Is laminate vile? Your thoughts please.

[Fillyjonk]

oh we are talking IKEA crappola laminate btw cos thats all I can afford

I have the most manky, vile carpets in the whole world and am now prepared to remortgage my firstborn to get rid of them.

Right I think its hideous but less so than cream coloured carpets which have hosted drunken parties and 2 toilet training toddlers.

But it has that b&q chic feel

aaargh.

Help.

In my opinion - laminate nowhere near as nice as decent carpets / proper wood floors.

But it's very practical with small children (especially mine as they are always spilling things!!!!) and it's easy to clean!!

I would love real wood.

MIL has someone coming out tomorrow and take all her radiors off and all her skirting and fit real wood throughout her living/dining area and fit it nicely under all her skirtings.

Given the choice of laminate and stripped floorboards I would go for floorboards. We've had them in the last two houses and found them really practical and they have looked better as time went on. My Mum has laminate and is forever having to sweep it as it gets dusty, where as our boards didn't show the dirt so much - though they weren't self cleaning as DH seemed to think they were ! DH did them both times, hired a sander from Jewsons, then varnished or whatever them. He isn't great at DIY generally but did a good job of them and it wasn't as dusty as I was expecting. In fact, I think I will tell him that he can do the hall in a few weeks time now I think about it.

oooh I cannot decide, I cannot decide

I do have the option of real wood, I suppose, aka floorboards...they are in a right state though

dp is...ahem...not so practical, and I am worse so...we'd have to pay someone...

hmmmm

oooh I cannot decide, I cannot decide

I do have the option of real wood, I suppose, aka floorboards...they are in a right state though

dp is...ahem...not so practical, and I am worse so...we'd have to pay someone...

hmmmm

its probably just as much as a faff to lay laminate too..if floor is uneven etc..
much nicer long lasting to do floorboards...

You could also lay new floorboards on top of the old ones if they are in a terrible state. Friend of mine did this a while ago - you just buy tongue and groove from wood merchants - then stain and varnish once down.

He said it was easier than laying laminate !

We have laminate - quite posh laminate - and I love it apart from yuo can see it's not real - but I'd have it over carpet - even new carpet any day !

i find that our laminate(which was in when we bought the house) does get very dusty, crumby and hairy but i console myself with the fact that if we had carpet, it would just go unseen and get trodden in and stay there!!
there is something very satisfying about sweeping my floors and collecting a big pile of cack to brush up, but it also make me think we are a bunch of mucky pups to make such mess in the first place!

ooh floorboards... lovely... could you not sand them down and then stain/varnish?

am i the only one without wooden floorboards, is this possible?! we seem only to have hardboard under our floorings and then concrete or something underneath that downstairs! mind, it is a fairly modern hse, about 20 yrs old..

I was put off laminate by a friend who has pets who said the chair just blows around and she is forever hoovering it up.

However, the hosue we have moved to has carpet everywhere even in the bathrooms. DP has promised me he will put floortiles in them this year though. I do think the carpet is yuck though, it's a modern beige colour but just feels dirty even though it's been cleaned. I would also like solid wood floors (sigh)

Hypnotubby, we haven't got floorboards in the kitchen I was suprised to find, but have in the rest of the house.

Fillyjonk, go on do the boards, you know you want to really ! I think laminate scratches and looks the worse for wear with it whereas a few scratches don't show on boards and given them more character if they do.

We have a mushroom coloured hardwearing ribbed carpet a bit like sisal but it is wool.Very forgiving has had numerous things spilled and still looks good

okay am veering t/wards sanding, much against my better judgement really

oh and fecking NOONE has been answering the phone all day to me so thats it really, we're doing it ourselves...

oh god i hate carpet, i find it so freaky. see post below re frankenised fabric...

right

sander costs around £30 a day. I'm budgeting £100 per room with all the bags and stuff?

for someone else to do it minimum quote has been £400

cheapo laminate is around £250-£300.

So.

our decision is made

we shall sand

thanks for all input

sanded floorboards are so much nicer than laminate. so who's doing the sanding & who's taking the kids out...?

We're thinking of sanding a huuuge area of our house downstairs. We absolutely can't do it ourselves. Does anybody know of a really good sanding company?

lol hc

I think this might be a situaiton where kids need their mummy...

oh, how long do people reckon this will take? For a 25 m sq room but a beginner? Would a weekend hire be sufficient? Should I hire the sander one weekend then the edger the next?

ha ha, i have always taken the kids away to stay with my parents when dp embarks on this kind of diy epic. it puts him in such a bad mood that it's safer to be 200 miles away....

i reckon a weekend hire of both should be ok. remember masks.

Yes I would hire sander for full weekend. I have no idea what an edger is!

lol

i am slightly worried about vanishing for weekend in case he kills himself on it...could get a mate to check on him, I suppose....