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Posted: 8/8/2005 9:52:26 PM EDT
[#1]
Laminate sucks, IMHO. We installed it in our kitchen, and if I had to do it again I'd do oak. The seams drew water and swelled. We also have some real wood trim where the french doors are, and it's obvious the laminate is fake.
I also think it was MORE of a pain in the ass to install than real wood. The pieces didn't interlock as easily as advertised, and the joints would crack and bust out if I wasn't VERY gentle. |
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Posted: 8/8/2005 9:54:30 PM EDT
[#2]
I put some pergo in a house a few years ago and I think it sucked. It might be better now but I don't know. I just put pre-finished hickory in the main floor of my house and it is awesome. I used Bellawood brand, it's supposed to be the hardest finish available.
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Posted: 8/8/2005 9:57:54 PM EDT
[#3]
Have you considered ceramic or slate tile? VERY nice in a kitchen--impervious to water and traffic.
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Posted: 8/8/2005 9:59:03 PM EDT
[#4]
My wife and I put down some Bruce hardwood flooring a few years back. It still looks great. The only thing I don't like about it, (and it's really not because of the wood), is that the slab in our living room wasn't level in some places so when you walk on the floor there you can feel it sag just a bit. Other than that the floor looks great. I would pay someone to do it next time because my knees and back were sore for days after crawling around on the floor for a whole weekend!
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Posted: 8/8/2005 9:59:58 PM EDT
[#5]
pergo is the way to go.
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Posted: 8/8/2005 10:07:27 PM EDT
[#6]
I wouldn't put wood / laminate in any room containing water. |
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Posted: 8/8/2005 10:08:09 PM EDT
[#7]
What about in a entryway where occassionally people come in with wet shoes or snow on the shoes? |
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Posted: 8/8/2005 10:10:41 PM EDT
[#8]
Hardwood floors and kitchens don't mix very well. Laminates are well....not my first choice for a kitchen.
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Posted: 8/8/2005 10:15:05 PM EDT
[#9]
Listen to these folks. I have a bathroom with wood floors. I REALLY need to replace with 12x12 tile. |
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Posted: 8/8/2005 10:19:49 PM EDT
[#10]
Not a tradesman but I've had both tongue-and-groove oak flooring as well as a laminate floor and they both have their advantages and disadvantages.
In the kitchen the seams are the main problem with our particular laminate floor (near the fridge where the icemaker leaked the seams widened to about 1/4" inch...haven't gotten around to replacing it yet). Throughout the rest of the house it looks pretty darned good and is *extremely* durable and damage resistant. I've dropped a hammer on it without making a dent, pretty unreal. It also doesn't scuff as easily as real wood. Very low maintenance floor and I'd get it again. Ours looks pretty good but I've seen some that look very 'fake' and not particularly appealing. The problem with real hardwood, esp in kitchen is that it's going to get beat to hell. Wood also stains and swells if it stays wet (plus the subfloor is the weak link anyway). On the upside, generally real wood looks much nicer than laminate with a richer color and texture but they're a pain in the ass to maintain in heavy traffic areas. Hope you like stripping and waxing the floor once a year.  For the kitchen if it were me I'd go for some really nice looking ceramic tile. They've got all kinds of patterns and textures now including many that look like real stone. Go to a tile store and check out the selection. |
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Posted: 8/8/2005 10:27:36 PM EDT
[#11]
Pergo sucks
Especially in kitchens!!!Get tile. |
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Posted: 8/8/2005 10:32:40 PM EDT
[#12]
The pergo in my kitchen has been in for over 7 years now and doesn't have one sign of water damage.
Water is always splattering on it due to washing dishes or general spilling. I don't understand how some of you have water issues on your pergo. Do you let water fall and say fuck it or if you know you spilled do you make an effort to wipe it up? Real wood will be worse if you don't keep it highly protected so I don't see how real wood is a better alt if water is a concern. |
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Posted: 8/8/2005 10:35:32 PM EDT
[#13]
Tile in my bathrooms and kitchens, and pergo/wood everywhere else.
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Posted: 8/8/2005 11:19:27 PM EDT
[#14]
I'm STILL redoing my kitchen right now and we went with ceramic tile as I was concerned about the potential for water damage as well. I had a leaky 5 gallon bottle of water in the dispensor once that I didn't find till the next morning after all the water leaked all over the kitchen floor....that image kept me from putting a wooden floor in the kitchen. My wife wants to put laminate in the entryway and I am leaning towards the tile again because when the rain season starts it WILL get wet.
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Posted: 8/8/2005 11:50:27 PM EDT
[#15]
Is there anything you can put on pergo type floors to better protect it from water damage? I believe they already come pre-treated a bit, but can you add more protection like you can to a wood deck?
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Posted: 8/9/2005 12:44:00 AM EDT
[#16]
I have Brazilian Cherry hardwood in my kitchen and don't have any problems, if any water spills on it I wipe it up. I really can't understand how you could spill enough water and leave it there long enough to damaged it. It's just a kitchen, not a water park.
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Posted: 8/9/2005 2:48:59 AM EDT
[#17]
I have ceramic tile in the kitchen, dining room and bathrooms. I want to replace the carpeted floors in the living room and family room with hardwood or Pergo. Which would be the best considering price and ease of "do-it-yourself"? I may sell this place in five years.
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:01:16 AM EDT
[#18]
My folks have had Pergo in their kitchen for about 8 years now. Keep in mind that they have 4 big dogs that drag dirt and gritty sand in from the yard on this floor - there is still not a single mark on that floor.
It has amazed me how durable it is. CMOS |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:11:10 AM EDT
[#19]
Thanks for the advice. I have been pishing for tile but the wife wants Pergo. We bought our house with the hardwood in the kitchen. Dumb idea. I had a small water leak that I quickly fixed. Some water got under the hardwood and caused it to swell. This cased all of the boards to buckle in a 3 foot wide section the entire length of the kitchen. Our dog has also scratched the hell out of the floor.
I guess it will come down to what warranty we get with the floor. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:11:50 AM EDT
[#20]
tile!
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:12:59 AM EDT
[#21]
Wife and I just bought a house.
We had Bruce hardwood (a beautiful ash) installed in the kitchen. We had Congoleum DuraCeramic installed in the bathroom. The flooring guys that installed all of it said that they would never put any kind of wood flooring in a bathroom. Whether it be hardwood or laminate. It WILL get wet. They said that while there is some risk of water damage in the kitchen, the most damage occurs from constant exposure. (spilling a couple gallons of water probably won't hurt anything, but dripping that gallons of water over a couple of weeks might) I re-did the plumbing in the kitchen, and I check it frequently since the damn floor cost a butt-load of $$$. Not a drop so far. The guys installing it said the new wave is this duraceramic stuff. Not too expensive. Easy and cheap to install. Easy to replace a tile if one gets damaged. My brother has a Pergo in his kitchen/dining room. He also has kids, and a big dog. Their diningroom chairs have no felt pads on the feet. So things get skidded across the floor a lot. But very few scratches. You can't expect that with a hardwood. Pergo is now available with a clear aluminum oxide coating that makes the surface finish pretty darn tough and scratch resistent. (unlike the polyeurothane on the hardwood) |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:14:27 AM EDT
[#22]
try engineered wood flooring. It is plies of wood (plywood!) and has a veneer of oak on top. You can sand and refinish these a couple of times. It is 7 times more stable than solid wood in resistance to water absorbtion and twisting and warping.
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:22:48 AM EDT
[#23]
Another vote for tile.
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:27:43 AM EDT
[#24]
I had pergo in my old place and hardwood in my current place.
If I had to replace the wood floor, I'd go with pergo. As others have stated....100% impervious to traffic and pets. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:31:27 AM EDT
[#25]
+1 on the tile
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:40:09 AM EDT
[#26]
We tiled our entire house, minus the bedrooms. Don't have to worry about anything damaging it. Easy to clean up, easy to maintain. That said, I would like REAL hardwood floors next. Definitely not Pergo. In my opinion, Pergo looks cheap. I certainly wouldn't put hardwood down in a kitchen, though. We had hardwood floors in my house growing up. My little brother decided he would help out with the dishes, and put dish soap in the dishwasher. After about 10 minutes, the entire kitchen was about knee deep in suds. The floor bowed and bubbled. It wasn't pretty. The up side to that story was that I could do pretty much anything I wanted for awhile without getting in trouble. 
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:01:58 AM EDT
[#27]
I prefer carpet in the kitchen, but that is just me. Most will call me crazy.
I find a good weave that won't show dirt or stains. Much more forgiving on my wife's feet, and if she accidentally drops a dish, I don't have to dock her allowance for breaking it. 
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:08:53 AM EDT
[#28]
Mannington is one of the few engineered floor (hardwood) products to offer warranty for bathrooms and kitchens.
Water will f$%k up pergo, I have seen a leaking icemaker ruin half a kitchen. Ceramic tile is the only way to go in a kitchen. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:09:33 AM EDT
[#29]
It is not what gets on top of pergo that screws it up, it is what gets under. had to edit, Pergo sucks. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:10:45 AM EDT
[#30]
Had a floating floor laminate in the old house (Witex?). We have #2 red oak in the new house. If we had it to do over again, we would go back to laminate. The dogs have really beat the snot out of the oak in 1.5 years where they did no damage to the laminate in 6 years. We had zero problems with water damage with the laminate, and we had it in the kitchen and both bathrooms.
Just my .02 |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:11:56 AM EDT
[#31]
Or the hardwood. Pergo my be pet resistant, but looks like crap, IMO. You may as well leave the plastic on all your furniture... 
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:15:00 AM EDT
[#32]
Please explain to her, no matter what the pergo sales person says, it will come up at the seams and you will regret installing it in the kitchen. It looks cheap too! I also disagree that pergo is 100% impervious to pets...It is not! Surface scratches are visible on the pergo. Oh yeah.... did I mention it looks cheap? 
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:16:58 AM EDT
[#33]
I went the laminate route this spring in my family room. I didn't want to pay 9 bucks a square foot and have my Pyrenees scratch it up within the first year. So far so good... I'm very happy this the Armstrong they sell at Lowes.
~Dg84 |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:20:21 AM EDT
[#34]
I have ceramic in the kitchen and breezeway and baths and hardwood everywhere else ('cept the bedrooms--berber).
Personally I hate Pergo...I want the real thing baby...not some cheap imitation. YMMV |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:20:50 AM EDT
[#35]
I'm using pergo as a general term for laminate flooring. cheap pergo looks cheap. Good pergo looks better than worn wood floors. And it is virtually impervious to dogs...I have 2 60lb dogs. The pergo in my old place was (for all intents and purposes) scratch free after 5 years. The wood floors in my half-million dollar house have obvious scratches after 1.5 years. They will eventually be replaced with high-end laminate, and it won't look (or be) cheap. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:53:58 AM EDT
[#36]
I threw a peice of newer pergo in the sink for a day to see what water exposure would do to it, could not see any warpage or swelling. Think they might have changed the substrate over the years.
I put in a pergo-esque floor in my old house. Looked ok, but you can always see it is fake. I did a good job of installing. When I was house shopping, almost universally the laminate floors where installed like crap and looked terrible (to me anyway, I grant no expcuses for crappy workmanship). That said, old house had a tiled kitchen and bath. Am considering laminate in an upstairs bath at the moment - why the f**k does anyone ever carpet a bathroom. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 7:54:33 AM EDT
[#37]
this floor looks good
  
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Posted: 8/9/2005 8:09:24 AM EDT
[#38]
Pros and cons for each:
Laminate (pergo isn't very high on the ladder) is much more durable to traffic. It is also very susceptible to water damage. As others have mentioned, it is pressed particle board, once it's wet, it swells, it's done. Kitchens have multiple likely sources of water. Hardwood is much more likely to be damaged by, for example, high heels on a hefty woman, a dropped can like in the kitchen. My advice, laminate in dry heavy traffic areas, TILE in areas subject to water. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 8:09:54 AM EDT
[#39]
Looks good. Light Maple? (looks like the color I used). My big issue is that when you get larger rooms and look at it at a shallow angle (espceially if you have a lot of light in the room) the seams are always visable. Most of the pergoed house I looked at had crowning on the seams as well as often had seems that were not tight (suspect they let sawdust get in the seams when they were installing) |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 8:15:37 AM EDT
[#40]
Light maple is correct. $1.50 a foot. I put it in the kitchen till I remodel it then I am going to take out half of it and tile the rest. My freind bought a 500k house and they put lam in it. I would love hardwood but the estimte of 8k for the same area was too much for me.
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Posted: 8/9/2005 8:27:52 AM EDT
[#41]
Looks good. Light Maple? (looks like the color I used). My big issue is that when you get larger rooms and look at it at a shallow angle (espceially if you have a lot of light in the room) the seams are always visable. Most of the pergoed house I looked at had crowning on the seams as well as often had seems that were not tight (suspect they let sawdust get in the seams when they were installing) Anyway, this was my install. 
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Posted: 8/9/2005 8:59:05 AM EDT
[#42]
I've installed a LOT of flooring over the years, some paid jobs, some as trades and a lot for my various homes (I fix the one in in then sell) and I agree with most of the posters; NO hardwood in kitchens or baths. No pergo type floors that have an MDF substrate.
Though if you MUST have hardwood in the kitchen, there are some strategies that will help the longevity of the floor. Start by installing unfinished hardwood over a good subfloor, sand it well and then seal it with a good quality poly varnish rated for floors. Here is the trick: apply the poly by pouring it on, allowing the varnish to pool and find its own way into the carck between the boards, also allow some to seep along the edges of the flooring along the walls. Use a lambswool type applicator and go slow. This will get the poly into the areas that water might seep into and keep the water from wicking into the wood and staining the wood. Then when it is all said and done, you MUST use carpets or rubber backed carpet mats, like those used near entrances. Put one in front of the sink and one in front of the stove and if you can stand it, one in front of the fridge. These will do wonders for catching spills and cushioning dropped items. Be sure to check under the mats every day or so to be sure that no moisture has crept under the mats. This will help, but you will be sure to get some damage eventually. Kitchens are hard on floors. Oh, and if you get tile, be sure it is not so smooth as to be slick when wet, and do the install to minimize the grout lines. You'll be sure sorry if you do a light color tile and a white grout if you do not have a cleaning service. The grout catches and hold any bit of dirt or grease and gets dark quickly... efxguy |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 9:08:25 AM EDT
[#43]
Installed Wilsonart's Estate line of laminate flooring at my parents house throughout the dining and kitchen. Excellent material. Most of the reputable brands are durable and will suit your application. Pay attention to what the manufacturer recommends. For the Wilsonart, I had to glue EVERY seam as I installed it to have a water resistive system. There have been plenty of spills including the dog routinely dumping her water dish onto the floor. When installed correctly it is good stuff.
Gain over hardwood is less maintenance - the laminate is hard as rocks - tough to scratch (believe me if my folks dog can't do it at her Mach 5 run through to greet you it'll hold up very well.) Be thorough on researching brands - the Wilsonart product has a thick laminate and wear layer that is colored all the way through - meaning that if it does get scratched you won't have a big off color line in your floor. Go to the local reps and ask for samples of the construction - what I got was individual layers side by side with the actual product illustrating just how thick the finish really was and what was backer. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 9:20:13 AM EDT
[#44]
First off, avoid the pergo. You really can't do anything to it once it's showing wear, other than tear it out and put more down.
I work on my off days installing hardwood floors and refinishing them. Ideally, the oak would be best. next would come the laminate. Look for something with a 25+ year warranty, and uses locking joints rather than glue. AVOID anything with glue. We installed a couple of hundred feet of laminate just yesterday. The home owner was quite happy. You have to be sure you install it properly, if you don't you run the risk of damagine the edges and then they don't mate up well and you get high spots and edges that will catch you socks. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 9:22:01 AM EDT
[#45]
I presonally think tile is a horrible idea in the kicthen.
It's the same reason tile isn't that great as a counter. Food and shit can sit in inbetween the tiles and be a pain to keep clean. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 9:29:12 AM EDT
[#46]
I agree with this...my parents house has tile floors and countertops in the kitchen...spanish terra cotta looking stuff. Looks GREAT. Bitch to keep clean. You can't just wipe off the countertops...you just wind up chasing stuff into the grout areas. You literally need to vacum the countertops to really get all the crumbs and such. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 9:43:34 AM EDT
[#47]
we have laminate on the first floor of our house. I LOVE it.......we were gonna do hardwood but putting it in was a major P.I.T.A. compared to the laminate.
we have 2 dogs(had 3) and two kids the floor has been down two years and there is not a mark on it including the kitchen. laminate gets my vote. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 9:43:59 AM EDT
[#48]
sheet vinyl is the only way to go
 +1 on the pour on of poly idea befor - I have heard good things about it. A wood(esque) product I have read good things on is bamboo. Sick and twisted note - used to live in a place with pine floors (2x4's on edge. One side was floor, the other was ceiling, supported about ever 4-8 ft with either a wall or a 4x12). Anyway we had tons of bathroom rot issues. One proposed solution was to fiberglass over the wood. It it keeps a boat waterproof, we thought maybe it would work in our bathrooms. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 5:04:18 PM EDT
[#49]
You actually have to clean it to keep it clean. This is extremely hard for may to understand. I have light colored tile and light colored grout. It came with the house and is about 15 yrs old. It is still clean, because I actually clean it. It also helps if you follow the installer's instructions and seal the grout. I don't think anybody does this. ........did I say pergo sucks? IKEA sells pergo. If you plan on selling your house soon after the install, you will be turning away a large percentage of potential buyers by installing this crap. |
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Posted: 8/9/2005 6:17:28 PM EDT
[#50]
We have 12X12 ceramic tile on the kitchen and dining room floors. It is completely sealed and mop up leaves it very clean and somewhat glossy, even the grout. |
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