Pros/Cons of Wooden Floor v Wooden Laminate

Zero

Was wondering what you think are the pros & cons of sanding a wooden floor and staining/polishing it, as opposed to laying laminate wooden boards on top of it?

For example, does the laminate reduce heat loss though the floor, noise produced when walking on either surface, aesthetics, price, or anything else.

Thanks!

Ticked

We plumped for laminate after seeing what high heels had done to a friends wood floor. Laminate is cheaper and more hard wearing, and how many will notice the difference?

Beachview_2

I always thought laminate would do just as good a job, til I moved into a house with a wooden floor. I wouldn't have laminate now, it looks cheap compared to the real wood.

A friend has wood effect lino and it looks more realistic than laminate.

lauraland

I would choose wood over laminate any day, especially floorboards, I think they look far nicer. As for noise, I don't think laying laminate will make much of a difference. For heat loss, you may be able to lay insulation under the floorboards, and fill any gaps between the boards while you are renovating them.

warmhands.coldheart

Just my thoughts...

For Character and "The Look" - renovate old floors boards

Low Cost - wood effect laminate

Reduce draughts and better insulation - Cheapest way would be laminate route as you can lay a DPM/Underlay combo under the laminate. To insulate under floorboards means ripping them up first !!

Hard wearing - laminate better then wood especially where high heals are involved as mentioned.

Honkycat

I wouldn't have laminate personally. It really doesn't look the same and anyone who has seen real and laminate could immediately tell the difference. It also sounds very different to walk on as well… a rattly sort of sound.. hard to describe. A compromise might be the real wood top layer boards that you can get. We have these in a couple of rooms and they are really very good. They fit together in the same sort of way as laminate and you can put insulation underlay underneath them as well and they come pre-finished which saves all the sanding and sealing etc. You can get real wood sanded and re-finished after a period if you feel it needs it. High heels can be a problem, but we just layed down the law that they were not to be worn in the house (it's only the ones that are nearly worn out that are the problem… basically a nail punch!).

RikM

Um. If by "laminate" the plastic surfaced stuff is meant, then it's to be avoided, mostly.
We have some in our lounge - nasty stuff. Looks more or less okay, but crackles when to walk on it and flexes. On the other hand, *I* laid some water resistant laminate in the hall which is working alright (boards about 1.2cm thick).
But I can tell it's going to chip around the edges of boards and get shabby quicker than a wood surface.

But laminates don't have to be plastic: an engineered wood board with a layer of wood laminated onto something else is a good alternative.

Old_Git

I had floor boards striped and stained and sealed in my last house . I had then done in 2001 and they where as good a new when I moved .Furniture with wheels will mark it but I changed my wheels for glides .Mine was a downstairs living room and the floor was a bit noisy when I walked on it .
My present house has a semi solid floor (engineered wood ) laid over a concrete floor and then varnished and sealed . Given the choice I would have the real floor boards every time . I still have to replace 3 floors in this house and real floor boards in not an option .

RikM

I laid a wood floor in my old house. Shortly after I finished a carpenter I knew came visiting, looked at it, and advised me to take a hammer to it and make some dents, "to make it look real"... ☺

motorguy

Old_Git wrote: »

I had floor boards striped and stained and sealed in my last house . I had then done in 2001 and they where as good a new when I moved .Furniture with wheels will mark it but I changed my wheels for glides .Mine was a downstairs living room and the floor was a bit noisy when I walked on it .
My present house has a semi solid floor (engineered wood ) laid over a concrete floor and then varnished and sealed . Given the choice I would have the real floor boards every time . I still have to replace 3 floors in this house and real floor boards in not an option .

+1

It would be a crying shame to lay a laminate over solid wood.

Possom

If you were laying insulation under wooden floor boards as was suggested above, then I imagine there's the possibility of regular pine boards being damaged or broken if trying to lift them.

I haven't actually done this myself, mind, but it occured to me that it might be a risk.