Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is cost and the HGTV effect. They show laminate as if it were desirable. I currently have stained concrete floors but the stain took unevenly. Some day I am putting down travertine. I had that in the lower levels if my last house and my 75-110 lb dogs did no damage.
Highly recommend that you DO NOT use Travertine tile for the flooring in any medium or high traffic areas of your house. It is a soft tile and does not wear well. My relatives learned this the hard way. They only have two adults and one medium sized dog in their house and their tile floor is visibly worn down, marked significantly and has many holes and gouges in it from just 8 years of normal wear. The office building I work in also used Travertine tile for the flooring in some of the entryways and after just a few years is showing the exact same type of major wearing, holes and marks as the tile in my relatives house.
For your uneven floor you need to Either have the high spots ground down or use ardex to build up the low spots. Or a combination of both. Unless your concrete is crumbling like someone went at it with a jackhammer
In my case I'm thinking all I'll need ardex to build up the low areas as there is a large low area in the very center of the floor where it looks like the wet cement had settled lower when it was poured as well as a smooth cover over a few rough patches. I figure I'll just let the installers come and figure it out and get it all fixed and then install the floor.
I'm going with "Engineered Wood" in a solid dark color like walnut ..or so thats what I'm leaning with. Anyone have any experience or opinions on such a dark colored floor. It's just the wife and I and we have no children or pets. And there really isn't much "high" traffic places except the hallways and even then its not like its a business or many people who will be walking back and forth.
Highly recommend that you DO NOT use Travertine tile for the flooring in any medium or high traffic areas of your house. It is a soft tile and does not wear well. My relatives learned this the hard way. They only have two adults and one medium sized dog in their house and their tile floor is visibly worn down, marked significantly and has many holes and gouges in it from just 8 years of normal wear. The office building I work in also used Travertine tile for the flooring in some of the entryways and after just a few years is showing the exact same type of major wearing, holes and marks as the tile in my relatives house.
Yup. I have travertine. Way too much maintenance. I paid a lot of money for having it installed and I will never do it again. You want long lasting and minimal wearing get tile
I think people have to adjust how they look at surfaces when they're home buying. HGTV has changed people's perceptions about move in ready and what cheap options look like. Renovators and sellers choose those cheap options because they're new, clean, and show well, so they're not necessarily bad. Many people don't have a lot of money to spend on renovations right after they move into a house. Those cheap surfaces may not be your first design/decor choice, but they buy you time until you can save up for something you like better.
We put an offer on a house that had new beige carpet and neutral colored paint. Its not what I would have chosen, but it's decent & I can live with it for a few years until it needs replacing. The money we set aside for paint and carpet can now be used to remove a useless double door between 2 rooms and drywall over the open space so we have more useable wall space in those 2 rooms.
Unless the laminate came from Lumber Liquidators, you've got nothing to worry about in regard to "health issues".
True enough. But there's no way to know for sure. LL was the biggest distributor of laminate. I think all laminate uses formaldehyde, though. It's just the LL used more of it than the others.
Laminate and vinyl flooring options exist because (1) they can be a lot cheaper and (2) because they often wear a lot better than real wood and tile.
I love my dogs but they are definitely destructive to our hardwood floors and kids aren't much better. My relatives spent a lot of money to put in a lovely Travertine tile floor and now just 10 years later it needs replacing so even tile isn't guaranteed to last forever. Many of the manufactured options nowadays are starting to look nearly as good as the real thing and if it's half the price, wears twice as well, and looks nearly as good why wouldn't many people choose it?
Laminate dulls over the years. It also can't be refinished. It is also ruined by a lot of water, like a washer overflow (wood floors can be protected from that with a poly coating, and of course, they can air out and be sanded down and refinished).
100 years from now, a house will still have good wood floors, if reasonably maintained. Laminate will not last very long at all. It's a temporary flooring. Even it did, it won't look good, IMO. Like an antique table, old wood floors get a glowing patina. They're beautiful. And if damaged, that section can be cut out, replaced, and the floor refinished for it all to match.
There's a reason wood floors last 100 years or more. I have wood floors and dogs. I haven't had any problems.
I've never heard of ceramic tile being ruined. What happened? There are structures with ceramic tile that is well over 100 years old, isn't there? Does the glazing wear off?
Ceramic tile isn't perfect either, though. It's hellacious to replace. And the colors are such that what one person likes, another hates. Even neutrals.
I had ~$8 sq/ft oak flooring laid in my last house & my dog left nail-marks in it within days of installing it. The ~$2 sq/ft Costco laminate I put down seven years ago in my latest house doesn't have a mark or a scuff anywhere on it. I put the "cheap" laminate in with the specific intent of replacing it in 4-5 years with the "good stuff", but I can't justify it at this point, the laminate looks just as nice as it did the day it was installed. I still like the look of real oak flooring, even with the dents/dings & scuffs it gets over time, but I'd have a hard time paying 4x as much for something that really isn't any "better" in the real world.
Like any antique, I think the patina and slight damage give wood floors a good look. But I also like the newly refinished and highly glossed wood floors. Beautiful. But I know that wouldn't last with my dogs.
I don't know if you've noticed, since you live with it daily, or maybe yours is different, but even in pics I can spot the laminate. It gets dull over the years and I don't think there's a way to add shine to it. It's a dull brown, with no depth. But maybe it depends on the brand.
I put in real hardwood floors, mahogany and oak in a windowpane pattern. Very beautiful and very expensive. Also required a lot of care! If I had it to do over again, I would do something less slippery and less prone to being marked by dog feet!
When and if you sell your home, people will jump to buy it because of the floors. Scratches and all.
I think wood floors are gorgeous. Warm to live with, beautiful, easy upkeep. Can be refinished.
Travertine or ceramic tile is good, too. Even if it is hard. It's impervious to doggie nails and accidents.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
