Laminate or LVT or Engineered Wood - please help me decide

[housie]

We have old threadbare carpets in our property and plan to replace them soon. Please help me decide what to replace them with!

The area to be covered is around 80 sqm, including upstairs. We have a teenager going to uni soon, no pets, and this is for living/sleeping areas only (not the kitchen, hallway or bathrooms). We are always barefoot indoors and mop regularly. One thing to note is that we might sell in about 6 years time but not absolutely certain of this. Re budget: we can stretch our budget to accommodate the more expensive options if there is a clear benefit.

Any advice please?

Laminate is cheapest as far as material and labour goes but I'm not sure it is the smarter option for us - less money used now but would I need to replace again in a few years?

Amtico is amazing stuff, thoroughly recommend. We've had it throughout the house including high traffic areas for 20 years and it's as good as new. The range of choices, colours and patterns is fantastic.

Personally I'd go for the engineered wood. I have a real thing about fake wood, no matter how realistic it looks, I know it's not! I also don't like with laminate that you can see the pattern repeat... I assume this might be the case with LVT too?

The only thing that would put me off the real wood are home wreckers, such as children and dogs/cats , but this doesn't appear to be an issue for you. I have young feral children and hope to get a dog soon but will still opt for wood. I'll tell myself the damage looks rustic 🙈

[quote IdrisElbow]Would highly recommend Evocore. We just laid it throughout out downstairs and it is sturdy stuff and looks really good too.
www.directwoodflooring.co.uk/evocore-flooring[/quote]
They haven't even tried to disguise the pattern repeat in that pic... they've just laid identical planks next to each other! This would really annoy me

100% engineered wood if I didn't have children or dogs (and hadn't run out of money on my extension).

I am having Quickstep Impressive Laminate which I think will last for donkeys. I find LVT seriously over the top in labour & materials for fancied up lino and of the gazillion samples I have I think laminate looks/feels less fake (though still obviously fake).

If I could have anything and not worry about the upkeep though it would be Oiled Brushed Oak Engineered Wood from a place in Scotland called Russwood. Soooooo beautiful.

I went for UV oiled engineered wood. It has got dents and scratches in it now from all sort of things but I still think it looks great. We have the UV oiled wood in throughout our downstairs in hallways, kitchen, dining room etc and it is fantastic despite spills on it.

We had amtico previously and while it is hard wearing and good value for money I didn't like the wood effect - I think it looks fake to be honest. We went with amtico in our bathrooms (tile effect though)

We have children and might in future get cats and I was planning engineered wood. Is that an absolute no no?

We went Ted Todd UV oiled oak by the way. It is beautiful - the knots and inperfections in the wood make it

We’re having engineered wood laid throughout our downstairs as we speak. We have gone for a type that has a thick layer of real oak on the top so it can be sanded down in the future if required. Our floor fitter has only done half a room so far but I have to tell you that it really is a thing of beauty!
We have a dog and 2 teenage dd’s.

I’m not at home at the moment otherwise would attach a pic

I have LVT throughout the downstairs and love it. Looks good, feels warm, reduces the sound, just mop and go, and it was affordable. Am tempted to do the whole house!

@PeterPomegranate

We have children and might in future get cats and I was planning engineered wood. Is that an absolute no no?

I don't think it's a complete no... but it depends how precious you are over it I guess and whether you're expecting it to look immaculate? I'm going to go for a distressed looking 1 when I renovate... it will fit in with my lifestyle more I feel

I’m not precious. So hopefully we’ll be ok!

Oiled engineered wood. I prefer parquet, but that costs a packet. Laminate can't really be sanded, engineered wood can be, with care, if it gets damaged. And oiling is far easier to patch it it does get scratched. I've tried the 'diamond' varnishes, they all scratch like heck, are hard to patch, and take ages to dry when varnished. At my wits end, I asked a Danish friend (in Denmark they have a lot of wood floors) and she said, oil. We did, and never regretted it. Get an oil mix specifically designed for floors, though.

Laminate is shit, don't waste your time. We've had engineered oak for about 13 years now. Still looks great

We got engineered wood in our new build. It's now been down 6 years and very pleased with it. It's had spillages including cat wees and it cleans up fine. Im noticing some squeaking of joins in very high traffic areas like the bottom of the stairs but it's not scratched or dulled at all.