Quality laminate or real wood flooring?

longwalks1

We are redecorating 2 rooms upstairs from scratch, plastered, new skirting and door architrave the lot. We want to lay either a quality laminate or engineered/real wood flooring. Is there a preference? They're both only small rooms, one will be an office the other a small double bedroom. I've laid Quickstep laminate about 10 years ago and found it easy to use and went together well, is there a 'best' laminate to use or should I really try engineered or real wood?

Is it laid the same way as laminate? On an underlay and leave 10mm gap around the edge for movement/expansion?

Thanks in advance

dirty_magic

We're looking at changing our floor for real wood and non engineered real wood is harder to lay.

Non engineered real wood planks have to be glued to the floor, it isn't click fit like laminate. Most engineered wood is easier because they're tongue and groove joints and don't need glue.

If you want real wood but don't want to glue it engineered wood will probably be better.

Leanne1812

dirty_magic wrote: »

We're looking at changing our floor for real wood and non engineered real wood is harder to lay.

Non engineered real wood planks have to be glued to the floor, it isn't click fit like laminate. Most engineered wood is easier because they're tongue and groove joints and don't need glue.

If you want real wood but don't want to glue it engineered wood will probably be better.

I've got solid oak flooring and it isn't glued down. We had to hire a special nail gun and the planks are nailed into the floor. It's not as hard wearing as laminate but I do think it looks better.

Jonesya

Real wood floors are normally fixed down because being solid timber they are more subject to natural movement and expansion than engineered products like 'engineered' flooring (similar construction to plywood) and laminate, so need fixing in position.

There's various ways of fixing them down - glue them to sub-floor, blind nailing where you drive nails diagonally through the tongue using a special tool, hiding them from view. You can also get special nail-like screws, so you can 'blind screw' them, you can do that yourself without any special kit.

Personally I think real wood and engineered are better than laminate - just look and feel better. Real wood is a lot more effort to lay but once laid it should last decades, even a lifetime because you can refinish it.

Waterlily24

Real wood or engineered wood for me, it doesn't matter how expensive the laminate is you still get repeats which I hate.

Auntie-Dolly

Have you looked at the Karndean or Amtico that looks like wood? East to fit, looks good and hard wearing.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Pros and cons of both. The best laminate will still not look as nice as good engineered or solid flooring, but I'd say its more durable long term (you can re-finish engineered planks a few times and wooden flooring whenever it needs it, you can't do anything except replace planks with laminate).

We have QuickStep Impressive laminate downstairs in our hall, living and dining room and I'm very happy with it. It looks quite realistic, the biggest giveaway is the repeats which are unavoidable although I believe QuickStep has more variation than cheaper brands. The bigger the area the more noticeable it will be. But I'm very happy with it, its very hardwearing and has an excellent long term guarantee.

If you have pets or children I'd go with the laminate. If not and you can afford it, engineered or solid will look great.

If you want something that looks real, then avoid Karndean or similar, it does not look realistic at all. Our previous owners have Karndean in the kitchen and whilst its hardwearing it looks exactly like what it is - shiny plastic. Its also very faded where the sun hits it too and was fitted badly as well (there's bumps everywhere). I'm not sure I'd agree with the poster above about it being "easy to fit". Not sure that's true if you want to DIY it. I'm sure its easy to fit *badly*. Laminate (especially QuickStep) is really easy to fit but we still had it done professionally downstairs as it was such a large area. If it was a simple bedroom I'd feel confident doing it myself.

I would think carefully about whether you want any form of hard flooring upstairs at all as it will be a lot noisier than carpet.

dirty_magic

:A

Leanne1812 wrote: »

I've got solid oak flooring and it isn't glued down. We had to hire a special nail gun and the planks are nailed into the floor. It's not as hard wearing as laminate but I do think it looks better.

Ah they just told us it had to be glued because our floor is concrete. We're going for it anyway, it's way nicer than anything else we've seen. I am a bit worried about cleaning it though!

Leanne1812

dirty_magic wrote: »

:A

Ah they just told us it had to be glued because our floor is concrete. We're going for it anyway, it's way nicer than anything else we've seen. I am a bit worried about cleaning it though!

It should have plenty of layers of varnish for protection. I used to mop with hot water but now I run over it with a steam cleaner with no problems. Ours is 8 years old now and still looks great. Beware stiletto heels though!

Davesnave

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

If you want something that looks real, then avoid Karndean or similar, it does not look realistic at all.

Just to add to the confusion of advice here, I'd say my professionally fitted Karndean floor looks fine and not shiny at all, but then there are many different styles/qualities. Anyway, I'm not trying to fool people into thinking it's real.

The same for Amtico, which a relative has had for around 20 years with no noticeable deterioration. Both are in kitchens though, where I wouldn't particularly want wood.

Upstairs, I agree with you about the clacky sound of any stick- down tile or laminate.

Newly_retired

Another vote for both Quickstep, which was have in our kitchen, and for Karndean in our hall.everybody thinks it is real wood.