Please tell me about your floors!!!

[newnamenickname]

Looking for a wooden floor/or a realistic laminate for my hallway and two living rooms.

Looking for something that will last and look good even after a while.

Any floors you love and recommend?

I was about to say I'd never seen a laminate floor I liked, but then remembered that my neighbours have just put one in from Homebase - a mid-oak colour - that is really quite acceptable.

But I would still pay the extra for wood, even engineered wood.

we have kahrs both down and upstairs (though not in kitchen+baths and study). ours is engineered canadian (i think) oak. still beautiful after 7 years of ds1 and 5 of ds2. there is a scratch here and there, but it still looks great (and much better than the laminate that we have down in the study, which is one year older).

We have just been putting down one with aluminium in it that our carpenter recommended. It's brilliant, looks just like oak, not laminatey at all. DC have been up and down it on their ride ons, dog leaping around an no marks at all. I was worried it would feel cold or plasticy, but neither have been a problem. I can find out the brand if you are interested.

Oh yes please gruffalo - only if it's not too much bother though! Thanks.

Thanks all.

Hester -Thanks, I think I know which laminate you mean - there are a couple in homebase that are fairly realistic. I'm leaning towards paying the extra for wood - especially as we'll be paying a lot for the carpenter to fit it, so we may as well do it once and once only.

Honneybunny - thank you, I had a look at Kahrs flooring last night and sent for a sample in a couple of shades.

Red Gruffalo, -thanks - it's nice to know that there are laminates that don't look / feel laminatey.

It's so hard to decide when looking at them in a shop/ online - you just can't imagine how they'll look in your home. Even with the samples at home it's hard to imagine the size of the planks and how they'll look laid down and how it'll affect the light in the room.

I'm also unsure how to decide a budget, each week I change my mind whether we want to move one day in the future or not and this affects my thinking on how much to spend.

We have a solid oak floor from Costco. Tis absolutely fab

Thanks Pesto, unfoturtunately we don't have a costco here, otherwise I would check them out.

Ooops - I mean unfortunately. Typing one handed with a toddler on my lap!

Our builder showed me oak floor boards from Wicks. Think there was a 5 or 10 year guarantee which am sure we'll manage to claim on!

Thanks ilovemydog - yes, been looking at floors in wickes online. Some of them are really nice. Will have to take a trip to my nearest store.