are they worth the cheap price or should I spend the extra $ to lay hard
wood? what about in a bathroom? hard to beat a pre-finished price & look of
the laminate at only a buck/ sq ft


Rob

"longshot" wrote in message
...
are they worth the cheap price or should I spend the extra $ to lay hard
wood? what about in a bathroom? hard to beat a pre-finished price & look
of
the laminate at only a buck/ sq ft

Laminate flooring is cheap and durable but has that look. Ultimately it
will wear out and have to be replaced. Wood floors can normally be
resurfaced after years of use. One last tidbit. I was considering a
premium laminate flooring that had a fabulous warranty. 50 years IIRC.
When talking to the local flooring store, they indicated that a home with
ceramic tile or wood flooring increases its appeal to perspective buyers
where as laminate flooring typically adds little if any. I ended up having
the tile put down for less money.

"Leon" wrote in message =
m...
|=20
| "longshot" wrote in message=20
| ...
| are they worth the cheap price or should I spend the extra $ to lay =
hard
| wood? what about in a bathroom? hard to beat a pre-finished price & =
look=20
| of
| the laminate at only a buck/ sq ft
|=20
snip

| Laminate flooring is cheap and durable but has that look. I ended up =
having=20
| the tile put down for less money.
|=20

When looking into the bathroom I always remind myself that the dribbles =
on the floor by the toilet eventually add up to a slight odor that does =
not smell very woody. As a result I always recommend tile and in-floor =
heating or a nice bath mat.

--=20

PDQ
--

at a buck a foot your getting what you pay for!!! i install floors for a
living and put some of that cheap laminate from the borg in a customers
house 3 years ago. they had bought it and just needed it put in. last year i
got a call from them and he was saying how bad the floor was so i went out
to look. every joint had swelled and their was places the laminate was
chipping up. all in all it looked like crap. since i had just installed it
we were not responsible for the product so i sent him to the store were they
got it. of course the store said it was faulty installation and wouldnt
cover it. so a word to the wise get you better laminate from a actuall
flooring store. a lot of the flooring at borgs is construction grade and is
made differentand is not as good of a quality. for example some of the
vinyls only have a year warranty which why even have a warranty at all. my
recomendation from experience is go with the brand wilsonart or quick-step
laminates. they only cost between 2.50 and 3.00 a foot but i have yet to
have the first problem with them.
"longshot" wrote in message
...
are they worth the cheap price or should I spend the extra $ to lay hard
wood? what about in a bathroom? hard to beat a pre-finished price & look
of
the laminate at only a buck/ sq ft


Rob

In article ,
"longshot" wrote:

are they worth the cheap price or should I spend the extra $ to lay hard
wood? what about in a bathroom? hard to beat a pre-finished price & look of
the laminate at only a buck/ sq ft


Rob



Laminate flooring can be very good quality. In fact, it can be very
heavy duty commercial traffic grade....another Wreckoid already
mentioned Wilsonart.
The cheap stuff?... just that: cheap stuff. It just won't last and
cannot be refinished.
The commercial high grade stuff is more money than real wood.

I don't mind a wooden floor that is worn. It adds character. That just
doesn't happen with cheap laminate. It ends up lookning like crap.

FWIW

0¿0
˜

Rob

"longshot" wrote in message
...
are they worth the cheap price or should I spend the extra $ to lay hard
wood? what about in a bathroom? hard to beat a pre-finished price & look
of
the laminate at only a buck/ sq ft


Rob

Real wood is always the best if that is an option. Next, I'd go with
engineered wood. I used Mannington almost two years ago and I'm very happy
with it. www.mannington.com I put it over a concrete slab so real wood is
not an option from a practically POV.

longshot wrote:

are they worth the cheap price or should I spend the extra $ to lay hard
wood? what about in a bathroom? hard to beat a pre-finished price & look of
the laminate at only a buck/ sq ft


Rob



I've installed a couple laminate (cheap not premium) floors. They go
down blazing fast and look fine, but they don't look like solid wood.

I've also helped lay a couple of solid wood floors. Recently a friend
got a deal on B grade maple... we threw out a few pieces, cut down some
long warped ones, and ignored a few short missing sections of
tongue/groove, but the price was right ($CAD 2.50 ft²) and the floor
looks great. My friend recommended buying the pneumatic nailer required
for the job rather than renting... be prepared for many weekends of work.

longshot wrote:
are they worth the cheap price or should I spend the extra $ to lay
hard
wood? what about in a bathroom? hard to beat a pre-finished price &
look of
the laminate at only a buck/ sq ft


Rob


Hi Rob. I'm looking at the laminate also. I had some $2.50 /sq ft.
put in a hallway, bathroom a couple of years ago & it has held up O.K.
The thing to remember is to get the "green" or waterproof for near the
shower or toilet. I did not and have to be very careful to clean up
any water left around after showering and make sure the small rug
outside the shower is hung up after or else the joints will swell up.
I am going to put a cheap laminate in the living room as we are
planning a rebuild in 2-3 years so I don't want to invest a lot. We
will be going for hardwood (real) during the rebuild. There is no
substitute for the real stuff in my opinion. When you have laminate it
looks like laminate. Not that it looks bad, but it won't be confused
with real wood.

My $.02 worth,

Paul

I am quite happy with the looks for that price. I don't live in New England
where no one would skimp on any type of material for fear of being ridiculed
by their neighbors, friends , & colleagues...( I did construction on the
coast of Maine, NH, & Mass for years.)

--
Be cool,
Longshot

In article ,
says...
at a buck a foot your getting what you pay for!!! i install floors for a
living and put some of that cheap laminate from the borg in a customers
house 3 years ago. they had bought it and just needed it put in. last year i
got a call from them and he was saying how bad the floor was so i went out
to look. every joint had swelled and their was places the laminate was
chipping up. all in all it looked like crap.

(snip)
I've seen this before, ask them what they put into the mop bucket. 10 to
1 they were using bleach or some other harsh chemical. Disolves the
laminate from the inside out. Vinegar and water only on laminate floors,
or else. The cheap snap together (no glue) floors are worst for this.

Zeke
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