We will be buying laminate wood flooring for our great room and hallway soon and I have some questions about it. There are a lot of different price ranges out there--from under $1 per square foot up to $7-$8 a square foot. The great room is our most used room in our house, should we be looking at flooring towards the higher range ($7-$8 sq ft.)? We have a membership to Sams club and they have laminate wood flooring for $25 for 17 sq. ft. Does anyone have experience with this flooring? Is there a certain brand I should buy?

We are on track to pay off our debts and sell our house in 24 months. I want to install something that's going to look good for a long time. The carpet it's going to replace is stained and torn up. It makes the whole room look trashy. Any input will be greatly appreciated. I'm saving up cash to pay for this project, something we've never done (we've always used credit but have sworn off the cards forever) Thanks again for any input.

Corie

Generally, the higher the price, the thicker the "wear layer" which is the clear top layer of the laminate. The wear layer is what makes the floor last longer. You also should be getting a better warranty and more design options the higher price you go.

After that, all laminates SHOULD be the same. They SHOULD be water resistent (ie: not swell when exposed to water - the old style did, newer stuff shouldn't) and flame resistent. They should all click/lock together but in some applications you can still use glue. Some laminate comes with the cushion layer pre-applied to the bottom. With other laminates you need to put down separate cushioning. Even with the laminate where the cushion is pre-applied, you may have to add more to even out the subfloor.

The other thing to consider is your special transition pieces and moldings. A floor isn't just a floor. You have to be able to transition to other flooring. You need to finish the edge near the walls. You might need to work around doorways to closets or sliding glass doors. All those special cases take special molding pieces. The flooring that they sell at Sams Club doesn't include the molding. You need to buy that elsewhere. Can you find molding in a matching color elsewhere? I know in the laminate we selected, the biggest difference was in how the manufacturer handles stair steps. One manufacuturer make a complete stair tread, another made a small piece that just wrapped around the edge of the tread. At first I liked the smooth, finished look of the complete tread but now I think I prefer the molding piece because it helps to prevent slips and falls. Fortunately, we haven't done the stairs yet so I have time to decide.

Lastly, I recommend keeping the same pattern and manufacturer through-out the house. In other words, spend the money on the rec room floor and use the same stuff for the hallway. It won't cost that much more and the over all look in the house will be much better (also hallways tend to have lots of doorways so you're going to need those special transition pieces anyway). Keep in mind, depending on your layout, some of the waste pieces from the rec room can be used in the hallway, saving you even more money.

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You got a lot of great advice from the PP.

You mentioned you're planning on selling the house. We sold our house last year that we'd put expensive laminate into a few years prior. Laminate seemed to be a very polarizing thing, people either love it or hate it. And a lot of people seem to really hate laminate Our realtor told us that a house with hardwood is always way easier to sell than laminate, he said everyone will look at a house with hardwood but 3 or 4/10 won't look at a house with laminate, in his experience.

Now, our house sold without too much trouble but I just thought I'd pass that along as food for thought.

Wow, everyone around here loves the laminate wood. Ours was already here, so I don't have much input. But it is much easier and cheaper to care for and install than hardwood. And I think a lot of people don't know the difference. Doesn't look much different.

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I think the housing market for laminate flooring depends on the price point of the home. Buyers of higher-end homes would expect hardwood vs. laminate. In others, laminate would suffice. Our home is median-priced for our large city and laminate adds to the selling price in our area.

Our entire home (with exception of our two bathrooms) is laminate flooring. We bought a mid-priced product (Wilsonart with a 20 year warranty) and it was installed by the flooring company. We had a lot of odd cuts and I didn't trust DH to install it properly.

It cost us $13K to purchase and install approx. 1700 sq' of laminate (we did the demo).

I really would have loved hardwood (couldn't afford it), but after owning laminate, I realize we bought what was best for our family. Our 4 kids are tough on flooring. There are many times the kids do something that would have scratched hardwood, but our laminate is unscathed. I move our large armoire (fully loaded) around the floor without using pads and it has never scratched the laminate. We spend most of our time in our great room also, and it has worn very well.

I agree that, for continuity, you may want to look at doing both areas in the same laminate. It looks very "finished". I also agree that there are some laminate products out there that do look very much like hardwood and some people have a hard time telling the difference.

One thing though, you say you are only going to stay in your home for 2 more years. I wouldn't put a high-end laminate in if you are only staying a short while. I'm not sure you would get your $$ back on it, but I'm not an expert. Just something to keep in mind. I think the shortest warranty I saw when shopping was 10 years on the more inexpensive stuff.

I also agree on the maintenance ~ it's a breeze. I just spritz vinegar/water mix and use a floor mop.

Good luck!

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I recently got installed bamboo flooring and would not recommend it. It scratches so easily!

Look for a good warrenty. We got some with a 20 yr. warrenty on sale for about $1 per square foot (we installed it). It's been about a year and still looks great. But my mom got some low quality stuff 3 years ago, and it's all scratched-up where her dogs run on it.

Thanks Ladies! I appreciate all the fantastic and insightful advice. I do plan on doing the great room and hallway at the same time. I don't know if I'll have the company install it or hire a friend's husband (he's a handy man). I know DH and I will NOT be doing it ourselves. Hiring someone is cheaper than divorce. Good to know I don't need to spend $6/sq ft to get a good product. I think the area I want done is between 400-500 sq. ft. and I have about $2K to do the project. I need to start getting it priced and just get on with it. I'm a little 'floored' that we have the money. I'm not sure what we are going to do in the bedrooms yet. I would like to see how the GR turns out. Again, that's for the advice!

Corie

We installed 3/4 inch hardwood, and I think the main difference is that once it starts looking bad, we will sand it and restain it. I don't think you can do that with laminate. We've had our hardwood floors for 10 years and they still look great and are really easy to care for. We fall into the "hate laminate" category I guess as the other poster said. The man who installed our floors said that they will still be there, even if the rest of our house falls down...

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We are also in the "hate laminate" category, as are most people we know. I will never, ever recommend it to anyone. It has held up to scratches from dogs' toenails, but that's about the only good thing I can say about it. We are saving up for hardwood (that we are staining and finishing ourselves).