I would go for hardwood. Although it will show wear more quickly, over the long run it is the best option in my opinion. It can be refinished to restore its original luster, restained to match any design/color choices, and adds value to your home. Laminate doesn't do any of the above.

Agreed. The hardwood will look beat up, dented, and scratched more quickly but it will still look like wood and be beautiful. The laminate would look "new" longer but when damaged it looks terrible, when wood is damaged it has "character" and "patina".

I'd find a thick top layer (assuming you are getting engineered wood) and then just enjoy the floors. I've shopped this out carefully, twice, and chosen Lauzon both times. Good luck to you!

Hi,

Thanks for the advice! Hardwood is up 2-0. Any more opinions?

Thanks,
Jerry

I'm in pretty much the same boat and I'm leaning toward laminate. I would absolutely love to have hardwood but it's been impossible to find what I want for around $6.00 installed. (I'm also in Texas) I have a very active 50lb dog in the house that loves to play tug-a-war and I'm pretty much convienced that this will really scratch up a hardwood floor. It's a personal choice so go with your gut.

You tied everyones hands with trying to stay under 6.00 a sq. ft. turnkey Jerry. :) That price point will eliminate too many nice products.

Did you see brutuses thread?

"Armstrong has come out with a new laminate flooring that will put all other laminates to shame. It's called Grand Illusions and looks and feels just like hardwood. It has the sheen of hardwood, beveled edges and thickness of hardwood. It's brand new and I don't know who all carries it. I saw it at Premiere Flooring in my neighborhood. You can view it on Armstrong's web site and order a sample if you'd like. Premiere sells it for $4.99 sq. ft. plus cost of padding/underlayment.
Just thought some of you would like to know."

Hi,

Jerry, I hear ya! :) It's hard for me to justify more than $6 sq. ft. for flooring, since you can get very nice tile installed in South Texas for around $3 sq. ft. which will last longer than I will. :)

Patty Cakes, Thanks... I'll check out that thread.

Thanks,
Jerry

Here in CA I've found nice 5" eng hardwood on sale for $3.99. Installation is an additional cost. I have come across installers charging $2 per square foot, however they were not licensed. I wouldn't go with an unlicensed installer unless you have good referrels for them. You will also have the costs of any other materials needed such as glue, etc. There are also some great deals on Ebay for eng hardwood.

I recently purchased beautiful eng hickory hardwood from a store. Was $11/ft regular price and I got it on sale for $5/ft (not installed)

I made an error about the Grand Illusions. It is not carried by Premiere. The flooring they are carrying is also Armstrong but it's from the Flooring America line of Armstrong and they sell it to Premiere. It's called Hampton line. I can't find the Hampton except at Premiere. The Grand Illusion is the same floor, looks and feels just like hardwood, but you can find it on-line at different sites. They are both absolutely beautiful and unless someone tells you, there is no way you can tell the difference between it and hardwood. This laminate is like none out there. It has a satin sheen just like hardwood. I have one sample I'm not going to use so if you'd like me to send it to you, I will. Just send me a personal e-mail with your mailing address. Or you can go to the Armstrong site and get a sample for $5. The Grand Illusion link is in the margin or I suppose you could search for Grand Illusion. The color in the Grand Illusion that I like is an exotic, number L3025 and the name is Cabrueva. Good luck. Let us know what you decide on.

My DH, being the sceptic that he is had to do the ultimate test on the GI sample. He took a kitchen fork and with all his strength tried to scratch it and couldn't. He's sold!!

Also, I was able to get the guy at Premiere to go down .50 a foot on the Hampton line. Since we need so much that's a savings of $800.00. Just mentioning this should someone want to try to get a better price. I'm sure my 1600 sq. ft. order helped. LOL The salesman informed me that he can get the Hampton in the exotic color same as the Grand Illusion. They recommend a padding that is .60 sq. ft. It's the best of the two paddings and you don't hear "clicking" like you normally would on a laminate floor.

If nothing else, I highly recommend you see these laminates in person before you make your final decision. You will be amazed.

I have had two homes with both and here's my experience.

The hardwood I had was oak. No bevels and it held up beautifully. A few nicks in the high traffic areas that didn't look bad enough to re-sand and coat again. It was also great that you didn't have to mop a lot. Just cleaning up spills. I'm also a clean-freak so that was a huge plus.

The laminate I had was from Lumber Liquidators and was 99 cents a foot. Cheap, but durable and easy to clean. The kids were rolling around on the toddler sized scooters and biks in the house. (we had a 1000 sqft rec room) Never a scratch from those... but... upstairs we got a big scratch on dark walnut colored flooring from a vacuum with a small rock in it! The laminate resisted furniture pens and polish so it could only be torn out and replaced.

So both have pros and cons. I would go with your decor. If you have a home in Texas, I would expect rustic flooring and then I'd go with hardwood. Probably alternating plank sizes. Then the natural wear and tear will add to the beauty. If your home is more contemporary in design, I'd go with the laminate and a lighter color.

Above all, stick to your budget. That's very important because you won't get someone to pay more for your house just because of an expensive floor.

Enjoy your results whatever you choose!

JoAnn

Good advice from JoAnn. Stick to your budget! If you can't do it all for $6/ft installed you might want to consider mixing it up and put the laminate in the MBR and the office where it won't be in a "high traffic" area. Real hardwood in the LR. Maybe you can install the laminate yourself to save some $$ and let an experienced installer put in the real stuff for you. Just a thought.

You can get the Grand Illusion for $3.95 plus shipping, which isn't much. The price I received for the Hampton laminate at Premiere was $4.99 sq. ft. plus .60 s/f for necessary padding (the best one).

Hmmm, I'd like to disagree, just a little, with JoAnn. Not only would I pay more for a house with nice wood floors, I wouldn't buy a house with tile floors at all.

It is messy and difficult to remove tile, but I'd even hate to rip out a floating laminate floor. If it looked really good (I think I saw the Grand Illusion and was impressed), I'd buy a house with laminate and plan to live with it.

To me, and I realize this might not be common, the choices one makes about "permanent" things like floors and cabinets reflect how much one values his/her home. And if a seller didn't value it enough to put in high quality flooring, I'd wonder what else was done cheaply. Appliances, window treatments, countertops and furniture can all be upgraded over time, I'd skimp on those things and get great floors from the beginning. JMO, good luck to you!

I was the Bruce rep, now Armstrong. I'm pretty much against laminate for its look and the fact that it doesn't add value to your home. That being said I have a friend who just converted an apt bldg to condos and put in the Armstrong laminate in Brazillian Cherry. It truly does look as good as hardwood. The fact that it installs in single strips is a huge design advantage over longstrip either Engineered wood or laminate. You avoid all the seams and the 'laminate' look. I'd rather you go with hardwood but if you see this new style laminate go for it.

I think this is one of those personal choice questions. Some folks like wood others like laminate.

I love the look of the wood with the grooved edges, now laminate even comes that way. But we had a 100lb dog and those edges would be tore up in a heartbeat.

One thing I do like about laminate is that it can easily be changed. My new house had light birch looking laminate, only about 2ys used. I have waited nearly 4 years to tear this stuff out for a different color. If it had been same color hardwood, I would be looking to restain it if possible. This would have been a factor in purchasing home. If it was not changeable we would have had to factor in the cost to change or decide if it was something I could live with for the rest of my life. What a bummer it would have been to have purchased my dreamhome with floors I hated. But this is just my opinion.

I do agree that an entirely tiled house would bug me and would be a real reason to not by a house, although it can be changed just like anything else. But again the cost would have to be factored into the purchase price. But I have been to homes with complete tile and they are lovely, just not useful in my home.

It is funny what things could keep us from buying a house. We should use what works for us but keep in mind that it may not be a good selling feature if you needed to sell. But again, you could always negotiate a flooring change as part of the deal.

I say if you like wood and it can fit your budget, get the wood.

We had oak floors when I was a kid growing up and I remember how very careful we had to be not to scratch it. But with everything, eventually it started to wear and it wasn't beautiful as people have said here. It looked worn and ugly as it got scratches in the finish. Someone commented that they'd never get ceramic and I wanted to say I just did my kitchen in ceramic and LOVE it! It is so easy to clean and sturdy. I might not want it throughout the house but works great for the kitchen and also lovely to look at. I'm thinking of new flooring for other areas as well (as you might see my entry about my pet damaging our wood). I've been noticing at stores that have laminate installed how they are holding up with all the traffic they have. I'm leaning toward thinking laminate seems pretty sturdy stuff.

We have Wilsonart laminate in most of our main floor. Unfortunately, Wilsonart changed the dimensions of the same finish we have along with the locking mechanism. We want to finish the rest of the main level with the same flooring, but because the boards are now 1/32" narrower, we will need to replace about 400-500 sq feet of flooring. It's a shame since it's been in for 6 years without any signs of wear.

So, something to take in consideration when buying flooring is that the manufacturer may make alterations in their product which will be incompatible with your existing flooring if you should decide to add more.

We love the Wilsonart product, I even have it in my office and roll on it all day long with my desk chair. Have been doing that for over 2 years now without any wear. Try that on wood.