Help! Construction! Any reviews/comments about laminate flooring?

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Oh help! All floors and carpeting in the house need to be replaced and hardwood flooring is just too pricey. I have been looking at the new Pergo Timbercraft which seems much more like real wood. 'The realtor' tells me it's very popular for ease in cleaning and not looked down on as I thought it was some years back?
Would love to know your thoughts.
Thanks
 
I would just make you aware it can be a bit cloppy ie if you have a lot of foot traffic in and out it can be noisy - from a maintenance point of view lots of friends of mine use it for their breakfast rooms as easy to clean and they are only in use in the morning so noise less of an issue. lots of good stuff which is hard wearing - would say make sure you can get it wet
 
Laminate works well, but it's all about the underlay. Make sure that you spend more on the underlay, less on the laminate. And key a few extra pieces, you can always change pieces. Also make sure they don't lay it all the way to the edge, it needs a bit of wiggle room as temp and humidity change.
 
It is very loud when walked on . I hate my laminate floor. It warped after it was installed and had to be replaced 2 times. It was pergo. If it gets wet at all it warps . The tile that looks like wood however is great! I used it in a bathroom, and no one even knows it is tile. I know many people are happy with the laminate but for me never again.
 
Interesting.
So I should probably replace carpet with carpet in the upstairs for noise and under foot comfort.
My son installed bellawood prefinished flooring in two places that has held up beautifully.
 
Just me, but I don't like the fake wood floors, some years back I chose to go with real wood, but Pine (soft wood) as it was less expensive.
 
seashanty said:
Interesting.
So I should probably replace carpet with carpet in the upstairs for noise and under foot comfort.
My son installed bellawood prefinished flooring in two places that has held up beautifully..
Click to expand...
Not a single carpet in the house. Just rugs and mostly either outdoor rugs (so we can sweep them, take them outside and hose them down) or small rugs that I can wash in the washer. All the floors are laminate or hardwood. The laminate does well, but we paid for thicker laminate and thicker padding. Not the brand name. We looked for stuff that looked good and was thick. The pad was where we spent the money.
 
I'm a snob. We have laminate in the hallway from our door to our space. I hate it. If it gets wet, and doesn't dry, it peels. We had it also in the dining room. Couldn't wait to rip it out.
However, it could be the cheap underlayment the PO's installed.
I'm looking at that for my fixer upper house in NY. Good for tenants. Easy for them to keep clean.
 
I was just looking at and want to talk to my contractor about floating and nailed engineered hardwood flooring. might be the mid-range option for me
 
We're big fan of this one, since we allow pets. Dog paws/claws don't scratch it. Plus 20 year warranty.
Pergo XP
 
We used vinyl (mid range lino-look) in two guest baths. Holding up well after 10 years. We used the cheapest sale box laminate for a vacation rental bath 4 years ago. Holding up well, hasn't warped. Don't know brand name. In the full time rental unit downstairs it chipped in one spot. I stained the spot and varathaned over the chip. Hardly shows. In the other vacation rental my husband put down pressure treated hardwood flooring. It has held up pretty well except along the seam where it hits the shower stall. After 8 years there is a black edge I will be seeing to in about a week. If I had dug out and replaced the caulk at the beginning of the season it would likely have been alright. Because of other things going on at the time it didn't happen. I'll dig out the 1/8" bead of caulk, use some deck wash or other bleaching agent then recaulk and varathane or other finish treatment if needed. The problem stained area extends up to an inch out from the edge of the shower.
Overall I'm surprised how well the cheap laminate has held up. I wanted to redo the fir flooring underneath, but its in pretty poor shape although intact. That will be for the next owner of the house.
 
Anon Inn said:
We used vinyl (mid range lino-look) in two guest baths. Holding up well after 10 years. We used the cheapest sale box laminate for a vacation rental bath 4 years ago. Holding up well, hasn't warped. Don't know brand name. In the full time rental unit downstairs it chipped in one spot. I stained the spot and varathaned over the chip. Hardly shows. In the other vacation rental my husband put down pressure treated hardwood flooring. It has held up pretty well except along the seam where it hits the shower stall. After 8 years there is a black edge I will be seeing to in about a week. If I had dug out and replaced the caulk at the beginning of the season it would likely have been alright. Because of other things going on at the time it didn't happen. I'll dig out the 1/8" bead of caulk, use some deck wash or other bleaching agent then recaulk and varathane or other finish treatment if needed. The problem stained area extends up to an inch out from the edge of the shower.
Overall I'm surprised how well the cheap laminate has held up. I wanted to redo the fir flooring underneath, but its in pretty poor shape although intact. That will be for the next owner of the house..
Click to expand...
We generally recaulk all the showers every winter. Just can't keep up with it over the summer.
 
Morticia said:
Anon Inn said:
We used vinyl (mid range lino-look) in two guest baths. Holding up well after 10 years. We used the cheapest sale box laminate for a vacation rental bath 4 years ago. Holding up well, hasn't warped. Don't know brand name. In the full time rental unit downstairs it chipped in one spot. I stained the spot and varathaned over the chip. Hardly shows. In the other vacation rental my husband put down pressure treated hardwood flooring. It has held up pretty well except along the seam where it hits the shower stall. After 8 years there is a black edge I will be seeing to in about a week. If I had dug out and replaced the caulk at the beginning of the season it would likely have been alright. Because of other things going on at the time it didn't happen. I'll dig out the 1/8" bead of caulk, use some deck wash or other bleaching agent then recaulk and varathane or other finish treatment if needed. The problem stained area extends up to an inch out from the edge of the shower.
Overall I'm surprised how well the cheap laminate has held up. I wanted to redo the fir flooring underneath, but its in pretty poor shape although intact. That will be for the next owner of the house..
Click to expand...
We generally recaulk all the showers every winter. Just can't keep up with it over the summer.
.
Click to expand...
We do them when they need doing - however use stuff with a 10 year guarantee which means in reality its 2-3 years which is better than most - has microban in it which helps keep the black down
 
In my parents house we put in flooring that looks like wide wooden plank floor. Its totally water-proof vinyl that comes in big roll from Lowes. It has a real feel of wood with grain and knotholes…. We love it! Have it in one bedroom and a bathroom. Here is a link I think it is.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/IVC-Illusions-13-167-ft-W-x-Cut-to-Length-Providence-841-Wood-Look-Low-Gloss-Finish-Sheet-Vinyl/50147532
 
Jcam said:
Morticia said:
Anon Inn said:
We used vinyl (mid range lino-look) in two guest baths. Holding up well after 10 years. We used the cheapest sale box laminate for a vacation rental bath 4 years ago. Holding up well, hasn't warped. Don't know brand name. In the full time rental unit downstairs it chipped in one spot. I stained the spot and varathaned over the chip. Hardly shows. In the other vacation rental my husband put down pressure treated hardwood flooring. It has held up pretty well except along the seam where it hits the shower stall. After 8 years there is a black edge I will be seeing to in about a week. If I had dug out and replaced the caulk at the beginning of the season it would likely have been alright. Because of other things going on at the time it didn't happen. I'll dig out the 1/8" bead of caulk, use some deck wash or other bleaching agent then recaulk and varathane or other finish treatment if needed. The problem stained area extends up to an inch out from the edge of the shower.
Overall I'm surprised how well the cheap laminate has held up. I wanted to redo the fir flooring underneath, but its in pretty poor shape although intact. That will be for the next owner of the house..
Click to expand...
We generally recaulk all the showers every winter. Just can't keep up with it over the summer.
.
Click to expand...
We do them when they need doing - however use stuff with a 10 year guarantee which means in reality its 2-3 years which is better than most - has microban in it which helps keep the black down
.
Click to expand...
Thx
 
I'm late chiming in here on this. We had laminate floors on our first floor (concrete slab as base). Was the worst move we ever made. We are in a humid climate and that being said, humidity and laminate do not mix. The edges started buckling and it looked terrible after only 6 yrs.

We have replaced it all with ceramic wood look tile. Perfect! And our last floor to install.

Not sure how it would work on the 2nd floor. We have carpet to help muffle the sound. The laminate may work better than tile though in bedrooms as long as it is not overly humid and there is an extra layer of foam between sub-floor and the laminate.
 
Copperhead said:
I'm late chiming in here on this. We had laminate floors on our first floor (concrete slab as base). Was the worst move we ever made. We are in a humid climate and that being said, humidity and laminate do not mix. The edges started buckling and it looked terrible after only 6 yrs.

We have replaced it all with ceramic wood look tile. Perfect! And our last floor to install.

Not sure how it would work on the 2nd floor. We have carpet to help muffle the sound. The laminate may work better than tile though in bedrooms as long as it is not overly humid and there is an extra layer of foam between sub-floor and the laminate..
Click to expand...
That is why laminate is never put in to the edge, it needs room to expand.
 
Copperhead said:
I'm late chiming in here on this. We had laminate floors on our first floor (concrete slab as base). Was the worst move we ever made. We are in a humid climate and that being said, humidity and laminate do not mix. The edges started buckling and it looked terrible after only 6 yrs.

We have replaced it all with ceramic wood look tile. Perfect! And our last floor to install.

Not sure how it would work on the 2nd floor. We have carpet to help muffle the sound. The laminate may work better than tile though in bedrooms as long as it is not overly humid and there is an extra layer of foam between sub-floor and the laminate..
Click to expand...
We installed bamboo flooring. Talk about humidity mistake! It wasn't even completely installed and we had a hill in the middle of the room. Gomez had to router the edge to ease the stress. Then we turned the heat on. Floor shrunk and we have a big gap right at the threshold. Does the same thing every season.
The guy who put in the carpet asked about the bamboo as he was installing it, by order of the owner, in a seaside inn. Same thing - shrinking along the baseboards. Said here tried to tell them this is not the place for bamboo, but they wanted it and were now angry that 'it wasn't installed right.'
He asked who did ours and did they tell us it was going to do that. Well, Gomez installed it, but there flooring company never said boo about what the floor would do seasonally.
 
Choosing flooring is one of the biggest decisions and house projects to tackle. Pergo’s set of wide variety of each option for your flooring needs.
 

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