hard floors in the home-need advice

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - hard floors in the home-need advice

Posted: 12/27/2003 5:06:49 PM EDT

We're planning on building a new home next year, and putting hard floors though out except in the kitchen and bathrooms. We are going to put tile in there. One of the reasons is due to the wife allergies.

We are looking a different types of hard floors: real wood (solid), real wood (laminate), and artificial (by Pergo, and the better grade of Armstrong). We bought some samples of each of the above, and preformed the following test, in an identical manner on each sample:
Dropping an object on to them (impact)
Dropping a screw driver, blade down (chip test)
Dragging an object with a weight across the sample (scratch test)

The Armstrong preformed the best in all tests. Does anyone have any of the artificial stuff in their homes? Are you satisfied? The only thing about the solid real wood I like is that it can be refinished if damaged, where as the artificial stuff can not. Has anyone put an industrial coat on the artificial stuff like restraints do with the real wood?

Thanks.
Art in KY

Posted: 12/27/2003 5:10:59 PM EDT

[#1]

I grew up in and my parents still live in a house that has 12" wide planks in the kitchen. They are uneven, the nails occasionally have to be hammered back down, and are cold in the winter.

If I had the $$ I would do that in all of the rooms in my current house.

F&^k Pergo. Do it right. Get the real deal.

MG

Posted: 12/27/2003 5:12:02 PM EDT

[#2]

I've got Armstrong in my home office....it was the BEST thing I did for that room and was a snap to install.

Posted: 12/27/2003 5:21:12 PM EDT

[#3]

The "Pergo" (a brand, but often used generically for artificial laminate flooring) stuff is fantastic. I'm going to be replacing the flooring in my house with it. My buddy put some in his house, and I helped him do some of it just so I could learn how it's done. He used the older tongue & groove stuff, but nearly everything today is the snap-together, which is easier and stronger.

He has a dog that I was sure would destroy that floor, as it would certainly have destroyed a real wood floor. Two years later, and the floor looks pristine, and you can't even see the wear areas or the spots where the dog "peels out" around the corners. I honestly didn't think stuff could be made that well.

And, the nice thing is that these floors are floated, so if you want to replace it in 10 years, you just remove the trim around the edges, pick it up, and carry it off. No glue to remove or anything.

-Troy

Posted: 12/27/2003 5:23:39 PM EDT

[#4]

I have installed all the types of floor you are looking at.

I worked in a home a while back that had Pergo or Armstrong, not sure which.

The heat/ac ducts were all in the floor, flat on the floor. The flooring around two of the vents was swelling and lifting because the central air was causing moisture problems. The vents were leaking air just enough to allow condensed moisture into the flooring.

I have never seen artificial wood flooring that looked like the real deal. It may cost nearly as much, but it looks fake.

Wood floors can be maintained and repaired. Pergo cannot. That finish, no matter what they say, will not last nearly as long as a wood floor.

Posted: 12/27/2003 5:35:13 PM EDT

[#5]

Real wood floors leave marks, dings, dents, scratches. Character marks. Fake wood floors is like puttin' up fake stone for a veneer. My vote is for the real thing.

Posted: 12/27/2003 5:48:12 PM EDT

[#6]

Put my laminate in back in August and love it. Low maintenance!! sweep or swiffer once a week and that's it!

[img]http://home.nc.rr.com/blueshockey77/floor.jpg[/img]

Posted: 12/27/2003 6:12:51 PM EDT

[#7]

We put a laminate floor in last summer. Within 1 month the wife opened up the hide a bed and put 2 dents in the floor. Her dog pees all over it and now the seams are expanding up like particle board does. Watching TV is a pain because the dogs and cats make so much noise with their nails that you can't hear anything. The couch kept sliding into the drywall until it wore a groove.

So over all...I HATE IT!!!!

Posted: 12/27/2003 6:25:39 PM EDT

[#8]

Hardwood floors make your home louder and colder.

I hate them.

Carpet for me.

If your wife has serious allergies think spending extra $$ on a HEPA filtering system for you heating and A/C unit.

Posted: 12/27/2003 6:52:18 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
We put a laminate floor in last summer. Within 1 month the wife opened up the hide a bed and put 2 dents in the floor. Her dog pees all over it and now the seams are expanding up like particle board does. Watching TV is a pain because the dogs and cats make so much noise with their nails that you can't hear anything. The couch kept sliding into the drywall until it wore a groove.

So over all...I HATE IT!!!!

View Quote

That's the problem with the "click-in" laminate flooring. If you get the kind that you glue together (with waterproof glue), then you get a great, waterproof seal. Messy, but better.
Me, I'd go with real wood or tile. Laminate always seems louder than the real thing, and/or looks fakey. Maybe I've only seen bad installs...

Posted: 12/27/2003 7:04:40 PM EDT

[#10]

I must have found a good brand. [url]http://www.hardsurfaces.shawfloors.com/laminates/[/url] I bought mine locally though. No messy glue, easy to cut, everything snapped in nicely. I have Armstrong in the wash room, that's some good stuff too.

Posted: 12/27/2003 7:38:03 PM EDT

[#11]

I love a good hard wood. I've had tile before, and I hate cleaning it.

Posted: 12/27/2003 7:57:42 PM EDT

[#12]

how about this. It is tile but looks like hardwood.

[img]http://home.comcast.net/~amhsia/floor1.jpg[/img]

We just had it installed. It was better than hardwood because it was more durable and didn't need the maintinence(sp). Looks just as good. Most people have to get down and touch it to see it isn't wood. Comes in different tones so you can get that "real wood doesn't match" look.

Posted: 12/27/2003 8:05:29 PM EDT

[#13]

Bruce prefinished would be my choice.

I have installed 'Pergo' style flooring, and seen it wear. it will look good initially, but as it goes through a few summer/winter cycles, the seams really start showing up. Then it starts looking like crap.

The last few installs I have done are 3/4" Bruce prefinished. It is solid oak all the way through, and refinishable if you want to do it 20 years from now. Installation is not bad, either.

Posted: 12/27/2003 8:10:26 PM EDT

[#14]

Pergo just introduced their latest laminates called TruWood. I installed the Harborside Hickory in my home with the silent step padding. We couldn't be happier. We decided to go with Pergo because our 3 year old is a little wild man and would tear up real wood.

Check out the TruWood by Pergo.

Tom

Posted: 12/27/2003 8:35:54 PM EDT

[#15]

I've got 3/8" thick oak over laminate flooring tiles in all four of my bedrooms and marble tile in the hallways and living/dinning rooms. The bathrooms and kitchen are ceramic tiles.

The oak tiles hold up very well in the bedrooms. All my furniture has those slider things on the bottoms, my office chair has the standard wheels and hasn't left a pattern in two years of sitting in the thing [:)]

The only thing that is really bad is letting water stand on them as it will soak in and cause the tiles to swell.

If they get really bad you can have them sanded down, refinished, and sealed by the professionals. Having the tiles 3/8" thick solid wood on top of the laminate allows that process to go on more than a few times.

The heavy traffic areas are all french [rolleyes] marble and they of course are bullet (kid) proof. The guy who I bought the house from left paint drips here and there that came up with a razor knife with ease.

Posted: 12/27/2003 8:38:37 PM EDT

[#16]

We throw throw rugs here and there like in front of the sofas and around our beds to keep things warmer.

Rugs you can wash the crap out of or just throw away - have you ever seen the crap that's in a carpet after a year or two? [shock]

Posted: 12/27/2003 8:45:26 PM EDT

[#17]

Looked at a house that advertized "new Pergo flooring" before we purchased this one. Uhgg..

It looked like crap, as someone else mentioned it looked fake. It looks good in the store, but find your self a floor guy that does hardwood floors and let him at the job. You'll love the way it looks, and he'll tell you he can fix anything you do to it a lot easier than the Armstrong or the Pergo.

We have Armstrong in the kitchen here, and it needs replacing - and the house its only 6 years old. It's lifting at the seams.

Posted: 12/27/2003 9:43:39 PM EDT

[#18]

I am in the construction industry, and I would never install any of that fake crap. My current apt. is wall to wall 18" ceramic tile and I love it, other than the fact that it's bad for the dog's hips. You don't say if you've got any pets or not.
Throw rugs get rid of the echo of wood and/or tile.
As has been said, the real wood can be sanded down & refinished.
Not sure what the weather is like where you are, but you can always do radiant-in-floor-heating. If I lived any further north than I do now (Ft. Lauderdale) I'd have it.

Posted: 12/27/2003 11:47:23 PM EDT

[#19]

Walk on a Pergo floor with hard-soled shoes. Clonk, clonk, clonk, it's a hollow icky noise that gives away the type of flooring no matter how good it looks on the surface. Pergo can't compete to the warm glow that hardwood floors have. Resale value is better with real wood, as well. When hardwood gets a dent, it's character. When Pergo gets a dent, it's a potential catastrophe if water gets into the laminate.

Posted: 12/28/2003 2:50:40 AM EDT

[#20]

pergo can be refinshed one time maybe two times recomend real hardwood floors call dean at fawbush and finwick flooring in newalbany ind. tell em mike sent ya real hardwood is forever

Posted: 12/28/2003 3:11:28 AM EDT

[#21]

Thanks for all the input guys! No pets.
Art in KY

Posted: 12/28/2003 3:25:35 AM EDT

[#22]

We put down hardwood down on the 1st floor of our house to replace the carpeting. To me and the Mrs. that has made a significant improvement. We may be old fashioned but to us we wouldn't be satified with anything else. BobK

Posted: 12/28/2003 6:02:56 AM EDT

[#23]

Okay, we're just about convinced to go with real hardwood and tile. But I have one question re: hardwood.

How do you deal with the seams opening up in hardwood floors?

[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=15537[/img]

Here's a pic of our back computer room floor (nevermind the rifle[;)]), and you can see what I'm talking about. The quality of the picture sucks, so the floor is actually in pretty good condition. When it's freshly cleaned it look great, with the exception of the cracks in the seams opening up.

This seems (no pun intended) to be the only unresolved issue that I have with hardwood.

Thanks,

Corey

Posted: 12/28/2003 6:38:44 AM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
Okay, we're just about convinced to go with real hardwood and tile. But I have one question re: hardwood.

How do you deal with the seams opening up in hardwood floors?

[url]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/Attachments/DownloadAttach.asp?iImageUnq=15537[/url]

Here's a pic of our back computer room floor (nevermind the rifle[;)]), and you can see what I'm talking about. The quality of the picture sucks, so the floor is actually in pretty good condition. When it's freshly cleaned it look great, with the exception of the cracks in the seams opening up.

This seems (no pun intended) to be the only unresolved issue that I have with hardwood.

Thanks,

Corey

View Quote

Proper installation. I've never seen a well installed hardwood floor spread like that. Commercial applications have 2 layers of plywood on rubber feet, with the wood nailed to the plywood, and an expansion gap around the outside which is covered with baseboard material.

Posted: 12/28/2003 6:52:36 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:
I grew up in and my parents still live in a house that has 12" wide planks in the kitchen. They are uneven, the nails occasionally have to be hammered back down, and are cold in the winter.

If I had the $$ I would do that in all of the rooms in my current house.

F&^k Pergo. Do it right. Get the real deal.

Yup.

We have hardwood floors in all the "Public and Adult" areas of our home...Pergo (which I hate" in the kids space.

One thing you can only do w/wood-Refinish it when and If necessary.

MG

View Quote

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