NBR: Laminate flooring anyone???

JillBean78 · November 2008

We have laminate in our kitchen that we installed about 2 years ago, I love it, it looks great and is so easy to clean.

BUT, we have been toying with putting wood look laminate in the front living area, hallway, baby room and spare bedroom. It is about 650 sq. feet total for that area. Do you think it will be too much for us to tackle ourselves, the kitchen was fairly easy. It took DH and my dad about 6 hours total over a period of 2 days. And if you have laminate over a large area of your home do you like it?? I truly hate our carpet in that area of our house, it is newer, but came with the house and I feel like it is germ infested. Oh and we found some we love at Lowe's on clearance for $1.47 a square foot which is a kick ass price, we'd be silly not to buy it if we decide to go ahead with it. They have just enough for what we'd need too.

kant08 · November 2008

In my condo I had laminate in my living room, kitchen, dining room, and hallways. I LOVED it. I plan on it in the living area of the house, foyer in our new house but actual hardwood. I am going to go with stone in the kitchen. It depends on how easy of a layout the areas are. If there are lots of corners or turns it gets tough. Good luck!! It makes the house so easy to clean!

Lulu0802 · November 2008

Personally, I would not put laminate flooring throughout my whole house for fear of what it would do to the resale value. ?Potential buyers don't usually like laminate. ?Hardwood would be a much better investment. ?If you can't afford to do everything that you want to do, I would scale back the areas to be redone but go with the higher quality materials. ?I think it would pay off more in the end.?

FWIW... a friend of mine redid their entire house in hardwood for about a thousand dollars. ?They did it themselves and said it was super easy.?

JillBean78 · November 2008

I live in a inexpensive neighborhood if you get my drift, I'm not worried about resale value. The kind of people that would buy this house would eat it up. LOL In other words this house doesn't warrant the expense of hardwood. If we lived in a different neighborhood I'd be all over the hardwood, but not in this house.

JillBean78 · November 2008

We priced hardwood and it would be like $2000-$3000 for the front area of our house. Your friend must have got a great deal.

smalpotato · November 2008

We put in laminate in the family room, kitchen, office and hallway. I love it but the one we chose has grooves that are a little difficult to clean. It was about 650 sqft and it took DH my dad and my bro 3 days. It took them about half a day just to get started since they hadn't done this type of laminate before but after they got the hang of it, it went pretty fast.

Is it June yet? · November 2008

I'm in a situation like yours - no way would we spend that much money on real wood for the house we're in. The carpet was about 20 years old when we moved in last year and we've replaced almost everything (the carpet in the basement is still in great condition, even though I hate the color). We ended up putting new carpet in the 2 bedrooms and we did laminate wood for the upstairs hallway, living room, and 2 staircases. I love the laminate in the hallway and living room, but I really regret doing the steps. They make laminate wood stair caps, so we have those. I wish we had done carpet on the steps instead. The kind of laminate we got was a bit more pricey - it comes in single planks and it has beveled edges. We had it professionally installed. Good luck!!

moesluvr · November 2008

We personally don't like laminate. But aside from taste you have to be careful with water spills on it, it warps very easily. we just opted to go for the hardwood as we could afford it. (took longer of course)

hero · November 2008

Personally, I don't like laminate. It warps if it gets wet, it scratches easily (we have dogs), and it can't be refinished. We have it through out the kitchen, the dining room, the hallway, a bathroom, and the living room.

JillBean78 · November 2008

I have it in my kitchen and am well aware of the getting it wet thing. I don't mop it, I use a special laminate cleaner and as soon as we spill something I wipe it up immediately. I haven't had issues with it scratching, but then again we put a very, very high end laminate in the kitchen.

marleysmom · November 2008

HA - I could have written this post! My husband and I have just embarked on the exact project you have described. The laminate is already purchased and sitting in our garage, and we are planning to at least do the nursery today after we paint. We will also be doing the spare bedroom/office as well as the large living room. So, while I think it's definitely a big job, I think (hope!) it's doable. And, you can get a great deal on that laminate. We spent a lot because we wanted to match what's already in the kitchen and dining room but saving on labor helps so much. Of course, maybe I should answer this post again after we finish

Good luck!

Maershy · November 2008

GO FOR IT~ DH and I ripped up all of the carpet on our first floor and put laminate in the kitchen, dining room, living room, hallway and bathrooms and we absolutely love it. We have 2 large dogs and contrary to a previous poster, it does not scratch at all. Ours has a 15 year warranty and is amazing. DH did it by himself in 3 days and it is about a 900 sq. ft area.I would suggest buying he kind with the pad and moisture barried attached to the boards rather then having to lay it separately. It will save on time and money. I am also a Real Estate Broker and buyers would much rather see laminate then stained, stale carpet. We actually see it as a plus and buyers like it. Good luck!

P.S. We bought ours at Lowes and they always have 10-20% off coupon codes online.

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