Original hardwood vs laminate? (hardwood floors, engineered, refinishing, painting)

[ahava]

My house was built in the 1920s, and has the original hardwood pine floors in the living and dining rooms. Unfortunately, the floors are in terrible shape from the previous owners (we moved in last year). Most of it needs to be replaced, especially in the living room. I like the idea of getting glueless laminate flooring that we could install ourselves, but I'm concerned about how it will look. My sister had Pergo flooring installed last summer, and it looks nice, but not like real wood. Would we be better off just having the original floors replaced? My other concern is that because we have three kids and a dog, we need something durable. Also, if we had the floors refinished/replaced in the dining room and did laminate in the living room, would that look silly? (The rooms are next to each other but separated by a wall with a doorway.)

So, which option would be best? I appreciate any advice/suggestions. Thanks!

[BlueWillowPlate]

It's such a toss-up. We've been in the same position as you, and went with hardwood. We had the floors treated with some stuff called Traffic. It helped a little bit.
There is also "engineered" hardwood flooring.
Laminate is a lot easier to keep up, and of course it's cheaper.
Whatever you do, IMHO you should do it throughout.

[EricD]

hardwood can hold up pretty well if it is finished the right way... there are protective coatings you can put on it. I would really suggest refinishing the hardwood... laminate is so cheap looking... I mean, it looks good, but that's only because it imitate's hard wood... why not keep the real thing? Unless fixing the hardwood floors is out of your budget, I say go for it! It'll look great, and really help your re-sale.

Oh, and remember... that floor has had almost 90 years of traffic on it... with probably no care taken to it at all. If you take care of your hardwood floor, it should look great for a long time to come.

[sunsprit]

Personally, I think the cosmetics of real hardwood floors are much better than the laminates.

The laminate floors aren't as durable as a properly installed and maintained wood floor, although the initial cost of the laminate itself may be much less.

Typically, a laminate floor will require a self-leveling underlayment system to properly support it in an older home without flat subfloors. This step may make the installed costs a little more comparable to a wood floor.

Also, I've found laminate floors to be moisture sensitive; if you have a location where it's exposed to moisture, it may fail in a high traffic area.

A properly grouted and sealed wood floor will be moisture resistant. Additionally, you can put down a coat of Johnson's Plaza wax (a commercial grade heavy duty wax available from a janitorial supply company) which will make routine floor care a lot easier.

[Racelady88]

Are you sure that your existing floor can't be rescued? To have the original floor always adds to the charm of an older home. And distressed wood floors are all the rage. These are brand new floors that come with dings & gouges already there.

[ready2move]

When we lived in Fla, I put down laminate in all the bedrooms. While it looked nice, it had an echo sound to it. I could always hear the dog and his nails clicking on it. When we moved to GA, the whole house has hardwoods except for the basement which has laminate and cheap laminate! THe clicking on the hardwood is nothing, the clicking on the laminate is loud. I vote for hardwood!

[mbuszu]

Originally Posted by kirstenleigh

My house was built in the 1920s, and has the original hardwood pine floors in the living and dining rooms. Unfortunately, the floors are in terrible shape from the previous owners (we moved in last year). Most of it needs to be replaced, especially in the living room. I like the idea of getting glueless laminate flooring that we could install ourselves, but I'm concerned about how it will look. My sister had Pergo flooring installed last summer, and it looks nice, but not like real wood. Would we be better off just having the original floors replaced? My other concern is that because we have three kids and a dog, we need something durable. Also, if we had the floors refinished/replaced in the dining room and did laminate in the living room, would that look silly? (The rooms are next to each other but separated by a wall with a doorway.)

So, which option would be best? I appreciate any advice/suggestions. Thanks!

From experience - the answer is simple, very simple.... go with real wood/hardwood. If you cannot afford the real thing, then wait to save up; it'll be well worth the wait. Laminate is great for house-flippers, or those that simply don't have discerning taste... the reality is that it does not hold up to stress very well at all. It scratches pretty easily and cannot be repaired/resurfaced like hardwood despite what sales people may try to tell you at the showroom. I have family that did laminate throughout their house and the scratches in the flooring is noticeable after just one year. They have no pets, but do have one preschooler with a lot of energy and large toys... that's all it took to cause damage.

If you cannot restore or fix the current flooring in your home (and I would investigate this before coming to conclusion), then there's hardwood flooring you can buy with notches in it which is not all that difficult to install as a DIY'er with some rented equipment and a weekend or two (once you pull up the old floor).

[sunsprit]

The "clicking" noise on a laminate floor is due to improper installation. Most likely, the subfloor was not smooth and level enough to closely support the laminate. There should have been the self-leveling underlayment placed to ensure full support/contact with the flooring.

If you notice this problem with a laminate floor, you can be assured that it will not hold up in service due to the flexing.

[domergurl]

Try to salvage the original floor. Laminate floors, in my opinion, look fake because, well, they are. The top layer is a photograph of wood ... blech. We opted to rip out all the carpet in our house and put down engineered hardwood. It's a top layer of real wood, with fabricated layers on the bottom (we used Mannington floors in 2 houses now ... love love love them). On a purly asthetic level. I like the glossy shine of hardwood or engineered rather than the dullness of laminate.

[jkmewright]

I say hardwood as well. Have you considered painting your old floors? You could save the wood and do something custom as well. As far as "bad spots" you can find same size planks and replace just the bad ones. Painting would cover any stains as well. You would also be amazed at how a terrible, stained, ruined floor can be sanded and redone by a pro. Have someone come in and give you an estimate. If it can be done, it will be cheaper than replacing. That laminate is just the pits. My MIL had all of her floor replaced w/that stuff and it is awful. Looked great at first but now it is literally "floating". Large areas are puffed up so when you walk on them they kind of push in and lift back up. Terrible. I know that is probably an installation issue, but I just can't make myself like them, no matter how cheap they are.