Solid wood floors vs Laminate

IHateDida

Which do I go for? Does real wood scratch easily with a dog, furniture? I would like my dining room and lounge fitted with it. I've had cheapo Homebase beech laminate in my current lounge but would like better stuff in my new house, perhaps walnut or laminate walnut colour - but not too expensive!

Does anyone know of any good suppliers and fitters (I can't do it myself as I'm hopeless!:rolleyes: ) - I live in Norfolk.
Thankyou :beer:

missile

I had real wood and it marks very easily and fades in the sun. You can be left with patches where furniture sat. I chose quickstep in my new house. Perspective 4 looks very authentic, well it does to me. It is not difficult to lay, for a good joiner or even a DIY buff, but I have seen some horrendous work by coyboys.

vansboy

Im a fan of the Aqualoc laminate, from B&Q. It's the more expensive, special order stuff & has a wide range of colours.

Works out at about £15/mt + underlay, fit yourself, compared to £75/mt wood floor fitted.

Are you sure you can't do it yourself? It wasn't too bad for us to do & I've not too much patience!!

VB

matty_hunt

Whilst in a local furniture store I happened to mention how beautiful the wood flooring looked to the owner. She pointed out that half the showroom was real oak and the other half oak laminate. She also wished it was all laminate and proceeded to show me how badly the real wood has scratched and marked yet the laminate was still in good condition. Ok your dinning room isnt goint to have the traffic of a showroom but its worth knowing. Obviously engineered wood would be a bit cheaper than soild wood flooring. There are also some very good laminates that are nothing like the cheap ones. You get what you pay for.
Also, walnut is very dark. Dont forget to take into account the decor and lighting in the room. Though I agree, walnut looks stunning and I would have it in my living room if it got enough sunlight to make it shine!!

IHateDida

vansboy wrote: »

Im a fan of the Aqualoc laminate, from B&Q. It's the more expensive, special order stuff & has a wide range of colours.

Works out at about £15/mt + underlay, fit yourself, compared to £75/mt wood floor fitted.

Are you sure you can't do it yourself? It wasn't too bad for us to do & I've not too much patience!!

VB

Thanks - erm...my OH fitted the current cheapo stuff in our lounge and lets just say its best not to look too closely at it! But I will have a look at it in the next week or so - and we'll have to find someone to fit it - as I'm not going through that again!!!!

Thanks for your suggestion!

IHateDida

matty_hunt wrote: »

Whilst in a local furniture store I happened to mention how beautiful the wood flooring looked to the owner. She pointed out that half the showroom was real oak and the other half oak laminate. She also wished it was all laminate and proceeded to show me how badly the real wood has scratched and marked yet the laminate was still in good condition. Ok your dinning room isnt goint to have the traffic of a showroom but its worth knowing. Obviously engineered wood would be a bit cheaper than soild wood flooring. There are also some very good laminates that are nothing like the cheap ones. You get what you pay for.
Also, walnut is very dark. Dont forget to take into account the decor and lighting in the room. Though I agree, walnut looks stunning and I would have it in my living room if it got enough sunlight to make it shine!!

Thankyou - yes, after reading your responses, I think its definitely going to be laminate - I will be very peed off if it starts to fade, scratch etc... I was digging my nails into some Homebase real wood the other day and thats what got me thinking whether it was worth it!

The problem I have is that I have walnut furniture, dark brown sofas and I am going to paint the walls white (they're magnolia at the minute), but as its a new build (moving in at the end of the week!), they have put in a oak coloured fire surround which I'm not sure will go with anything! I don't really want to replace it but I will have to have enough contrast in the floor so it doesn't look too odd!

vansboy

To avoid choosing the 'wrong' colour, we've used Limed Oak, it's nearly white - nut does clean well!

Had it just in living room at last house, done ENTIRE flat, here - bathroom, kitchen, everywhere.

We'we really made the place light, by doing this & it goes with everything!

The plan for next project, is Maple laminate, all through, too.

VB

techexpert

I used Wickes real wood Laminate flooring in my room, looks very nice [and real] and can easily be cleaned

london_saver

I cant believe you are all advising LAMINATE!!!!

Think about what laminate and solid wood flooring is. Laminate is cheap plywood that had a photograph of wood on it, then there is a middle layer of solid wood, then the bottom layer is cheap plywood. So thats why its cheap. You cant sand laminate any more than 2/3 times if you want to "refresh it".

Solid wood, is basically, solid wood. And the quality and price of solid wood flooring is so competitive now. Floors2Go have some great solid wood floors now which are almost the same as laminates.

All wood flooring will scratch, unless you choose to resin your floor, concrete your floor or just go with a different floor covering. Solid and laminate is virtually the same price (okay a teeny teeny bit more).

I recommend that you ask the company (that you eventually decide on) to fit your floor. You get the great after service too if you need it. Its a floor, you will be using it every single day and it should withstand wear and tear, so I wouldnt scrimp on something that you use everyday! Just like a car, why buy a cheap banger when you know you will be driving it all the time and long distances.

IHateDida

The fading issue puts me off though and my dog sinks her claws into floors - so I'd be worried about the scratching - she hasn't managed to scratch my current laminate but I reckon she would on real wood! I don't want to have to sand anything down in a years time....I'm even too lazy to re-protect my slate kitchen floor - its supposed to be done every year...and its been down 4 years so far!!!! (luckily we're moving so its up to the new owners now!!!).

I do understand what you are saying about the real wood issue as I usually like using natural products (I have natural stone in my bathroom as well as the slate and marble in my kitchen) but I don't want it to look tatty and need re-sanding within a few months/year.

davsidipp

dont go for real wood if you have a dog it scratches badly also therir are some laminates that look like real wood without the hassle berry loc is a good make and quick step also better to buy dearer laminate as quality is also better.