Would you ever choose top quality wood effect laminate over real hard wood flooring?

[HahaHarrie]

Just that really. I was looking at Quickstep laminate which looks authentic (I confused it with the real wood flooring in the display!). It is a lot more durable and you can be less precious with it (if the sales patter is to be believed) and is at least £20 cheaper per sqm. Would I regret not spending the money to have the real deal?? Would it cheapen my house? I wasn't looking for laminate but I'm thinking seriously about it. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

No, but that's my personal opinion. About to have engineered oak floor fitted, which is cheaper than solid wood, but more forgiving.

Me? No.

Yeah I'd go for good quality laminate over wood

Marmite Do you mind if I ask how much it is costing per sqm?

Armani what swings it for you? Cost and durability??

Thanks

Depends where it is. We have wood in our hall and bedroom, and personally I like the fact that the 'dimples' show - although we have got quite a thick veneer, as the thin ones don't wear as well.

Some of the laminates are excellent though, and certainly easier to clear and maintain. But they can be more expensive!

Yes actually started out looking for engineered wood for our new kitchen diner but was really surprised at the quality of the more expensive laminate.
Cost aside it was the durability of laminate with 2 small dcs I wanted it to stay looking good and not worry about scratches and dents.
And honestly looking around flooring shops I had to stop and read whether its a good quality laminate or engineered wood.
Just ordered quick step laminate.

Yes - both the durability, and ease of fitting (I'm laying the floor, and I don't want to muck about gluing/nailing it down)

We have quickstep laminate in some sort of oak (was there when we bought the house). Visitors often mistake it for real wood, and are surprised when I say it's laminate. It is very hard wearing and easy to clean (I use steam cleaner). We've had it over 8 years and still immaculate.

We have engineered wood and it is durable. It does scratch and they do show but a quick dab of scratch cover makes them inivisble and the natural texture of the wood makes them very hard to see. Don't have to be precious about it beyond felt on chair legs etc - it gets plenty of toys chucked on it, pushchair wheeled in etc and is fine. And infinitely more attractive than the laminate it replaced.

I had wood in the hall/living/room and dining room in one house, and was forever nervous of it denting as we had the house on the market.

In this house I've had quickstep put in the hall/dining room. It needed to be tough, and it really is. I think if we'd had real wood I would now be weeping. Yes, wood does look nicer, if it's not trashed, but in my house it would have been.

The Quickstep we have doesn't sound hideous when you drop stuff on it like some laminate...apparently it's all in the underlay.

Although I do think it depends on the property, I would never lay laminate in an older period property for example I would stick with solid/engineered wood.

We have engineered oak and quickstep laminate, although we have the slate tile effect rather than wood effect. I love them both for different things. The quality laminate is really really good these days, not like when whole houses were done in that horrible plasticky stuff. But engineered wood might give you the best of both worlds? Its very easy to cut, lay (although not click-together) and durable if you get a decent thickness.

Yes, we have real oak engineered floor. It is scratched to buggery, despite felt on furniture feet etc. Wish we'd chosen Quickstep in retrorpect.

If you have babies or young children I'd go for the laminate. Or if you have teenagers. My well-laid laminate was steam cleaned for over 10 years and looked great. I have moved to a place with new engineered wood and it's harder work. (I have to be more particular about how it's cleaned and with which products, it's easier to scratch...)

I have quickstep laminate flooring in my lounge and kitchen. I love it. The solid wood flooring I had before was a nightmare. It was here when we moved in and it was Scratched, pockmarked and hard to clean.

I have laminate with beveled edges in light oak and I think it looks great and I get loads of compliments about it. It looks like nw and it's 8 years old.

I'd chose it again in an instant. I'd go for it.

I have lanimate with bevelled edges too. Not a mark on it apart from a couple of scratches where a very large person kept pushing a chair back when sitting on it. No marks from numerous cars and toys being chucked about on it. I was going to get real wood then i saw the marks my friends baby chair left on her real wood floor just rocking!

I had 'solid' oak flooring that was made with a 10mm slice of the grained wood on top of a sort of hollow frame, also made of oak but obviously much cheaper & lighter ... so, basically, posh laminate. It was brilliant: springy, pressure-varnished, tough as anything and was click to fit. Can't remember what it was called - but I do remember I'd gone to buy Quickstep, then this stuff was half price and cheaper!

So, yeah, I'd go for posh laminate. Why buy sawdust & glue when you can have a souped-up version of the real thing? (Sorry, engineering fans )

Oh yes, definitely. We have it in our hall and it's lovely. I think the trick is to choose a darker shade than the usual light laminate.

Oh hang on, sorry, I thought you were talking about engineered wood over the real thing. I don't have laminate. The "clicky" sound would bother me. The engineered wood boards - proper grooved edges - are great.

We have a joiner in the family and he advocates real wood. Hard wearing, character, can be sanded etc. He says laminates, even the good ones are terrible for noise and real wood insulates better. But he admits very much a personal preference depending on age of property/kids & dogs/budget etc. Got a skelf in my arse from this (real wood fence)

You only get clicky/hollow sounding floors if they're not laid on a level, secure and thick enough base. Under those circumstances you would get weird sounds from any flooring! Cheap laminates are often slightly warped so can't lay completely flat. After delivery of new boards, you should unwrap them and leave them (flat!) in the room where they're going for around a week, to acclimatise.

Quickstep Unisound underlay

Also, make sure your floorboards run 'towards' the main light source, that is with the thin ends abutting the wall with the biggest window. Laying them across the light makes the floor look wavy.

Erm, I've finished boring on about floorboards now

Thanks everyone for your replies. It's a 1950s house with zero character. The flooring would run from the front door, down the hallway into the kitchen, dining, sitting room extension. I have young children who are forever thrashing the floor with their toys. I am nervous about investing in hard wood floors only for it to be easily marked and needing constant maintenance.

Having lived with quickstep and wooden floors, wood looks nicer but the laminate is much more durable. 8 years of dogs and boys in our last house with quickstep throughout the downstairs and there were no scratches at all. 4 months into living in our new house and the oak flooring has many scratches ( that weren't there when we moved in).

We have quickstep laminate over much of the downstairs as we couldn't afford real wood. I would prefer the feel of Real wood under foot (I walk around barefoot a lot)
We have the laminate with v grooves and I wish we didn't as the grooves fill with muck over time and it's hard to keep them clean, also the laminate is splitting where the grooves are and unlike wood, you can't just sand and repair it so we have pock-marked floor.
We've had it for 8 years.

haha it's costing £59 per square meter including supply and fitting.