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Pergo is pretty durable, but not as striking as the look of real wood. You need to be aware that not all hard woods are hard. The harder the type of wood the less dings ,dents, and scratches will occur. Basically the rule of thumb is "hard" hardwoods come from trees with leaves and soft hardwoods come from trees with needles. Pine is a softwood that cannot take a lot of abuse. Oak is very hard and durable, while cherry is pretty much in the middle. The different woods have their own normal grain patterns,some you will prefer over others, and all can have custom stains applied. Other considerations are whether you want beveled edges ,which look nice but can tend to catch a little debris. Also if you put wood floors on your cement slab you should test the moisture of the concrete with a moisture meter. If it has too much moisture you should seal your concrete or better yet lay some cheap linoleum first.(moisture would cause your floors to not stick not to mention mold problems etc.)I definately would do wood over Pergo-just make the right choice.
I would not buy a house with laminate. I have it downstairs and would never trust that it is great quality. We bought the house with it and it doesnt scratch but dings and is not water proof. Imagine them putting it in a kitchen and not being waterproof.
When we sell, we are going to have to replace it all. :-(
Pergo is pretty durable, but not as striking as the look of real wood. You need to be aware that not all hard woods are hard. The harder the type of wood the less dings ,dents, and scratches will occur. Basically the rule of thumb is "hard" hardwoods come from trees with leaves and soft hardwoods come from trees with needles. Pine is a softwood that cannot take a lot of abuse. Oak is very hard and durable, while cherry is pretty much in the middle.
The hardwood in my foyer is oak, and my dogs have managed to scratch it (it also has a ding or two from when I dropped their leashes without thinking). Granted, knowing my house, it could be low quality oak, if such a thing exists. Still, I'm leery of hardwood since I've seen how easily it scratched in this house.
I used to really dislike laminate - but after years of trying to keep carpet clean I think I will install it in my next house. Maybe not Pergo, but some form of indestructible flooring. Since I plan on living there for a long time, I don't so much care about resale. The house will also have a very large, fenced dog-friendly back yard, so maybe the eventual buyers will have dogs as well.
I would never do hardwood again except in a room no one goes in. Our neighbors had 2 kids and hardwood throughout and when they went to sell their home they took a hit because the kids had dinged up the floor quite a bit. I did just the foyer, dining room and hallway and I have dings. Drop keys ding, oops ding. If your going to do it buy hard hard wood.
I had expensive Pergo installed in the kitchen and adjoining dining room as well as the foyer at the front door.
It looked beautiful at first. Here's the major problem, If you get this floor wet, Kids spill a drink and not tell you, You leave a window open accidentally and it rains, loading the dishwasher and some water spills out on the floor while loading, this floor will buckle. I have so many "lifts" at the seams that the floor just looks awful. This floor is only 3 years old, The folks buying my house said the first thing they need to do is replace the entire kitchen floor including the dining room.
Front foyer, aahh, kids come in with wet shoes after it rains, or snowy feet, same thing, the floor buckles and lift's at the seams.
Go with the "real" wood. In my experience I will never have this flooring product in any other house I live in.
Well, my personal preference is site finished, wide plank hardwoods - seamless, without the beveled edge. But I'm not footing the bill!
I do agree with a couple pp - when clients see homes with laminate, even GOOD laminate, I often hear "Oh... it's laminate, not real wood." If resale is an issue in the near future, at least consider that. If resale is not an issue in the near future, then ignore this paragraph, because in 15-20 years, tastes will have changed again anyway.
Personally, I have "cheap" pre-finished hardwoods in my foyer and entry hall. I have one big ding where I dropped a heavy metal baby gate on it (oops, DING!), but other than that, kids and cat haven't hurt it. However, the beveled edge really, really traps dust and dirt, nearly impossible to keep clean, and forget it if your kid drops a banana on the floor then steps on it... that banana is now a part of your floor for life. It's like grout for hardwoods.
Anyway, I've seen poorly done pergo, with breaks in the seams, really bad threshholds almost an inch higher than adjoining flooring, or bubbles - at least if you choose pergo, make sure it's done right!!
for everyone that has had issues with the pergo/laminate floor. I personally prefer hardwood but have learned a great deal in the past year about the laminate. (hubby convinced me to put it in) for dings and scratches I have first hand knowledge of Colorfill laminate and pre-finished wood floor joint filler and repairer. works wonders. I dropped a tv on the floor the day b4 the house went on the market and put a huge gash in the laminate. looks perfect now. also there is a sealer you can put over it. to help make it "water resistant". dont know anything about it but it is supposed to help. also if you know there was a leak and you lift up the section of the floor for a couple of days this will fix the problem. someone also mentioned the noise. If you are on a crawl space (wood) and use the correct padding under neath there is next to no noise. If you are on a slab the floor need to be glued down and if you are going to all that trouble you might as well spend the extra on the HARD wood. Laminate is a step above vinyl floors and a step below hard wood IMO. although hardwood is absolutely wonderfull and will last forever it takes a little more maintenance. my neighbor raised 3 kids 1 dog and several cats kept the floors clean but did nothing special. 20 yrs later he pays 3k to have the floors refinished and they look brand new.
If you decide on the laminate just remember there are ways to fix issues. LEARN THEM! Also Hubby is not a do it yourselfer and he put them in himself and if we needed to pull up a few sections we could.
You know...there was the recent thread on distressed wood floors.
Apparently they have a certain appeal. So dropping stuff on the wood adds character?
And there was the other thread some time back where we beat hdwd. vs. laminate back and forth.
That tipped me to believe a little more in laminate for some applications.
NCHomefinder gave great advice.
You must decide how long the desired service life of the floor is. And how long you will be in the home. Will you replace the floor in 10 years and then make a choice for hardwood?
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.
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My Pergo disaster!
