speaking of wood floors and such

[shmike]

Originally Posted by azoomm

There is no way quality tile will ever look cheaper than laminate. After rehabbing numerous homes, I would go with tile over laminate ANY day. If you're doing it because you think it would look cheap, don't go with laminate...

Thank you.

Want to not look cheap?

Takes the " "'s off "wood" and put in hardwood floors.

[HurricaneHeather]

Originally Posted by azoomm

There is no way quality tile will ever look cheaper than laminate. After rehabbing numerous homes, I would go with tile over laminate ANY day. If you're doing it because you think it would look cheap, don't go with laminate...

Bingo.

I can't imagine spending that much money on fake wood anyway, but whatever.

Keep the tile if your only other option is laminate.

[anthonyk]

The previous owner of our place partly "wooded" the main living area, leaving a tile entry of sorts along one side of the room. (We don't have a separate entry, since the front door opens right to the living/dining room.) Personally, I hate the tile/wood split. I just can't afford to correct the problem.

That said, if you've got an actual walled entryway, keeping it tile wouldn't look that bad, and will be way more durable like OSP said.

[Particle Man]

We are doing tile by the main entry door but real hardwood for the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Just enough tile to get wet shoes off and such.

[RACER X]

any of ya'll seen 12mm lam? looks pretty dang real and doesn't make the tinny sound , from what i hear

but yeah. we're prob. gonna do real wood.

the concern w/ real wood is 2 dogs, 1 cat and 2 kids........

[Captain Morgan]

Originally Posted by RACER X

any of ya'll seen 12mm lam? looks pretty dang real and doesn't make the tinny sound , from what i hear

but yeah. we're prob. gonna do real wood.

the concern w/ real wood is 2 dogs, 1 cat and 2 kids........

A rented buffer and some floor finish every couple years will keep it looking good. Eventually, you may need to sand and refinish, but so what?

[Particle Man]

Originally Posted by RACER X

the concern w/ real wood is 2 dogs, 1 cat and 2 kids........

So don't get the kind that you have to install and THEN sand and finish.

Get pre-finished. I took a piece and scraped a quarter over it fairly hard and it didn't leave more than a tiny groove that I was able to buff out very quickly.

[LeeNetworX]

Laminate sucks. My in-laws put laminate in their family room. They have two dogs and within a year it was looking like shit. Not so much scratches, but the indentation marks from the dog nails, and whatever else drops, etc.

We had it in our bedrooms in Florida as well and after the first year I went from liking it to hating it. The sound, the feel, even the look - just wore on me. Would never use laminate again.

[JoJoYZF]

Originally Posted by Particle Man

So don't get the kind that you have to install and THEN sand and finish.

Get pre-finished. I took a piece and scraped a quarter over it fairly hard and it didn't leave more than a tiny groove that I was able to buff out very quickly.

The problem with that is with the traffic of the 3 pets and 2 kids is going to beat up a true hardwood pretty quick. The one scratch that you put into the floor as a test is nothing but when its claws running all over it, kids toys, things being dropped, etc., that floor with have a ton of those little scratches in it in no time.

Good quality laminate (like the 12mm and some 10mm stuff) is going to be harder to damage and hide the little scratches it does get better. The only laminate that dents and scratches easily is the cheap stuff that looks like crap anyway. The laminate in my house has had 2 dogs running on it for a few years now and a ton of foot traffic but when its mopped it still looks nearly new.

[RACER X]

i think he means engineered wood, kinda in between lam and real wood