flooring question (sorta nbr)

fanofanne

good morning ladies. currently we have natural stone tile on our first floor, and they are a nightmare to clean...I think the previous owners used a cheaper material for the stone and grout.  because of this, dh and I have put down a rug and playmat which the twins (15 months old) play on.  they are basically restricted to this area and I know that it is to their detriment since they can't walk as much as they should and get as much exercise and explore.  dh and I have been talking about laminate flooring for a while now, and finally we pulled the trigger on sunday on having someone come in and give us an estimate and scheduled a day for the laminate wood floors to be installed.  I was doing some research and found that almost all laminate floors are made with formaldehyde and emit it over time, especially indoors.  what to do?  anybody else know of this or am I being a overly paranoid freak? 

I know so many people who have laminate flooring and I don't believe this was an issue.  I plan on calling our guy to see who the manufacturer of the flooring we selected is and will call them to see how much formaldehyde goes into their process of manufacturing their product. 

fanofanne

I'm kind of a neat freak and the stone tiles are impossible to keep clean. It's not that I don't want to clean quite the opposite it's that I don't want my kids on their hands and knees on a floor that is perpetually dirty. Anyone with suggestions on how to keep stone tile floors clean?

brparish

Just like everything else it comes down to quality.  We have laminate wood flooring in our kitchen and living room and have had no problems what so ever with chipping, dents or scratches...and I am moving furniture around at a minimum of once per week to vacuum and mop.  I also have a one year old son and two dogs and a clutz of a husband--if you do put this type of flooring in your home you want to make sure it is good quality and has good padding.  As far as chemicals--I do not know if formeldahyde is in our flooring--we purchased from Lumber Liquidators.  Not that I want to intentionally expose my child to chemicals...but i just think in some cases it is unavoidable.