[Mooselady]

I need your advise. I had bamboo flooring installed in our family/great room in October - it is a tongue and grove floor that was floated. We have had two problems with it: Within 6 months the joints (where the board meet) are pulling apart and it is scratching badly from the dogs toenails. At this point the company is talking about replacing the floor and giving us the option of going with bamboo again (but a different type of installation) or changing products completely. Now to my question for those of you who have hard floors - what do you have and how do you like it? We have two labs that are indoors and grandkids. I went with wood because I liked the look and care over carpet but am not happy with how the bamboo has worn. The flooring company suggested laminate as an alternative. I loved the look of the bamboo but since it isn't wearing well I'm not sure what to go with. Any ideas?

 

[hifive]

If they are going to pay go with wood.

 

[Buddysmom]

Laminate holds up to kids and dogs much better than wood. I would go with the laminate. Get the one with the feel of wood rather than the slick laminate. I have it and I love it.

 

[imported_eastcoastmom]

If they are going to pay go with wood.

Yes. You can always refinish hardwood. Once laminate chips, that's it. We have laminate in our rec room & bedrooms and i can attest that it does scratch, chip and wear. I dropped something the other day now there is a big gouge and the color difference is obvious. It is far better than carpet in terms of care. i have heard lots of negative reviews about bamboo.

 

[JacobAlthea&Tatum]

I hate laminate. Wood is an investment in the future. It can be refinished. Laminate is like carpet or linoleum in that when it needs to be updated, it has to be removed and new stuff put in.

 

[Allie]

I like our laminate--it is very scratch and dent resistant, and fairly water resistant as well. Ours is also a floating floor. Like with any floor, a higher quality will last longer as far as laminate or wood is concerned.

 

[my2labs]

we have laminate that looks just like hardwood floors and we get comments on it all the time. it is dent and scratch resisitant and we couldn't beat the warranty. and since our dogs nails get a little longer before we get them trimmed, we have noticed no scratches whatsoever on it. we have had it over a year now.

 

[imported_eastcoastmom]

We have 13 millimeter wood grain floating laminate in our bedrooms & family room and it had chips in it that are quite obvious. Have 1 party, someone drops a fork and the tines hit it just the right way...gouge. At least with real wood you can fill & refinish it. It's ok, but I'd prefer hardwood throughout (except the playroom/rec room) that's just my opinion though.

 

[Allie]

We have ours in our whole house (except the bathrooms) and I have moved aquariums, dropped pots and pans, cans, etc and no dents and very few scratches. But it really does depend on what kind you have. We had a 125g aquarium gush water all over the floor (2" deep) and the floor dried out fine. Not sure wood could have withstood that.

 

[Buddysmom]

We've had our laminate down over six years now. We do have one gouge in it from where our mantel fell and one of my Christmas house's steeples did a nose dive into it. There are no scratches on it. I have dropped a lot of stuff on it from pots to other things that would have damaged a wood floor. I've also spilled water that didn't get cleaned up right away. It still looks like new.

 

[IzzyLucyWillie]

We have laminate too. First day we had it I knocked a hammer off onto the floor and .....nothing happened ;D
With three labs on our all the time it has yet to scratch. I have dropped pots and pans and plates and even the whole silverware basket from the dishwasher. Knock on laminate it hasn't scratched, dented or chipped yet.

 

[imported_blacklab1973]

I installed Pergo in my condo about a year before I sold it and I loved it. In the time that we had it I had no issues however I can't tell you how it will hold up long term.

 

[Anne]

Knock on laminate

Heeee!

We went through a similar situation last year and ended up chosing a high end laminate. Does it look exactly like real wood? Heck no! But, to touch it, you can *feel* a wood grain type feel. The edges of the "boards" are beveled, which further leads to a bit more realistic appearance.

But, in my opinion. Nothing beats the look of real wood. But, if you are looking for convienence, laminate is a great way to go.

True story. At our old house (where we had laminate flooring as well) we had a kickin' summer party one year. Someone ( ) while everyone else was outside, thought it would be a great idea to stub out his/her cigarette on our laminate flooring.

I found it later that evening, and simply wiped the ashes up. It didn't even leave a mark.

 

[rottnlabs]

I just had laminate installed in the bedrooms this week. I really wanted real wood floors but when I talked to several different companies they all told me that dogs and wood do not mix. They all said laminate was a better way to go.

Here are the pros/cons as I see them:

The pros:
- dent and scratch resistant
- easy to care for
- can replace individual boards (but it requires removing the floor from the wall to the board to be replaced).
- I found out that when you accidentally drip paint on it and it dries, you can scrape it right off. ;D

The cons:
- water damages it (but it would damage real wood too)
- tough (but not impossible) to repair. have to remove the floor from the wall to the board to be replaced.
- sounds hollow when you walk on it (a pet peeve of mine and why I wouldn't install it anywhere except bedrooms, no high traffic areas..love my tile for those areas)

 

[imported_azlab]

Have had laminate for 7 years in the family room/kitchen area still looks brand new. One lab and a fox hound who visits several times per week and they use it as a race track.