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

[andsoitgoes]

Okay, made a trip to home depot so I could check some samples out.

I came out of that store more confused and bafled than I was at the start.

I took a few samples and did some very basic scatch tests.

Even the most expensive hardwood scraped like it was paper against some small edges of metal, even light dings left marks!

Looking at laminate, some just breathing on them scraped the crap out of them, others (the dupont and trafficmasters) wouldn't scrape if you tapdanced on them.

The trafficmaster, which promises water sealant protection, had no "green" colour, whereas some of the no-name brands *DID*

Either way, I'm now confused as even flooring people are saying to toss the idea of laminate, but what with the experience I just had at home depot, I'm about 20x more confused than I was walking into the store!!!!

Ugh.

Help? Again?

Originally Posted by 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.