Wood Laminate Flooring reconsidered

[Pewterpower]

I was being sincere!!! Honest!!!

[Gouranga]

When I moved into my house we had the same extremely tired carpet all over the house. I pulled up the stuff in the hallway and replaced it with the laminate flooring from Depot (not the most expensive stuff they had but midgrade). It was probably about 3 years ago. I even bought the installation video since I had not idea what the heck I was doing.
To clearify, the hallway does not have a high level of natural light. Anyway, 3 years later I have 3 kids 4, 2, and 6 months (all girls). We have 2 cats and a nice big black lab. All of us trounce on that floor pretty good. It has taken wet kids, bathroom "accidents", matchbox cars, walkers, strollers, shopping carts, and an extemely large array of destructive kids toys. It still looks as good as it did 3 years ago.
i did spend the money on the real good "at the time" underlayment which was this green rubbery foam like stuff. I also took the time ot fill in the gap along the sides (under the quarter round) with am extremely flexible silicon caulk to keep the various multitude of liquid material kids get on a floor from having an easy shot under the floor. I am guessing in 7-10 years I will replace the floor and go with real hardwood at that time but all in all, I would have to say I am pretty happy with what this stuff has put up with.

[Mike50]

When I moved into my house we had the same extremely tired carpet all over the house. I pulled up the stuff in the hallway and replaced it with the laminate flooring from Depot (not the most expensive stuff they had but midgrade). It was probably about 3 years ago. I even bought the installation video since I had not idea what the heck I was doing.
To clearify, the hallway does not have a high level of natural light. Anyway, 3 years later I have 3 kids 4, 2, and 6 months (all girls). We have 2 cats and a nice big black lab. All of us trounce on that floor pretty good. It has taken wet kids, bathroom "accidents", matchbox cars, walkers, strollers, shopping carts, and an extemely large array of destructive kids toys. It still looks as good as it did 3 years ago.
i did spend the money on the real good "at the time" underlayment which was this green rubbery foam like stuff. I also took the time ot fill in the gap along the sides (under the quarter round) with am extremely flexible silicon caulk to keep the various multitude of liquid material kids get on a floor from having an easy shot under the floor. I am guessing in 7-10 years I will replace the floor and go with real hardwood at that time but all in all, I would have to say I am pretty happy with what this stuff has put up with.

Thank you for that Gouranga. Now That is quite an endorsement. I was told to do the silicon "perimeter barrier" yesterday. Makes good sense.
Now They even make matching tinted silicone for repairs FWIW.
But I was told I would never need to repair this stuff.
This product has the green underlayment you refer to.

As I said my timing is perfect because of residual smoke odor after our big fires up here. If you ever wondered what your carpeting smells like after a fire---imagine this: It's stinks like having 2 wet horses in your living room. So all my carpeting is in the trash can now.

This is my first time using a synthetic covering of any kind so I did so reluctantly because I've always had natural products. (wood-ceramic tile)
And this forum has been invaluable in making the decision. Otherwise I'm at the mercy of Big box employee advice. Which in the case of "slowes" is commission sales motivated I just found out.

[Gouranga]

Yeah I used some of the colored silicon caulking. Only in the areas where it would be visible. about 95% of the spots in the hallway where it would show are under quarter round so I used the other stuff there since it seemed to be physically better stuff AND it cost a LOT less than the color match stuff that they sold for the flooring. My quarter round is real wood stuff I just stained there was no way i was paying as much as they wanted for the stuff that came with the flooring when I could match the color just as good with some stain.

[Mike50]

Yeah I used some of the colored silicon caulking. Only in the areas where it would be visible. about 95% of the spots in the hallway where it would show are under quarter round so I used the other stuff there since it seemed to be physically better stuff AND it cost a LOT less than the color match stuff that they sold for the flooring. My quarter round is real wood stuff I just stained there was no way i was paying as much as they wanted for the stuff that came with the flooring when I could match the color just as good with some stain.

Regular silicone-gotcha.

Funny you should mention that because I was doing the math on how much of that qurter round I'd need. And it's around 100 dollars for their quarter round rods! which is ridiculous for that. Im going to do the same thing.

[Pewterpower]

They get ya good with the trim products, fo sho....
I've often thought about doing my staircase in a laminate, but the bullnose is freakin' $$$.
What I used for the 1/4 round was the plastic white stuff. It blended nice with the baseboards and looked great against the floor.

[maddog]

We installed the Dupont laminate (Cherry block) from HD in the kitchen/dining area over existing vinyl and we're real happy with it. Looks great, dog can't scratch it (she easy scratches hardwood entry way), dropped large pot on it - pot dented but not a mark on the laminate. Not real happy with the HD-supplied installer, but HD was very good about getting problems corrected and they replaced defective material for no charge. I agree - it does not look quite as nice as real hardwood, but durability and no maintenace sold us on it. Also, the Dupont laminate has the best warrantee that we found.

[Mike50]

well there you go. another endorsement.

I think you have to want/need this wood laminate for it's apparently being very difficult to damage qualities and properties.
Because.. I'll tell you this is not a cheap product..for the higher end line. (Pergo-Dupont etc.)
In many cases it's as expensive as hardwood and most tile.

If you want the wood look but have kids and dogs...it's the way to go imo.

[Mike50]

They get ya good with the trim products, fo sho....
I've often thought about doing my staircase in a laminate, but the bullnose is freakin' $$$.
What I used for the 1/4 round was the plastic white stuff. It blended nice with the baseboards and looked great against the floor.

Big box prices for quarter round is about 1 dollar a foot. Which is crazy.
Local hardware/lumberyard here charges 50 cents which is just less crazy.

[Mike50]

Followup:

Dupont wood laminate (maple w/foam backing) Floor installed. Plastic vapor barrier over concrete
actually helped the install process a lot because the planks can "slide" easier.

I paid a couple of local guys to get er done. It's a back breaker/knee pad deal all the way. No way could one guy do the job alone. In fact 3 people were required at times. Having a Ramming bar/Rubber mallet/spacers was a must.

This was not your average unskilled DIY project. You better know more than just how to swing a hammer to do this.

The floor is even better than expected. Cleans with a dust mop easy and these big dogs can't hurt it. So far it's a great product.
I'm thinking about using more thruout the house...

Mike

[chris8796]

Glad to hear it worked out. We have 9 yr old Pergo that has held up amazingly well. I replaced half the house with solid oak. The oak is nicer looking, while the Pergo is more durable. The one thing I didn't see mention is noise. A house full of laminate will be a noisy house, solid wood is a little better in this regard. Keep this noise issue in mind as you consider doing more area. Noise will travel down a laminate hallway with amazing ease.

[Mike50]

Glad to hear it worked out. We have 9 yr old Pergo that has held up amazingly well. I replaced half the house with solid oak. The oak is nicer looking, while the Pergo is more durable. The one thing I didn't see mention is noise. A house full of laminate will be a noisy house, solid wood is a little better in this regard. Keep this noise issue in mind as you consider doing more area. Noise will travel down a laminate hallway with amazing ease.

The accoustics in this case works well for me because my halls are tile.
Now I know where the dogs are with the click clacking and that's good.
The stereo and TV now sound better and is balanced with accoustic ceiling.

No more doggy carpet smell BTW.


M.

[dauv]

I'm currently installing Kronotex lam. in several rooms. My wife does home daycare and is worried about the floor. She'd like me to put down a "gym floor" urethane sealer to protect it from spills-cleaning-scratching-etc. Any thoughts on this?