Anyone have Laminate Flooring? Stuff that looks like hardwood? We have it in our kitchen and it it looks really bad, does not clean well, and scratches easy. It about 2 years old, just the 2 of us, and cats. We will be selling our house in the next year, but it needs to be replaced before then. The Laminate we have now was by no means low end type, at least that what we were told. I have talked to a few people said I should just put real hardwood in the kitchen, or just put tile in. Thoughts? I don't want to put a lot of money into it, but I need to do something, cannot sell it the way it is.
We have laminate and haven't had any problems like you mentioned. One thing with real hardwoods (and this is why we didn't put them in) is that with kitchens, real hardwood is thicker and it can affect your built-in floor appliances, like your dishwasher.....if the flooring goes under it, it will raise the dishwasher, which will cause problems with fitting in under your counter top.....does that make sense? Also, the bottoms of your doors in that room might have to be trimmed. Just things to consider.
Sounds like maybe were lied to about how good the stuff we bought was. Do you recall what type you have? Did you put it in yourself?
We did put it in ourselves. I think it was an Armstrong product and we bought it at a flooring place off Atlantic ave. Is yours a light or dark shade? Ours is a medium brown stain, we also have a cat, but really haven't had any problems w/ scratches. We do have a rug under the table/chairs area and the bar stools have the plastic slides on the bottom. I hardly ever have to really mop, lol, and its sooooo much nicer than the white vinyl I had that never looked clean!! :evil:
Your best bet for resale would to have an inexpensive ceramic tile installed. Ceramic tile is impressive to most. I have never had a buyer complain about having ceramic tile in the kitchen.
I'd have to second this opinion. We've have ceramic in the kitchen and all the bathrooms, very high traffic areas, very easy to clean, doesn't stain and so many choices in patterns and colors. Good luck.
We have laminate in the kitchen and living room. We installed ourselves about a year and a half ago. It is holding up just fine with children and two dogs. We went with laminate because I read/heard real wood would show scratches from dogs' nails.
Thank you all for the feedback. We had ceramic put in our 2 main bathrooms and our half bath last year and it has been great. Though it was very expensive. Our one bathroom was over 800. So that scares me thinking about tile in the kitchen, if we went with same place that did the bathroom, I bet it would be 2500. The tile we used for the bathroom was not top of the line, at least I don't think so. The biggest cost was the labor. I cannot do it myself, don't have the time or desire. Plus not that handy and would cost me more in the end. :jester:
We also have the laminate flooring in the remaining portions of the house with the exception of the bonus room due to keeping noise factor to a minimum. The laminate we have is Armstrong and we have active dogs, after 6 years no signs of wearing, staining, fading or scratching. We always use cleaners made for laminates, not as harsh with chemicals etc. Have you tried Ollie's in Cary, they carry discounted/overstock flooring and I believe I've seen Armstrong brand there.
Laminate I agree with the previous posters on the positive aspects of laminate. I too foster rescue dogs so the laminate takes a beating but looks great; no scratches or other signs of abuse. My flooring guy told me hardwoods would not be practical for my kitchen because of the canines and suggested I try a new and improved laminate product. He was right. I am totally pleased with my floor.
Since you mentioned you may be selling your house in a year, I would suggest that you find out what type of flooring is found in homes selling in your same area and in your same price range. (Ask MamaApe if you need guidance) Sheet vinyl flooring is an inexpensive solution if it is similar to other kitchen flooring in homes like yours...though it may not be to your personal liking, your pocketbook will like it and MAY only be detrimental in selling your home IF other homes in the same price range have tile or hardwood. If hardwood is comparable in your home's price range, I suggest you try a prefinished hardwood in a height that would not cause problems with appliance fit, door trimming, etc. If you choose a base grade (inexpensive) brand, wait to install it when you are ready to put your home on the market OR if you want to install now, you can have someone put a coat of satin polyurethane over it...though it will probably void your warranty, it would be some added protection while you enjoy the floor now. When choosing a hardwood floor (whether engineered or whole wood prefinished), keep in mind that "pre-finished" does not mean "cheap" and like laminates, a really nice brand can cost more than site-finished! Try to stay away from styles with deep beveled edges and choose a micro bevel or straight edge to mimic the appearance of site-finished hardwood and don't choose "trendy" finishes (colors) that may not fit the style of most home buyers. Understanding your earlier post regarding your issues with ceramic, you could also find problems with appliance fit, etc (as Bandmom mentioned earlier about hardwoods) since a backer board must be installed under the tile first. Though most homeowners like a tile backsplash, many view tile as "cold" and dislike grout upkeep (though I'm a tile fan myself) and not everyone can appreciate tile on a large kitchen floor. So stick with the most economical and COMMON flooring that is standardly found in homes similar to yours, without creating an expensive masterpiece that will not allow you to recoup your investment. Not only must you think about your personal likes and budget....you must think about the "popular vote" that you will need from buyers when you are getting your home ready to sell.
may i suggest angier paint/carpet store- they are excellent -fast and reasonable-they did a small bathroom for me for $100. they showed up on time- actually 1/2 hour early and were done in 1 hour. i used another local shop for my kitchen and lots of problems- should have shopped around more than i did- 286 sq. ft- cost us $3000 for congoleum dura ceramic which is very nice- but if i had to do over i would go with the higher grade linoleum and save big $$.
Grandma brings up a few more flooring options....Though I'm not really familiar with the Dura ceramic product, I understand that it is a very good product (but probably a bit pricey for your particular project, even compared to a base grade standard ceramic). There are several local flooring shops that could give you guidance in choosing a product and even Lowe's has "peel & stick" vinyl squares that look like ceramic and can be an easy DYI project. (But I would suggest adding a little adhesive when you install them yourself, even though not "necessary"). Also, with your pets, I would choose a style with a matte (dull) finish rather than glossy and many patterns are available that resemble natural slate or stone. Grandma's mention of using a higher grade sheet vinyl will offer better durability than a cheap vinyl and offer you a choice of many patterns that look like "real" ceramic tiles or natural stone! Also, there is a "new" type of sheet vinyl available now that does not require glueing seams together (requires a tape underneath instead)... because of its newness, I don't know how the product rates but it may be yet another option.
my neighbor had Lowes put some laminate wood flooring in his place. The crew were wearing construction boots with a thick pattern/indent sole and apparently that was enough to leave some small indentations on the flooring before they even finished. He said his wive's heels did the same thing. Sounds like a bad investment.
Sorry to hear your neighbor's bad experience but, unfortunately, it could boil down to a bad choice that created their bad investment. Just like most flooring materials not all laminate floors are the same in durability, quality, style/appearance, or performance... even when you compare product lines made by the same manufacturer. Laminate floors are constructed in two different methods: high pressure and direct pressure. The HPLaminates are created using a two-step process that fuses and glues the components together, which costs more and produces a product that is more durable than the DPLaminates, which fuse the materials together all at once using just one-step. Indentations can be common in less expensive laminates but even the higher grade (and priced) laminates will typically advertise their performance or brand as "indentation resistant"....not indention proof. Your neighbors should review their product's specifications and warranties, you know what I'm saying....the "fine print". Heels can cause problems for several types of flooring; however, it would seem that a even a DPL would not easily be impaired by a standard work boot and the supplier (in this case Lowe's) should at least help your neighbors find resolve at this point. No matter the price or quality of laminate they purchased, it's a shame that the supplier did not disclose (I assume... or either your neighbor did not read or understand) the "fine print" including the expectations or quality of the flooring that they purchased because laminate flooring can be a good investment. (That's probably why you see so many conflicting responses when people inform others about their personal "laminate experience"....not all laminate flooring is the same). Good luck to the neighbors!
We have had the Armstrong laminate flooring down for about 8-9 years now and it still looks good, even with all the foot traffic in our house (I have 3 inside dogs). I would not put it in the kitchen-too much water in there, I would go for tile in the kitchen. Water and laminate floors do not go well together, it will make the board joints swell. They will flatten back out, but I would avoid the laminate wood flooring in the kitchen. I know someone who installs tile and will give you his phone number if you would like, I beleive he would be pretty reasonably priced compared to some other options. PM me if interested in the phone number.
Any idea what you are going to do with the old laminate that you will be removing? What color is it,light or dark? We got a spare room where it might not look too bad in and this way it also would get recycled
RE: Homegurl Thanks homegurl, i will pass the info on to them. They were pretty upset. I'm not sure if they talked to the store yet or not. Lowe's has always stood by the products I buy from them. On the topic of quality, i was at a place called Ollies up in Cary a while back and they had some "wood flooring" laminate for sale real cheap - it looked like a very thin paper printed to look like wood pattern placed on top of a balsa wood product!
