Flooring Question - Hardwoord, Bamboo, Laminate, Carpet???

[fishoholic]

Torture tests for laminate is a great idea. I had a good quality laminate in my condo that I never had a problem with, however I have cheep laminate in my house and when the dishwasher leaked a bit the laminate warped. I plan on replacing with tile when I stop spending all my $$$ on SW stuff I do have tile in the front enterance and bathroom and I love it.

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

The key with laminate is to make sure that it's Green in colour underneath the "wood" that's your clue that it's been treated to withstand water. If in doubt, grab a sample and leave it in a bucket for a day. When I redid our floors I put all my samples through torture tests as we have the fish, a dog, I'm clumsy and drop things all the time!! I dropped hammers and bricks on the stuff, left it in water, drove over it with the truck... Some of the high end stuff failed miserably, while some of the midrange stuff did just fine. Don't be afraid to destroy their samples!