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

[andsoitgoes]

I just looked at our pictures taken, and we've got tile throughout the hallway upstairs, so it looks like we'll just have to do the flooring in the 3 bedrooms, living room and main "entry" way

I'm concerned about the comment about Laminate, it's REALLY frustrating as I'm hearing that Laminate is sturdy even against water. Then it isn't. Then Hardwood will show the dings and marks from the toys and pets.

Who do I listen to??

Justusfish - I've actually got a connection at End of the Roll in Surrey - hopefully they can point us in the right direction!!

[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!

[Phanman]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

drove over it with the truck...

Why in the world would u do that!

[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!

[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.

[andresont]

Don't listen to salesman or installer they are not thinking with your perspective of water protection. From their's point of view, few drops here and there not a big deal.
They don't have a fogiest idea how much water we spill on our floors and it has corrosive salt in it right?
At any rate hardwood will be damaged even if there is a hint of moisture.
It will warp just because of humidity forget the spills.. and you will spill for sure.
So get your scretching tool out and the bucket with water from your tank, soak the samples for 12 hrs. Dry it up and in 3 to 6 days you will have a clear picture right away wich product to go with.
3 years ago, IKEA laminate with glue in between the seams, worked for me and i use to spill a lot on it. It was very hard to scretch even with screwdriver.

[Skimmerking]

I have real oak hardwood floors in my house and I love it. I have them in the Kitchen diningroom, and livingroom and hallways and the front entrance and back entrance I have Slate that i did I went with the saloon grade because it looks old. And if you go with a darker wood the scratches will show up faster then on a lighter piece of floor. i will take some pictures to show you.

[Skimmerking]

here is my flooring that i put in along with slate tiles.. I went with the saloon grade i like it







My wife says you could have cleaned the shoes away its all about presentation...