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Glued/nailed down hardwood. just the look, feel and sound (knock on it) make a huge difference. bamboo flooring (plain ones) is like $2.99 per sqft, thats cheap
Bamboo is beautiful but it is soft; not great with pets, especially dogs with long nails. They will nick it up quickly.
In a household with children or pets, I would recommend laminate.
For low traffic areas, or no kids or pets, hardwood would be the way to go in my opinion.
Glued/nailed down hardwood. just the look, feel and sound (knock on it) make a huge difference. bamboo flooring (plain ones) is like $2.99 per sqft, thats cheap
I was just going to post I was surprised no one had mentioned the sound issue. NOTHING sounds like real nailed-down hardwood floors. Even high quality, expensive laminate wood flooring sounds hollow. I know that doesn't matter to everyone, but there will definitely be people who can tell that you have laminate rather than real hardwood no matter how perfect your laminate looks.
We bought our 40 year home & put in laminate floors. Two years later, we had them removed for hardwoods. There's no way around getting the look & feel of REAL wood!
Thumbs up for real hardwood Our previous 50 plus year old house had it, but had been carpeted over numerous times and we never refinished it in the bedrooms where it was exposed and it still looked decent.
We put laminate wood look in the kitchen of that house and I thought it stood up pretty well and is certainly much nicer than other options.
The house we just purchased has hardwoods everywhere besides baths, bedrooms and laundry and I love it, although it is a little harder underfoot to walk on, it's worth the pain for the beauty and ability to see and get to all the dirt. It's also an open floor plan so would look funny split up into different chunks of flooring.
I was just going to post I was surprised no one had mentioned the sound issue. NOTHING sounds like real nailed-down hardwood floors. Even high quality, expensive laminate wood flooring sounds hollow. I know that doesn't matter to everyone, but there will definitely be people who can tell that you have laminate rather than real hardwood no matter how perfect your laminate looks.
Right on! Acoustically, nothing beats a hardwood floor. We are laying unfinished solid oak right now. One of the reasons we chose it was because it looks fantastic finished on site with a darker stain, it holds up to pets (heck, the stuff is hard to nail through!) and it does not sound plasticky when you walk across it. We ripped out the engineered junk that was there from before that looked and sounded terrible.
A lot also depends on the quality of the flooring. You can buy cheap, thin hardwood, and you can buy beautiful, durable, expensive laminate. In my opinion they are both good choices, depending on where they will be used. You just have to make sure you pick one of good quality.
We have 80+ year old oak floors and yes they hold up to dogs (and kids and cats and dinner parties.....). We have a low gloss( satin?) finish on the floors and a light stain. My dream is to have dark (ebonized?) glossy floors, but not sure how that look will hold up with our lifestyle.
80 to 100 year old hardwood floors are entirely different for having dogs. They already have an antiqued look from years of being scratched. And their finish is set in from the years of glaze and wax making a strong patina. Today's hardwoods will look like crap as soon as dog scratches them up. You can't wax them so there's no way to build up a patina on them like antique floors.
I'm in the same predicament. I want to replace my flooring. I have two dogs and I want to get away from carpeting because of the hair. I'm torn between hardwood and laminate. Hardwood is truly a better floor---it will hold it's value at resale. Laminate is extremly durable. I have it in my son's room. The dogs practically ice skate on it with their nails.
Don't believe what someone else said about hardwood floors being fine for dogs as long as you don't play ball with them inside. My dogs try to start running and their feet start sliding around and they scrape their nails to get moving or to gain a footing. I can't even begin to imagine what that woud do to a real hardwood.
Sadly, I think I'm waiting until my oldest dog dies before I install new flooring. He's the one who has the hardest time walking on hard floors.
I like both my engineered maple floor and my engineered cork flooring but for different reasons. The cork has give and resiliency and it looks like a work from Dali. In addition it is great at reducing echo. The only thing I am not sure about is the long term durability. The maple has a classic look and it hard to discern from solid wood plus it can be refinished several times before biting the dust.
Not sure about available solid hardwoods but both my engineered wood floors are floating. The maple was glue together and the cork was click together which means I could put them in myself saving half the cost vs. professional installation. I thought the solid wood had limitations on where it can be installed, e.g. not basement, but maybe someone else can chime in......
I thought the solid wood had limitations on where it can be installed, e.g. not basement, but maybe someone else can chime in......
I have several friends (down South) that have hardwoods in the basement. Most basements there are called terrace level or walk-out, unlike the interior only entry basements like I have here in OH). The hardwoods installed in a basement are on top of a subfloor and a moisture barrier that tops the concrete slab floor.
As far a the pets & kids & hardwoods question. I have had hardwoods in all of my homes and my hardwoods have always looked great and never any worries about abuse. Two factors that I have always considered is the color & sheen. I think a medium (not too light or too dark) color and a satin finish (as opposed to gloss/high gloss that will show lots of scratches and imperfections) is the way to go with hardwoods when you have kids and pets. I think as long as the hardwoods are of good/better quality and you maintain them properly they will look beautiful for years!
Lets face it, flooring in general takes the most abuse in your home. You have to take care of whatever you have regularly and properly if you want them to last and look great for years to come.
Good luck.
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Our previous 50 plus year old house had it, but had been carpeted over numerous times and we never refinished it in the bedrooms where it was exposed and it still looked decent.
