Talk to me about wood floors

[Blissful_in_TX]

We’re in the process of designing our new home, and the flooring issue is driving us crazy!!! We originally thought we’d use wood flooring downstairs, but since we’ll have a concrete slab we would have to use engineered wood (not laminate) which I think is more likely dent than solid. And we’re going for a more traditional/formal/colonial style look so we’d need a darker, more uniform wood….opposed to something lighter and more rustic that would hide scratches. But with kids and dogs running around, we figured that we would constantly be freaking out about our beautiful new floors getting all scratched. So we came to peace with having wood just in the formal dining and office/sitting rooms. The kitchen, foyer, and hall would be tile, and we’d have carpet in the family room.

But I’m looking at pictures of other houses, and some of them have such beautiful wood floors…..especially in the kitchen. I know it’s more comfortable to stand on and all, but I’m really worried about the water issue, not just spills but what if an appliance has a bad leak?? Wouldn’t the floor be ruined? :eek: And do I have to “baby” a wooden floor?

And if you love your wood floors, what type do you have (white oak, Brazilian Cherry, etc)? Is it stained? Solid or engineered? Pre-finished or site-finished? Beveled or square edge? Strip or plank? :confused:

Thanks!!

[Rhi-Anon]

When we moved into our house all of the floors on the first level were carpeted. We removed it all (and, considering that it was 1970's shag stuff, it was in surprisingly good condition so we took it to a re-sale place instead of tossing it) and put real hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms. However, so we wouldn't obsess on dripping and denting, we decided on ceramic tile for the hallway, kitchen, breakfast nook, and pantry. I love the look of the dark wood (oak) floors, but am so relieved to have some nice, easy-care floors in the rooms where this attribute matters most.

(p.s.-- stained, site-finished, square edged, plank :) )

[Lauren]

Well, I've only been in my new house with hardwood for 3 months. Yes, I do love it and it is easier than tile to stand on. I had tile for 11 years in the kitchen and found it painful to stand on for long stretches, but a breeze to take care of.

I don't have any complaints in the new kitchen, since I wipe up spills and I'm finding the finish is pretty tolerant. As far as any floods down the road, we have plenty of extra in the basement and insurance.

It's the dog. She runs around the house and I worry about scratches and chips from her nails. I've been getting them trimmed regularly. We have a lab, so it's a bigger dog.

We have an amber colored oak, strip, pre-finished (the builder told us the type we have can be refinished.) I do love the way it looks and find the swiffer is my best friend. :D

P.S. Keep in mind the darker shades will show all ... dog hair, crumbs, dust, etc.

[sneezles]

We have pine floors downstaris in this house but the Houston houses all had oak. Never had a problem with dents :confused: in any of the floors.
We have friends who just installed laminate on top of their concrete slab...there's a problem with that?

[ChristineVA]

When I first moved into my house (11 years ago), it came with builder grade Bruce Hardwood floors. Natural Oak, prefinished at the factory. They did not hold up well (I had 3 dogs). The kitchen was the worst place because of spills and water drips. After 7 years, I had EVERYTHING ripped up and the entire house hardwooded. I bought a much nicer floor--one that had a 25 year finish warranty versus the 10 year warranty the previous floor had. It is prefinished at the factory. I could not spend 2 weeks having the floor finished on site but since you are buying a new house, that might be the way to go. Apparently, on site finishing is the best. I love these new floors. Yes, if I drop something like a heavy knife or a rock (it's happened :rolleyes: ) then I get a dent. And yes, my dogs have scratched it here and there but it still looks great. I clean it every 2 weeks with a vinegar water solution.

I can't say enough about getting a natural or honey oak colored finished (or even a natural cherry if you go with that). My friend got a dark finish because she, too, felt that it was more appropriate with a colonial. She is regretting that decision as she has two cats and the cat hair shows up like crazy on the dark floor. I have a colonial and the lighter colors are great. My co-worker just purchased at 4,000 sq ft. colonial and he got a natural cherry floor. Beautiful.

[Blissful_in_TX]

I hadn't even thought about pet hair showing up on the darker floor!


We have friends who just installed laminate on top of their concrete slab...there's a problem with that?
Not a problem with laminate that I know of....just solid hardwood. Engineered wood floors are more resistant to higher moisture levels than solid wood, so it makes them a better candidate over slabs. (I still think it can be done as long as it's not below ground level, but you need a moisture barrier and free floating installation if I'm not mistaken?? :confused: ) I've thought about the laminate wood look-alikes but am afraid it will look too fake and won't hold up as well. Never seen it in person though.

[Kristilyn1]

We have a colonial, very traditional in style and we have a medium/light finish. Ours are oak. I like the floors a lot. We bought the house from someone who had lived here for 10 years with 4 kids and 3 dogs--they did not take very good care of the floor--there were weird pitted marks by the door, etc. We had them all refinished and they look great. It took about 3 days and it ran us a couple thousand. My parents just put in cherry floors and they ROCK. It looks fabulous. They went with a very shiny finish as it is just the two of them, but with kids, dogs, etc. I would suggest a duller finish as it doesn't show scratches. I suppose on one hand we baby our hardwood (see other thread, we take off our shoes) but I find the carpet the worst nightmare. The dog is always tracking on it and every single time she throws up or gets the runs, she goes right onto the carpet. It's super stain resistant and the stains come right up but I think if you compare at least those two--carpet vs. hardwood--you do a lot less babying with the wood floor. I think you have to like tile to want it. It's harder for me to love as I live in the Northeast where it gets cold and I just find it very sterile--even though I know there are more than a few very pretty styles, to me--it doesn't really suit a traditional colonial (in the New England sense of it) though I know climate says a lot about what flooring works where. I'm also someone who finds myself having backaches in my kitchen standing on the tile floor. Plus, I just always feel like tile looks dirty--unlike hardwood floors which take quite a lot to actually LOOK dirty. So I guess what I'm saying, is it really depends on your preference. I am redoing my kitchen and family room next year and all my tile will be GONE--I'm going all hardwood.

Kristi

[leightx]

Having lived in a house with gorgeous hardwood floors (from the 40's), and currently living in a house with not-as-gorgeous-but-easy-to-upkeep laminate, I'd wouldn't choose either again. My parents just put Amtico laminate down in their kitchen and it looks gorgeous! I don't think I would have ever guessed it wasn't real hardwood if I hadn't known otherwise - it's really nice. It doesn't sound like laminate when you walk on it, and really, it's nothing like Pergo or the like. It's actually put down like linoleum - in sheets, so it's very waterproof. You can get it so that it looks like hardwood, or tile, or other surfaces. If we had the money, we'd redo our entire house in the stuff! Here's a link: Amtico (http://www.amtico.com/home/whats_new.asp)

I loved the hardwoods when we had them, but the 2 dogs were pretty rough on them (and we had them refinished right before we moved in). I think the laminate floors are a lot easier to keep clean since they are so entirely flat - of course, that also means they aren't as realistic looking as the real thing. Our dream house will contain no carpet or tile - can't stand either one!! Tile is just too hard on the feet, too slippery, and too hard to update when you get tired of it (I don't think it's nearly as timeless as other people seem to - I can easily identify early 90's large 12" greyish beige tile in most of our friends' homes!). But I know I'm in the minority on my tile-hate. :D

leigh

[Beth]

Leigh, do you know where they found that flooring? Looks like the showrooms are only in Europe. We were planning on putting in hardwoods as the next step after we recover from the kitchen (if that EVER gets done), but now that we have a lab puppy, I'm not sure I want to do that.

[leightx]

I'll check with them tomorrow and let you know! They live in Dallas, and had a contractor install it, so they might have bought it through him? Those floors would be perfect for a lab pup!

[mbrogier]

I had a house with old hickory plank floors. We had the floors refinished with a satin finish when we moved in. They looked great and didn't show dirt. The only time they dented was when I dropped a heavy decorative ornament hanger off my 7 foot tall entertaiment armoire. That house had tile in the kitchen which I hated. The grout was deep which held dirt, and the floors were so hard on my back.

My present house has old oak floors--the house was built in 1905 and most of the wood is original so I'm pretty sure the floors are as well. The kitchen has wood floors that are painted white. They're holding up well and aren't denting, but whoever painted them didn't do much sealing so they're a bit hard to clean.

I've seen a lot of houses in the South with stained concrete floors. While this might be hard on your feet, you wouldn't have the water or scratching/denting issues. There are some gorgeous patterns and colors.

[sneezles]

Not a problem with laminate that I know of....just solid hardwood. Engineered wood floors are more resistant to higher moisture levels than solid wood, so it makes them a better candidate over slabs. (I still think it can be done as long as it's not below ground level, but you need a moisture barrier and free floating installation if I'm not mistaken?? :confused: ) I've thought about the laminate wood look-alikes but am afraid it will look too fake and won't hold up as well. Never seen it in person though.

OK, now I'm totally confused. All 4 houses that we have lived in had concrete slabs with engineered hardwood floors. This one we live in now has pine floors (DH liked the look of larger planks). There is nothing between the concrete and the hardwood except the framing (2x4s or whatever size they use). :confused:

I'm surprised Grace hasn't posted here because I know she loves her laminate flooring and she has 2 Goldens.

[funnybone]

I presently have Brazillian Cherry floors. Although they are beautiful and everyone loves them, I HATE them! They scratch easy (and we have no pets) and you can see every spec of dust them. The house was a spec home and I almost didn't buy the house because of them. I would NEVER choose to put them in - unless I had a maid to constantly clean them. We have them in the foyer, kitchen, hallway, and a border around the dining room.

In the past, we've had oak, medium to a dark stain, and they were much easier to maintain than this one. My parents are in the process of replacing their carpet with all wood floors. They are doing the pre-finished because they don't want to move out during the install (plus all the dust of sanding). I've heard that factory finishes are much more durable, but I have never had them.

[ClaraB]

Well, I'm not Grace, but we have laminate flooring on our main floor and we love it. It's very durable and easy to clean, and I've had a number of guests who have thought it was hardwood, so I think it's pretty good-looking :D. We had hardwood in our previous house, and our boys were very hard on it, so I wanted something that was more durable - after 6 years, our floor has no chips or dents, and very minimal wear. I'd recommend it.

[Beth]

Leigh, I will look forward to seeing more about those floors. I haven't seen any laminates that I would be happy with (DH hates the sound of most of them). We started out looking at cherry (funnybone, I wonder if your floors are true Brazilian cherry or if they just have a poor finish -- isn't Brazillian cherry supposed to be one of the hardest woods -- right behind hickory?), but then DH and I saw pecan and mesquite.

The mesquite is right up there with hickory, but it is very expensive to get in wide planks. We were thinking that having a lab might be a justification for the expense since it should hold up well, but I'd hate to put that much money into a floor and not be thrilled with it.

[Curiosity Hears]

Recently we bought, gutted, and remodelled a home that now we call home. After much deliberation, we went with pecan 3" hardwood floors. Love them, love the color it is very warm. We also have three dogs, so I have to wipe it up daily but the dog hair does not show that much until I start wiping then I notice just how much they shed.

While I very much wanted hardwood in the kitchen too, it was hard to exscape the reality of two kids and well, I am not the neatest cook you will ever encounter. What really made us choose tile for the kitchen is the ice dispencer on the fridge. The little pieces that fly/fall and the kids just walk away oblivious. Couldn't deal with the water marks on the wood.

Kinda funny really, dh at first thought relief! tile will be less than hardwood. Awh ... well, just like I picked him, I pick on the best and the tile we went with was about 25% more than wood. :p It looks great and am very pleased we went with a darker grout.

Good luck with what you choose. Hope you are happy in your new home for many years to come.

[leightx]

Hi Beth,

Just talked to my dad - they ordered it from a showroom in Allen, TX - and had a guy from there come out and install it. I looked on Amticos site though, and found a dealer locater. Here's the link for Texas - there were a few in Houston: Amtigo in Texas (http://www.amtico.com/home/showrooms.asp?sec=US&country=US&action=display&region=TX&x=16&y=17)

Hopefully you'll get the chance to see it in person. Just a warning - it's not cheap! My parents said it was about comparable (or even slightly more) than hardwoods - but it's supposed to be more durable.

[blazedog]

My friend installed Amtico in her kitchen because she wanted a softer surface than tile and also wanted something warmer under her feet.

She didn't install the wood version but I went to the dealer to look at all the stuff when I was considering it.

While it is very high quality and much nicer than Pergo (and also quite expensive), it doesn't look real to me in the sense that actual hardwood does.

If I were putting it in a kitchen, I might use it because I am one of those people who would never be able to deal with wood in a kitchen. Those people I know who have it are much more fastidious than I am in terms of wiping up messes and generally sweeping and mopping which is critical if you have real wood in a kitchen.

That said, if I were building a house (especially a "traditional" one) I can't imagine not installing real wood. It adds to the resale value in a way that carpet or fake wood doesn't. Real wood can be refinished -- it's a bit of a hassle but not a huge big deal in a house especially when someone is moving in and there is no furniture to deal with. Real wood gets more beautiful with time -- people pay a premium for distressed wood by the way which is purposely designed to look as though it has been walked on for a century.

When my parents moved into their retirement condo, the first thing my mother did was replace the carpet with wood floors (prefinished). Fifteen years later (after much abuse by my father, various children and dogs), the floors still looked pretty good except for some water damage from large potted plants. :) They lived on the ground floor on a concrete slab with no basement (classic California construction) and there was no particular problems except putting down some type of moisture barrier. I had wood floors put in my condo (concrete subfloor) and while there is no moisture issue, they just put in a subfloor of some kind (which is necessary in a condo anyway to muffle noise).

[Blissful_in_TX]

This one we live in now has pine floors (DH liked the look of larger planks). There is nothing between the concrete and the hardwood except the framing (2x4s or whatever size they use).

I’m the furthest thing there is from a flooring installation expert, but I think as long as solid hardwood isn’t directly glued to the concrete, then it should be okay…more-so in really dry dessert-like climates….but I thought they still recommended some type of barrier between the two.

Not sure if this website would explain it any better:

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Floating_wood_floors_over_concrete.html


I too have heard of other people who really didn’t like their Brazilian cherry. It is supposed to be extremely tough, so maybe it’s just not to most durable finish or because it’s so dark it shows everything??

[mkc]

For the wood part, look up the janka scale - the higher the number, the less likely the wood will be to dent.

The finish is just as important (maybe moreso) than the wood. We have 3 dogs (energetic cocker spaniels) and had Harris Tarkett Brazilian Cherry engineered floors put in 7 years ago. They still look like new (we use Artisan hardwood floor cleaner on them weekly; I think Artisan is Austin-based). The particular Harris Tarkett line we have has either a 25 or a 50 year warranty on the finish; I think it was called "Diamond" or "titanium" or something like that.

The only downside with the brazilian cherry is that it does show the dirt, much more than the tiled areas of the house.

Michelle

[funnybone]

We started out looking at cherry (funnybone, I wonder if your floors are true Brazilian cherry or if they just have a poor finish -- isn't Brazillian cherry supposed to be one of the hardest woods -- right behind hickory?), but then DH and I saw pecan and mesquite.


It's a true Brazillian Cherry, otherwise the builder lied about the house. I do think it is the finish, as it's a matte, natural finish. The wood gets darker with age, and it is beautiful. We had a flooring person come out and they said that there was nothing wrong with the finish and that it is just the way that it is. The scratches are surface and not through to the wood, but because the wood it is dark, the scratches are more visible.

[Hoodone]

Our house in Houston had oak hardwoods that were great. Loved them.

Our house here in Calgary has maple floors. Although they are beautiful, I have found them to scratch easily. We do have two young children who are tough on them. In the future, I would not put maple hardwoods in the high traffic areas if there were kids or dogs involved. The maple floors upstairs are still beautiful. These floors supposedly had a super-hard finish on them, so I don't know why they scratch so easily.

All in all, I think the oaks wore better than these maple ones do. Just thought I'd mention it as no one has reviewed maple yet, but maybe they don't sell much maple south of the border.

[mlynn]

We started out looking at cherry (funnybone, I wonder if your floors are true Brazilian cherry or if they just have a poor finish -- isn't Brazillian cherry supposed to be one of the hardest woods -- right behind hickory?), but then DH and I saw pecan and mesquite.

The mesquite is right up there with hickory, but it is very expensive to get in wide planks. We were thinking that having a lab might be a justification for the expense since it should hold up well, but I'd hate to put that much money into a floor and not be thrilled with it.

I have oak flooring in most of the main level of our home, although I wouldn't put wood in the kitchen--DH and DS are just too messy. The dog has put some scratches on the floor, but we knew that would happen. If it had fit the style of our home and our budget, we would have put weathered or "bar grade" wood floors in our home. The CL Fit House in CO had them, and they were gorgeous. I belive they were reclaimed from older homes and businesses, so they had a "weathered, but in a good way" look. They wouldn't show wear like "new" floors do.

[SamanthaD]

I have oak throughout my entire downstairs. I have not ever had a problem and even had my refrigerator spring a leak from the ice maker h2o tube. If the floors are sealed properly they should hold up to water well.

Now scratches are a horse of a different color. I have a house full...2 boys, 2 dogs, 3 cats and 2 grownups. I just lovingly think of the wear and tear as "patina". And I know that if we had carpet I would really be freakin out about mud, juice, etc.

I say go for hard wood.

[emptyspool]

You might consider brick. We have wide pine wood floors in the living room dining room and the rest of the downstairs is done entirely in brick, (then you seal it.) It is all thru the kitchen, dog and kid dirt proof big time. Rugs in the den are easy to take to be cleaned once every blue moon.

One thing nice about both of these choices is that you are not really locked into a color thing like a carpet may give you and you can change out rugs for various looks.

Also we turned the garage into space for kids. It has a small upstairs and we found remilled malaysian cherry to use there. So you might search some salvage companies.....it was incredibly inexpensive and I think much better in the long run than laminate.

[Blissful_in_TX]

Thanks for the responses. We are still stuck in major Indecisionville. :( If I knew we could have solid hardwood, I’d just go with it since it can be refinished over and over again. But with engineered, some can be refinished, but only 2 or 3 times on the life of the floor. And we would like to get a German Shepard, but I’m afraid he/she will scratch the $h!# out of it!! I mean, at some point, the floor has to go from having “character” to just plain looking bad.

And since I just don’t think I can deal with it in the kitchen (we’re so careless in there), we’d probably tile in there. But since it’s a pretty open floorplan, it’s like “well, maybe we just drag the tile up to the breakfast area, over to the back door, the hall and then the entryway”. But then we’re right back where we started in the first place.

So if I want the wood look throughout, I think “let’s just do a high quality laminate everywhere”, but DH is concerned it will be too fake looking. AAGGHHHH!!! :confused: :eek:

Leightx – Amtico is actually a really high quality vinyl, no? I believe Metroflor is similar. I’m heard very good things about them, but I think you really need a specialized installer for that stuff and we don’t have a distributor in our area, so I’m afraid that would pose a problem for us.

emptyspool - I've never seen brick before; that's pretty neat. You must have a really good sealant. Is it hard on your feet?

[ChristineVA]

Thanks for the responses. We are still stuck in major Indecisionville. :( If I knew we could have solid hardwood, I’d just go with it since it can be refinished over and over again. But with engineered, some can be refinished, but only 2 or 3 times on the life of the floor. And we would like to get a German Shepard, but I’m afraid he/she will scratch the $h!# out of it!! I mean, at some point, the floor has to go from having “character” to just plain looking bad.

And since I just don’t think I can deal with it in the kitchen (we’re so careless in there), we’d probably tile in there. But since it’s a pretty open floorplan, it’s like “well, maybe we just drag the tile up to the breakfast area, over to the back door, the hall and then the entryway”. But then we’re right back where we started in the first place.

So if I want the wood look throughout, I think “let’s just do a high quality laminate everywhere”, but DH is concerned it will be too fake looking. AAGGHHHH!!! :confused: :eek:

Leightx – Amtico is actually a really high quality vinyl, no? I believe Metroflor is similar. I’m heard very good things about them, but I think you really need a specialized installer for that stuff and we don’t have a distributor in our area, so I’m afraid that would pose a problem for us.

emptyspool - I've never seen brick before; that's pretty neat. You must have a really good sealant. Is it hard on your feet?

Just get the solid hardwood. Even if you are messy in the kitchen. My floor guy insisted that I get a LOT of throw rugs and line the perimeter of my working areas with them. So, by the sink, stove, chopping area, and in front of the fridge I have some nice jute rubber backed area rugs (got 'em at Target). When/if I want to entertain, I pick the rugs up and put them in the basement. They protect the floor from everything I drop or spill.

[Gilgamesh37]

Okay, for all you folks who say you're too messy for a hardword floor in the kitchen, perhaps you better sit down.

When we bought our house, it had a RAW (as in completely unfinished) wood floor in the kitchen. :eek: Apparently this is very common in (Denmark? Finland? one of the Scandanavian countries) and the prior owner had had it specially ordered and installed---for him, it was huge selling point, kept telling us how easy it was!--how every 6 months, you just moved the furniture out, scrubbed the whole floor down with STRAIGHT BLEACH and let it dry. Ummm, no thanks. It *was* nice and warm-feeling under bare feet, but I knew I didn't want to bleach scrub every 6 months and didn't like the idea of spills seeping into raw wood all the time. So we scrubbed it clean and then I put 5 or 6 layers of clear miniwax poly over it. So it still looks lovely and natural, but it's sealed. Really, because of the poly, it doesn't really stain (or, let us say, it wouldn't be visibly stained if I mopped more often.....no permanent stains, anyway, how's that?) and I do still like the look. It is *very* soft wood, though, so we've got lots of bings and dents and things. But I wouldn't let the spill issue alone rule out a poly-sealed wood floor.

[ChristineVA]

But I wouldn't let the spill issue alone rule out a poly-sealed wood floor.

I think the "concern" stems from experiences with hardwood flooring with a poor poly finish. As I said in one of my earlier posts, we initially had builder-grade Bruce hardwood oak flooring. Our finish literally "wore off" from walking on it. I had spots of "raw" or bare wood poking through. Then, if water sat on it from, say, your hands dripping water after washing the dishes, this water would ruin the finish. But that was the finish of years ago. My new floor has 7 layers of poly and a top layer of "titanium" something. I've had this floor for 3 years now and it shows no sign of wearing of and water beads right up on it. This finish has a 25 year warranty (versus my old floor that had a 10 year finish warranty). The floors out now have 50 year warranties on the finish. That's what I'd go with.

[aggie94]

So if I want the wood look throughout, I think “let’s just do a high quality laminate everywhere”, but DH is concerned it will be too fake looking. AAGGHHHH!!! :confused: :eek:

Have you and DH walked through some showrooms or model homes to see how laminate looks? I don't think our laminate is fake-looking, and we have received many compliments on it from people who come to our house who initially can't tell that it's not real wood, although admittedly it does have a different sound, particularly with vaulted ceilings (but area rugs help significantly with that).

I have posted this pic before, but ur floors are Honey Tasmanian Burlwood by Mannington, which is what you see in this sample photo from their website:

http://www.mannington.com/productimages/residential/laminate/scenes/36050C_large.jpg

[Arete]

LOL, at first I thought that was your house Eva! I was like "WOW" she has a really nice house!!! But the floors are lovely. And I know that with dogs (you have 2 or 3, right?) a high-quality (and those are the key words) laminate brings much peace of mind (and will save you a ton on ulcer medications! :D)

[clairea]

If you like the look of hardwood, I am with those who wouldn't rule out having it in the kitchen. I actually have solid hardwoods in one of my bathrooms and we haven't had a problem. (It probably isn't the flooring surface I would have chosen in a bathroom, but it is an old house and one of the original small bedrooms was converted into a nice large master bath/walk-in closet). I'm not sure what kind of finish we have on the floors, they are the original floors from the house but have obviously been refinished several times over the years and some other type of sealant was put down on the floor in the bathroom, but there are certainly ways to handle this issue if you want wood floors in your kitchen.

[Blissful_in_TX]

I have posted this pic before, but ur floors are Honey Tasmanian Burlwood by Mannington, which is what you see in this sample photo from their website:


That is a very pretty floor. I’ll have to poke around and see if we can find a house with something similar b/c it’s hard for me to really visualize when we’re at a showroom.

I was observing our little pug earlier today, and she gets really excited and has the “cartoon dog” moments where she runs in place for a couple seconds to build traction then does doughnuts through the house. It turns knots in my stomach to think of her doing that on a wood floor!! :eek: We also have this coffee table that was my mom’s and is now mine. It’s survived 4 kids, college, and many roommates and has held up great….at least up until a couple months ago when our pug decided she likes jumping up there and walking across it. Now it is totally scratched up to heck!

[Kristilyn1]

http://www.mannington.com/productimages/residential/laminate/scenes/36050C_large.jpg

While I think these floors are very nice, they don't look remotely real to me. I think laminate is a great choice, I will be putting it in my basement in the next few years, but I personally wouldn't try to convince myself they look real. You either do wood or you do something else. But that's just my .02

Kristi

[emptyspool]

We bought our house from a contractor who had built it for himself and had never planned to leave, however that was back when interest rates were double digits. The house is about 25-26 years old now and I think just now I would like to reseal the floors. They are not hard on my legs and believe me I never sit down. They are cool in the summer and nice in the winter. The brick is a herringbone pattern with a nice horizontal border around each room, a super job. Sorry no photos, I am electronically challenged.

I am not sure where you live but if it is a city where renovating is going on you might find some remilled wood. I paid half the price of laminate for the malaysian cherry, half. (not including installation) But even if you bought new wood I don't think you would have any regrets, not even in the kitchen, just get a couple of small rugs for the heavily trafficked areas. I think it is a good investment. And think of the dust it eliminates! Trust your instincts, when in doubt don't.

[aggie94]

LOL, at first I thought that was your house Eva! I was like "WOW" she has a really nice house!!! But the floors are lovely. And I know that with dogs (you have 2 or 3, right?) a high-quality (and those are the key words) laminate brings much peace of mind (and will save you a ton on ulcer medications! :D)

Yep, 3 dogs and a cat (with claws intact). We had real wood floors in our rental houses in Eugene and the dogs were very hard on them. We would consider bamboo in our next house, but for now, we love how durable the laminate is.

[ChristieinMB]

And if you love your wood floors, what type do you have (white oak, Brazilian Cherry, etc)? Is it stained? Solid or engineered? Pre-finished or site-finished? Beveled or square edge? Strip or plank?

I love hardwood floors. I have two dogs - Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. I only really like solid, site finished, square finished. I don't know the difference between strip or plank. I've never had stained, only natural in both oad and maple. One house has it in a half bath, it is sealed no problem. I've also had it in three different kitchens, no problem. I have a second home that is tile, the grout looks dirty in the kitchen. I like that my kitchen floor can get quite dirty, but it doesn't show on the hardwood floor.