Question regarding new floors for a home (hardwood, laminate, heat)

[No.44]

Hello all - I was wondering if anyone has any experience with installing floors and any ideas on what I might do in my specific case....

I'm in a bit of a quandary on how to proceed on a flooring issue. Basically, the main area of the home that I just bought (Living room, den, and master BR) is covered by a pretty nice, uniform laminate floor right now (though I'm in no way tied to it by any means.) However, the kitchen, which separates the den and the living room/master suite is covered in a tile that dissects the laminate floor. Its pretty gross, and personally I've never been a fan of tile. The tile floor is slightly higher than the laminate (probably a few centimeters). I really don't want to have to pull up that tile, so I was thinking the easy thing to do would be to install floating laminate or bamboo over the existing floors - but to be honest I'm not sure that's really possible.


The first caveat seems to be that the laminate and tile aren't level. Obviously, that would have to be corrected. Also, does anyone know if the floating floor can be installed over existing laminate floor? I'm curious as to any input you might have. I really appreciate all of your help and time.

I really like hardwoord floors, but I can't break the bank with this project, and I've found some good deals on laminate and bamboo online. My preference would be to simply get rid of the tile area and refloor that area with matching laminate from the rest of the house, but matching the floor exactly seems almost impossible.

And one more quick question....I do have a large dog - about 110lbs. Would he totally mess up the bamboo vs. laminate?

Thanks again for all of your time!

-44

[Mike1306]

Why not pull up the tile and then go with a darker laminate to contrast the other laminate with a border on both sides?
This picture just shows some border pieces you might use.

[Sunscape]

This floor looks great!

I have had dogs with bamboo floor, as long as you keep their nails trimmed, it has not caused any harm.

[resurfacer]

I would not recommend installing a laminate floor over a laminate floor or over a ceramic tile floor.

Ceramic tile & the mortar used to attache is a real bear to remove.

If you can live with the laminate flooring, you could resurface the ceramic tile.

Ceramic tile resurfacing can be done in two ways.

The first way is a micro topping which can be colored with acid stains, integral liquid colors, dry powder pigments, acrylic concrete stains or water-based concrete stains.

The second way is a self leveling topping with the same coloring options, and can include saw cut patterns & borders,stenciled patterns & borders, terrazzo metals, And in floor radiant heat systems. If you would like more information on these applications please visit the link below
http://www.signature-concrete-stain.com


Resurfacer

[joey0480]

what is under the laminate flooring and tile? Is it hardwood in some area that can be refinished?