Ok so I bought a house now I need help

[NewUser]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

Personally, I love the classic beauty of well-done hardwood, and think the laminates do not compare in appearance and depth of beauty. So that would be MY choice. BUT, I am not raising kids, either.

My suggestion would be that if you go the laminate route, do not buy the cheapest stuff you can find. It looks and feels very cheap when table legs press a dimple in it, and is very unpleasant to walk on when it bows and bounces under your feet. Go with a good/better grade that will be stiff to walk on. The floor floats, is not fastened down, and the cheap stuff shows that a lot more.

I agree with Mike. As I said in an earlier post, I had Pergo laminates in my first house. I chose them because we had 2 dogs, the materials were inexpensive, and I could install them myself. This was back before the "click-together" laminates became popular, so we had to glue the panels together.

This was good and bad. It was bad because it took a long time to install the floor. It was good because we didn't have to worry about water seeping into the seams and warping the wood. The glue seals the seams. Since I was installing them myself (over a concrete slab), I put down a moisture barrier and an extra thick layer of insulation material. This lessened the noise problem that some previous posters mentioned. The only times it was loud was when my little niece came over with her patent leather shoes and marched around the room.

We did not install them in the kitchen, or bath, or laundry, but we did install them in the foyer and near the back patio door. I remember hosing down the back patio once and then coming inside to find a big pool of water on the Pergo right inside the back door. I mopped it up and the wood never warped.

We had many friends, family, and even workmen (plumbers, A/C repair, inspectors, etc) comment on how nice the floors looked. But. . . . some of the feedback we got when selling the house indicated that a few people didn't like the laminate. We chose a deep color called Allegheny Red Oak, which was a wide plank design with lots of (simulated) knots, tool marks, etc.

I should also note that our house sold for about $260K in Dallas, which equates to about $300K+ here

I should also note that our newly purchased house here in Raleigh will be redone with hardwoods, not laminates, this time

[K.Sienna]

We had pergo in England as well as here and as someone said they are very hard to scratch but chunks come out if you drop something heavy. My mom dropped an iron and a huge chunk came out. Here something as well dropped and a chunk came off. I say if money isn't an issue go for hard wood floors. We just recently got ours refinished and we love them. Granted they do scratch with dogs but they look much nicer and it was a huge selling point when we put it on the market. Good luck with your decision.