Porcelain/Ceramic Tile Flooring v. Wood Laminate?? (China: buy, construction)

[G Grasshopper]

I'm sure that laminate has gotten more attractive over the years. My objection, other than the sound it makes underfoot, is that you are actually buying a plastic floor. For environmental reasons, I try not to buy plastic if I can help it, especially "disposable" plastic that people might feel free to rip up and put in the landfill. I was hoping for hardwood when we bought our house (cork would have been fine, too), but we ended up with engineered wood. It is floating, however, and not glued down, and has the good pad underneath. It has been fine. The flooring question seems to be a hard one. It seems that no surface is perfect.

[tazbigdog]

Lived on carpet, tile, ceramic, laminate, etc. Didn't like laminate. Cheap looking. Carpet has to be new and is a pain when cleaning up a dog's mess. Carpets like to absorb odors, etc.

Tile and ceramic are easiest to clean. Love tile. I like dark grout and there is no accumulated dirt in it. I wash the floor once a month and vaccum once a week. Great for dogs, etc.

[BentBow]

Originally Posted by lemonlime22

I'm in the design biz. So here's my take, for what it's worth. All options have advantages and disadvantages, obviously.

^^Austin 97 is right that engineered flooring is veneer over lower grade wood. This is okay, but sand it down twice, and it's pretty much toast. The other thing I don't like is the glue down option. All that 'gas off' makes for a toxic home. There is no "low VOC" floor glue. There are click and lock options, but that adds to the price. Also, for any glue down (or mortar with tile) option there is always the future expense of removal. If you're moving on, it's not your problem. But often, people live with flooring they've fallen of love with years ago, and would love new stuff, but get stuck, because the LABOR is too high to justify the change to a fresher, more updated option. Wouldn't actually recommend it for many people. Spending that much cash? Get hardwood. Bamboo and cork are very hard and nice options as well, esp. for more contemporary homes.

Which leads me to laminate which has taken quite a beating here. Laminate has improved DRAMATICALLY in recent years, and has definite advantages for some people. It's always 'floating' which means it clicks and locks in place and is secured at it's perimeter by quarter round molding. The maintenance is low, without sanding, staining or sealing. It also doesn't dent like hardwood (which can happen when say large dogs jump off furniture/beds). A lot of people think of laminate and think of Pergo from 10-15 years ago in those bleached out tones, and the clickity clack sounds of an improperly installed floor--really, this is a thing of the past. If you live in a historic (or 500K+) home or plan on your home being the last you ever live in, you ought to consider wood. Don't fall into these categories? Might want to reconsider laminate. Many people can't believe the better stuff isn't wood, and when you tire of it, it's easy-peasy to remove (a child could do it) and your next flooring budget need not involve the costly removal of your old floor. My only other advice concerning laminate is to pick a color that's mid-range (esp. for resale) instead of something either too dark or too light. This year's 'expresso' is what 'bleached pine' was 5 years ago.

I disagree with what another poster says about laminate vs. carpet. IMO, not many people in and around Austin want carpet anymore, 'cept the seniors. Especially someone else's carpet! For most homes laminate makes a home more desirable, carpet is a definite turn-off. Laminate is great for young families.

Ceramic and porcelain are definitely desirable for bathrooms, kitchens, and foyers. Throughout the house? Not in my experience. And as hot as it's been, we forget that this isn't the Caribbean, and it gets awfully cold here for months, making for a very cold (temperature wise on your feet/legs) house as well as a cold affect. There is also the grout issue. Many people think sealing it once is enough--it's not. Really it should be sealed once a year if you want the color to remain true.

Natural stone (travertine, marble, slate, granite, saltillo) are all great, but each have their own issues too numerous to dissect here, so I'll just say they all require more maintenance because they are very porous. If you want an easy care floor, these are not for you.

I'd say the best choices for most people in houses 350K and under is higher end laminate or wood if you want to splurge in LR, DR, BRs. Get ceramic tile or porcelain for entryways, kitchens and baths with heavy traffic (i.e. kids) you can do wood or laminate/wood in a powder room off a foyer instead of tile, and just hope you never get an backed up commode! Natural stone is awesome in master baths--a good place to enjoy the beauty of travertine or marble without the wear and tear of heavy foot traffic. Also adds to the value of your home to have a 'spa like' MBR. Mid century moderns look awesome with VCT.

And please, buy a couple extra cases of whatever flooring you have installed! You can keep tile in the garage, but must keep wood/laminate in your home (under a bed is perfect) so it won't swell. Companies that make these products will not be producing your pattern/color in 6 mos., much less a year or two. And write down your grout color/company.

I'm in the flooring business, hold a wood science degree and am the areas (NWFA)National Wood Flooring Assoc. inspector and the (CFI)Certified Installers Association Master Installer, and this post is fill with a lot of misinformation about engineered wood flooring and adhesives, where to begin!!!


Let's begin with cross ply engineered wood flooring.
You have obviously been browsing the bottom of the barrel, rotary peeled cheap crap, and not a solid sawn face engineered, like Mirage, Owens Plank, Real Wood Floors Inc.
Not all engineered flooring is made the same. Owens and Real Wood Floors Inc, has a wear layer equal to the sandable surface of a 3/4 solid wood board. You get what you pay for, and cheap is never good and good is never cheap.

Wood Flooring adhesives are also different. Acrylic adhesives have zero VOC's No off gassing. Moisture cure urethane has an odor, depending on the manufacturer. Bostik's and Mapei are very low VOC, while something like Sika T-55 will run you out of the house.

You can also install most engineered floors as a floating installation, over an undercushion.

Which brings me to a floating Laminate floor. You make it sound as if the laminate is indestructible and over selling it like most sales people do constantly, trying to make a sale. Gives me job security!

Laminate will scratch and chip. It is harder to scratch than the finish on wood floors, but it will still scratch. Then there is Micro scratching in all the traffic areas that get used daily. This leaves a dull appearance to the look in the traffic areas that is not correctable. Moisture and laminate DO NOT MIX!

You must deal in a lot of tile and mortar.

[BentBow]

A 120-lb woman wearing stiletto heels, puts more point load PSI than a 2000 pound elephant.

All wood flooring will dent, no matter what the Janka scale says. The janka scale sales, keeps my inspection business going. They said it was the hardest species, look at all the dents and scratches" as 3 boys go tearing through the house, with Soccer cleats.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by Idlewile

Unsure what you're referring to as this is not what I said. I said homes we've seen with wood floors have been better maintained and well care for overall; these tend to be the same homes that have been updated aesthetically (kitchen and bath updates, etc.) and, more importantly, mechanically (HVAC, roof, windows, etc). Most of the homes we've seen with tile throughout have not been updated in decades. Sorry, it is what it is.

And what I said is that I don't see the correlation between home maintenance and a flooring choice, which is the impression I got from your post. I have laminate and tile floors, and we have thoroughly maintained and updated our home. Just because our home doesn't necessarily fit the HGTV template (wood floors/granite/"modern") doesn't mean that it wasn't updated or isn't well cared for. And I could add all the eye candy and have a crap house with all sorts of problems, too.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

That's an interesting opinion. The actual surface that you see and touch in an engineered hardwood floor IS hardwood. It's the substrate that is 'engineered', partly for cost, partly to enhance the stability of the planks. Especially if an expensive/rare/exotic wood is desired, it's the engineering that makes it less expensive than solid planks. In theory, it's also better for the environment to engineer the substrate, rather than install thick slabs of Ipe, Mahogany, teak, exotic maples, cherry, etc.

Of course, as you and others have mentioned, there are different 'qualities' of hardwood, engineered hardwood, man-made laminates, and even tile.

That's the thing, the outer layers are hardwood, but the core isn't. To me, the only difference between engineered and laminate is that one uses a plastic outer shell/veneer and the other one uses an actual wood layer. Yet, you slap the word "wood" on it and people just think that it trumps everything. I do agree that use of engineered products is less taxing on the environment and you'd have less people dying courtesy of the tigers in the Sundarbans due to obtaining the more expensive mahogany (I think mahogany's the wood, I could be wrong).

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that flooring, as with anything, is really a personal preference choice and I know for me, I go with what I like. People may or may not like my flooring choices, but at the end of the day I like 'em

[rhino5]

OK, living with laminate in a rental this year... we've been in the house for 3 months and it's already destroyed. What crap! It warps with any water on it. It scratches and underneath it is white. I've never liked tile, swore I'd never have it in a house, but if the choice is tile or laminate, I'd do tile.

[motherofthree]

I bought a house with laminate throughout the first floor 4 years ago. I have 3 young kids and a dog. I have no dents, no scratches, no warping, nothing. I don't know if it's higher end laminate or not but I like how it looks and it's held up really well.

And when I buy a house, flooring is not a deal breaker for me. It can be changed just like paint and applicances.

[ScoPro]

Real oak flooring in my mancave, and we will put it in our master bedroom:



Three years aggo, we ripped up all the living/dining/hallway carpet and vinyl tile in the utitilty room & hall bathroom to put down 18" ceramic tile. We love it - and the geometric groutline pattern:



We had 12" floor tiles, and two kinds of 8" wall/counter tiles installed in the master bath makeover:



We even put granite tile on the new buffet/cabinet half wall between the living room & formal dining area:



Formal Dining room floor tile:

[G Grasshopper]

Beautiful!