Hardwood or Laminate?

Hi C.-
We bought our "new" home over 2 years ago . We have 2 girls ages 6 and 3 and an indoor dog (Lab). When we bought this house we had the option for wood floors- Well, we were told it was great quality etc......- We just thought "Oh wood foors" It could be a poor laminate though- I can't really tell- ( I feel like a sucker for this)
Anyway, it looked great, don't get me wrong but a couple of years later it has really taken a beating. There are dings and scratches everywhere, mostly seen when the sun light is shining directly on it. Awful!!!
Our first home, years ago,we had Home Depot install PERGO flooring, back when it was $6 sf. Looking back, I wish we had done that here. It NEVER scratched held up very well- EASY to maintain. It was great for us, my then only one daughter and our puppy (Lab)who was always playful and running about the house. LOVED IT!
I know Pergo is easier to install now (no gluing). IT might be more cost effective for you to go that route too! Maybe better for a DIY- er than traditional hardwood.
Especially since your concerned about not overly upgrading your home.
My vote- PERGO!
I hope this helps

Elaine

Get Pergo...it's more durable. Hardwood is beautiful, but it will get scratched, dented, & worse. Plus, I think you have to strip & do all that other work on it once a year. Pergo is perfect for a family with pets.

I LOVE my pergo!! We had it installed almost 8 years ago in our living room, dining room & master bedroom & it still looks wonderful! My friends who have hardwood complain all the time about how easily it gets torn up....from their dog's claws digging into it, to dropping something on it and it leaves a dent, etc, etc.

We had ours professionally installed, but I think now it's much easier to do yourself with the glue-less type. I clean it the way the pergo website says to: 1 cup of vinegar in 1 gallon of water. Spray it on your floor with a spray bottle and mop with a flat cloth or microfiber mop...cleans up beautifully every time!

One note, if you do choose laminate, make sure it is a name brand like Pergo.....I've seen some of the cheaper laminates in people's houses, and they don't stand up near as well to scratches and dents.

With that much traffic (especially the dogs), you need to go laminate or tile. We have laminate, Wilsonart, in our home. It is a higher end brand, but well worth it since it could be laid in the bathroom. It was the only brand at the time with a water seal warranty.

I'm still not sure I would install it myself. You have to install the floor with a gap next to the wall to allow for swelling with the change in weather. It needs to be laid on a level surface which your slab may not be and may need additional cement, ours did in 3 rooms. No room is squared perfectly, especially if it contained carpet previously. The flooring needs to sit in your home for at least 3 days prior to laying to aclimate to your home. This step is VERY IMPORTANT. I have a part of my home where they brought in extra because they measured wrong and the boards swelled and shrank with the temp changes in my home and they have traveled down my hall with little gaps between the planks. The rest of the house is gorgeous. You can't always believe what they do on HGTV. You don't get to see the results 6 months later or the little cuts they had to make around the corners of their rooms.

GL!

Go to Floor & Decor off the 635 on your way to Dallas.... I think you take the Luna Road exit.

Hardwood. Forget laminate. Bamboo is good too. But no one is going to go "Oh look they installed laminate!".

Floor & Decor has great prices and they install too.

Laminate is so easy to take care of, and it is very durable. Esp. with pets and kids, you definitelywant laminate. We did our home a year ago, and the difference is amazing-- so easy to clean. You can even get the dust under the couches,etc. without moving them! There are some really, really nice laminates and they can get as expensive as hardwood, but if you go mid-range (not the cheapest, not most costly), then you will provide the best value for your home. We looked around at all the discount providers, etc., and eventually decided on Home Depot (Lowe's just as good). This is b/c you get a warranty, you know they'll be there in 10 years if you have issues, and we got the no interest for a year on their card. Plus, they really weren't that much more expensive than the cheap outlets. We found a beautiful laminate that looks like real wood for around $3 sqft sale price. We had someone lay it, but it looked easy-- just a bit time consuming. We have 2 long hallways, and those cuts are difficult. If you are doing wide open rooms, then it is much easier. However, if you don't want the hassle, the HD install price was very reasonable.
good luck!

LAMINATE! :)

We love our hardwoods and got a great price on them at Lumbar Liquidators in Dallas. If your husband is going to lay them, I'd say buy it here because I don't think you'll get a better price anywhere else for real hardwoods. I do have to be honest and tell you that our dogs have scratched the HECK out of them. They aren't gauged but they are definitely scratched. But, we have a 60 pound Golden and a 98 pound German Shepherd. I think the Shepherd scratches them the most because he is so large. We tried to be diligent about trimming nails and even Dremel-ing nails, but that doesn't get done enough since we've had children. On a positive note, they still look pretty and not many people notice the scratches. They are easy to clean and much cleaner than carpet in my opinion. I would recommend getting some rugs for the living areas of the home. Some harder woods that are more resistant to scratches are Mesquite and Mahoghany. Oak is softer and will scratch more...I would not recommend this with dogs. We have Brazilian Koa and it's middle of the road in terms of hardness, I think. Check out Lumbar Liq. website to see a hardness scale and diff. types of wood and pricing.

I can't speak to laminates since we don't have them, but I've heard they withstand scratching much better but yet aren't as pretty and in my opinion look fake. You might want to research this because I am just not sure about the durability vs. hardwood's durability(esp. with dog nails).

I think hardwood isn't too hard to lay so I bet your husband can do it. I know it's easier than tile!

Good Luck!
N.