice, and it's waterproof. Just have to be somewhat carefull with scratches, but otherwise it's decently durable.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Like VI said, get the laminate cutter. You can probably rent them from HD etc.

 

[DrPizza]

For what it's worth, if you have Amish sawmills in your area, you might be able to get real flooring for cheaper than laminate flooring. I recently looked into getting my maple trees turned into flooring; final cost to me was going to be about $1.00 per square foot, including rough cut, kiln drying, and milling. I ended up declining the opportunity because if there was any hardware in my trees (100 year old maples along the road), then I had to pay for damage to their saw blade - at $3.50 per tooth. There were over 100 teeth on their blade. I decided to eventually just buy their lumber from them. A couple of local friends of mine have gone to the sawmills, picked out a stack of lumber, and had the entire stack turned into flooring for fraction of what flooring costs at HD.

 

[vi edit]

For what it's worth, if you have Amish sawmills in your area, you might be able to get real flooring for cheaper than laminate flooring. I recently looked into getting my maple trees turned into flooring; final cost to me was going to be about $1.00 per square foot, including rough cut, kiln drying, and milling. I ended up declining the opportunity because if there was any hardware in my trees (100 year old maples along the road), then I had to pay for damage to their saw blade - at $3.50 per tooth. There were over 100 teeth on their blade. I decided to eventually just buy their lumber from them. A couple of local friends of mine have gone to the sawmills, picked out a stack of lumber, and had the entire stack turned into flooring for fraction of what flooring costs at HD.

Yeh, but I'm assuming that's 'raw' wood. It's the staining & finishing that's a real bitch to make look nice. And when it comes to flooring, the finish coat is really what makes for a durable surface. I really wouldn't want to mess with that personally.

 

[coloumb]

Agree on the Costco flooring - 3 rooms and so far has held up pretty well. Easiest laminate to install is the type with the padding glued to the bottom.

The biggest pain I've encountered is floor leveling [or lack of] - homebuilders are doing a sloppy job since most houses have carpeting installed. If the sub floor isn't level [requirements will be printed on the box], it may be more cost effective to just pay someone to install the cheapest carpet you can find since you're not planning to live there for much longer.

I'd opt for a table saw as you'll need something to cut lengthwise the laminates for the final row - mitre saw can't do this.

If you're planning to replace the baseboards - rent a mitre saw. You're going to have to pull up the baseboards on 2 sides of the room in order to get the laminate installed.

Proper planning ahead will make the install go a lot smoother - get some graph paper and plan out the lengths of the laminate - you'll probably end up with 3 or 4 unique rows that repeat for the entire room. You're going to waste a bit of the laminate - that's a given.

Check google for "laminate installation" videos - and go from there.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'd recommend against cheap laminate flooring and get the best and hardest wood flooring you can afford. It will last longer and look better longer.

 

[vi edit]

I'd recommend against cheap laminate flooring and get the best and hardest wood flooring you can afford. It will last longer and look better longer.

Long term durability I'll give you. But for basic wear and tear? Decent laminate is some tough shit to scratch. I had brazilian cherry hardwood in my last house which is about the hardest natural wood you can get short of ironwood. And even with that you can still scratch it pretty deep if you have pets or catch it just right with the wrong edge of something.

Laminate on the other hand is almost impervious to pets, kids, casters, ect. About the only thing that can really kill it is excessive amounts of moisture and dropping something incredibly sharp on it. And even then it's pretty easy to replace. Much easier than tile or hardwood that you've grouted/nailed/glued down.

I sort of compromised on my current home with strand bamboo. It's almost got the surface durability of laminate, while still having the natural look and weight of hardwood. Well, actually it's more dense than any other hardwood. It's one step short of being battleship armor.

 

[NiteWulf]

I'm thinking its about time to replace my worn and torn carpet soon and also because I have such bad allergies, it could help with that.

I might even be able to write some of the cost off if my allergist will write a note/do some forms saying it'd help my health.

Don't be surprised if your allergies act up just as bad after you replace the floor covering. You're allergic to the dust, not the nylon/olefin/etc. in the carpet. Carpet acts as a giant air filter, and vacuuming and carpet cleaning remove the dust from your house's environment. Hard floors do not retain dust when disturbed--it flies all over the place and collects elsewhere, ensuring more dust in the air, in your vents, and in your other carpeted rooms.

 

[vi edit]

Don't be surprised if your allergies act up just as bad after you replace the floor covering. You're allergic to the dust, not the nylon/olefin/etc. in the carpet. Carpet acts as a giant air filter, and vacuuming and carpet cleaning remove the dust from your house's environment. Hard floors do not retain dust when disturbed--it flies all over the place and collects elsewhere, ensuring more dust in the air, in your vents, and in your other carpeted rooms.

Not going to agree with you there. Carpet is an allergen trap. I don't care how good of a vaccuum you have. Shit sticks in there and gets matted down in the fibers, and worse, the pad. My dog was probably the best judge of that. Living in two houses with all carpet she would break out in rashes on her hide that would cause her hair to fall out. Moving to a house with almost entirely hardwood/tile she hasn't had a breakout since. Talked to the vet about it and that was the first thing she asked about. Says that it's very common in pets to have much less allergic issues on hardwood/tile surfaces over carpeting.

Plus you *know* when hardwood is dirty just by looking it at. Carpet hides a lot of stuff.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Long term durability I'll give you. But for basic wear and tear? Decent laminate is some tough shit to scratch. I had brazilian cherry hardwood in my last house which is about the hardest natural wood you can get short of ironwood. And even with that you can still scratch it pretty deep if you have pets or catch it just right with the wrong edge of something.

Laminate on the other hand is almost impervious to pets, kids, casters, ect. About the only thing that can really kill it is excessive amounts of moisture and dropping something incredibly sharp on it. And even then it's pretty easy to replace. Much easier than tile or hardwood that you've grouted/nailed/glued down.

I sort of compromised on my current home with strand bamboo. It's almost got the surface durability of laminate, while still having the natural look and weight of hardwood. Well, actually it's more dense than any other hardwood. It's one step short of being battleship armor.

I had a high end laminate and now have hardwood laminate (2mm hardwood veneer over plywood). Yes, you do get dents in real wood but I found it wasn't overly difficult to scratch laminate either and it looks way worse when you do. And moisture is death to laminate. It soaks up water like a sponge and the only way to fix it is to replace it.

Our current floor is glued down too which I highly recommend. I hate floating floors. They creak and pop when you walk on them, drove me nuts.

I'd probably give bamboo a serious look. It is supposed to be very durable and looks good too.

 

[vi edit]

I'd probably give bamboo a serious look. It is supposed to be very durable and looks good too.

Strand bamboo is the durable stuff. Regular bamboo you can dent with your thumbnail. Strand bamboo you can barely hurt with a hammer. It's almost 80 pounds per 21 sq/ft. Not fun lugging in 50 boxes of that stuff.