Is Laminate Flooring Your Best Option?

Summary:  Laminate flooring has rapidly gained popularity in the last decade for a lower cost alternative to real wood floors.  It is also easier to install and can be installed in more places.  If there is a drawback to laminate flooring it is the look and feel of the product.

Q:  I'd like to install hardwood floor in my living room but it is so expensive.  I've heard good things about laminate flooring but is it really as great as some people make it out to be?

A:  There's no doubt that what you just said is spot on.  You definitely pay a premium for hardwood flooring (surprisingly though, it may not be as much as you think if you are willing to shop around a bit).

Actually I laid a little over 300 square feet of distressed oak hardwood in our living room and dining room when we renovated our last house.  And while 300 square feet doesn't sound like that much wait until you have to put it down yourself!  It took a full day of laying out, cutting corners, prepping and then nailing down the floor.  I saved a bunch of money by doing it myself and, like you said, I almost had to because the floor was so expensive to start with.

But we've gotten more compliments on that floor than any other improvement in our home.  Not to mention, my wife and I both love the look and feel of the real hardwood.

But, if a hardwood floor is out of your price range but you still want the look and feel of real wood laminate flooring could be a viable option.

Laminate Flooring Benefits

Environmentally Friendly

Laminate flooring isn't actually real wood.  In fact, the laminate floor tiles that you see are also not real - although they closely mimic wood and stone.  What they really are is just an image of the real thing.

This whole process was started almost 20 years ago by a company called "Pergo" (which is why so many of these tile laminate flooring and wood laminate flooring products are simply called Pergo Flooring - when they may be made by a different company).

Obviously since they aren't using real wood, stone or ceramic there are no quarries or logging taking place.  No transportation.  No erosion and so forth.

This is especially important in more exotic woods that have rapidly gained popularity like teak.

Ease of Installation

This, to me, is probably one of laminate flooring's biggest benefits.  And you'll only really appreciate it if you've ever had to lay a real hardwood floor before.

Like I said above, I spent 14+ hours of picking up a rented air nailer, moving it 12 inches, swinging a heavy mallet to activate the nailer and then moving, leaning over and doing it all again.  It was truly backbreaking work and I'm in relatively good shape.  This is why floor installers charge so much to install hardwood floor and tile.

Now, with laminate flooring you still have the work of laying out the floor.  But beyond that, if you want to install laminate flooring you'll find it to be much easier than the real thing and will make for an  almost perfect do it yourself project.

Most laminate flooring is made with a tongue and groove system that simply 'snaps' together so their is no renting an air nailer or swinging a mallet.  You will have to use a rubber mallet to make sure the wood joints are 'tight'.

Also, laminate flooring can be installed in a lot more places than typical hardwood.  Laminate flooring can be put over concrete or existing tile if need be.

SIDENOTE:  There is one area where laminate flooring manufacturers claim that they have an advantage over regular hardwood floor and that is with maintenance.  This is not completely true.

For instance, the oak hardwood that we installed has the finish 'baked' into the top 1/3 of the board.  It has all the positive attributes of a distressed wood product but without the refinishing and so forth that would be needed with a traditional hardwood flooring product.

Laminate flooring manufacturers generally coat their floors with aluminum oxide which is a heavy duty product that allows repeated use and is especially handy in high traffic areas as far as limiting wear.

Cost

A lot has been made about the lower cost of laminate flooring, but while there is a definite cost savings.  You have to weigh that with what you actually want and get in the product.

For example, our oak flooring (2007 costs) ran about $4/sf (square foot).  

Now if I were to go search today for oak laminate flooring the price range could be anywhere from under $1/sf to almost $5/sf.  I would personally stay away from anything under $1.50/sf to $2/sf as the quality and manufacturing would be suspect.

You can start finding quality products at around $2.50/sf.  So you can save money.  In my case $400 or so.

Now, while $400 is nothing to sneeze at my wife and I both found that the laminate flooring just didn't have the look that the real distressed wood had.  Of course, that's personal preference and what I think means nothing in your case.  It's simply the reality of the situation.

Many people find laminate flooring attractive as well as ideal for their situation.  My advice would be to try to find someone who has put down a similar style of laminate flooring in their house and look at it.  Or, go to a showroom and look at their floors.

I'll warn your though, most showrooms dress everything up with lighting and so forth to make the products look as appealing as possible.  Nothing wrong with that.  But I prefer to see any sort of flooring project in 'real life' situations.  That's where real wood won out for us but laminate flooring is certainly a viable and cheaper option for a lot of folks.