engineered wood flooring???

[jklingel]

Apparently, this stuff the The Stuff to apply over radiant floor heat, but it is still only wood, and I am concerned about how tough it is. The laminate flooring we have installed has lasted for several years now, with no visible signs of wear. How tough is this engineered wood? I imagine that it is only as tough as any other real wood floor, and therefore won't last as long as the good laminates. Just don't want to buy a bunch and regret it in 15 yrs. Am I confused on this? Thanks. j

 

[dfndr]

I put some real expensive Canadian hardwood engineered wood in our kitchen. Chairs dent it like a son of a *****. High heels dent it. Should have gone with cheap laminate. FWIW.

 

[jklingel]

Ouch! Screw thunder, man, that is a major PITA. What brand, and what wood? Some woods, of course, are softer than others, but I have never caressed a wood nearly as hard as any of the laminates I've felt. I was kind of afraid I'd hear stories like yours. Thanks for sharing and saving my buttinski, and sorry to hear your floor isn't working up to specs.

 

[dfndr]

Yeah, It was oak. One of their harder ones. I don't know the brand offhand. What the hell. I'm just gonna let it get beat up and then when I sell the place decide whether to refinish it or not. It can be refinished once or twice.
Actually, I'm interested in your research for garage floor. If laminate would work it could look neat. I'm concerned about three things:1) Moisture from the top and the bottom-will water from a/c condensation and vehicle fluids kill the surface or soak thru and get moldy underneath? Will moisture from the slab rot it from underneath? 2) Will hot tires kill it? 3)Will floorjack and motorcycle center stands destroy it? If these are all not problems then a nice oak or maple floor that could be mopped clean would make a beautiful garage floor. Please post your findings.

 

[nissan_crawler]

What is this for? If it's for a garage, I say 100% no. It will get water from vehicles, swell, dent, easily burn, etc.

Even in a house...I HATE HATE HATE laminate floors. My sister put in $5.80/ft laminate oak floor. Actually, she bought it and dad and I put it in. It's "ok" and about as good as you can go with laminate, but in my mind, it's still b.s. "You can refinish two or three times." Yeah, good luck, you better quit sanding as soon as you hit wood, or you'll be screwed, that's not much more than a 1/16" thick. Forget sanding out dents or deep scratches.

You can do real 3/4" oak for half the price of the "good" laminate, it's a no brainer to me. My house will only get real wood flooring. If it gets a dent or scratch, sand it out, slap some more poly down, good to go again.

 

[Kevin54]

What is this for? If it's for a garage, I say 100% no. It will get water from vehicles, swell, dent, easily burn, etc.

Even in a house...I HATE HATE HATE laminate floors. My sister put in $5.80/ft laminate oak floor. Actually, she bought it and dad and I put it in. It's "ok" and about as good as you can go with laminate, but in my mind, it's still b.s. "You can refinish two or three times." Yeah, good luck, you better quit sanding as soon as you hit wood, or you'll be screwed, that's not much more than a 1/16" thick. Forget sanding out dents or deep scratches.

You can do real 3/4" oak for half the price of the "good" laminate, it's a no brainer to me. My house will only get real wood flooring. If it gets a dent or scratch, sand it out, slap some more poly down, good to go again.

Laminate, you can't refinish. Engineered you can. I just put down a little over 500 sq.ft. of laminate. It is basically a melamine finish over an MDF base. Engineered flooring is more like thin plywood with a thin veneer of prefinished hardwood on top. Some you can finish up to three times, some only once due to the thickness. Laminate, you can't do anything to, other than a scratch filler to try and hide the scratch, and it will still show.

 

[Sundowner]

What is this for? If it's for a garage, I say 100% no. It will get water from vehicles, swell, dent, easily burn, etc.

Even in a house...I HATE HATE HATE laminate floors. My sister put in $5.80/ft laminate oak floor. Actually, she bought it and dad and I put it in. It's "ok" and about as good as you can go with laminate, but in my mind, it's still b.s. "You can refinish two or three times." Yeah, good luck, you better quit sanding as soon as you hit wood, or you'll be screwed, that's not much more than a 1/16" thick. Forget sanding out dents or deep scratches.

You can do real 3/4" oak for half the price of the "good" laminate, it's a no brainer to me. My house will only get real wood flooring. If it gets a dent or scratch, sand it out, slap some more poly down, good to go again.

you mean engineered thin veneer over plywood flooring. (I wouldn't buy it, either)

Laminate is bascially the same stuff as formica countertops and it's nigh indestructable. The pergo in my living room laughs off the sand and lake muck people track in from the back yard, and it doesn't even scratch when my goofy 95 lb rotweiller mix does sideways powerslides ON HIS CLAWS to get to the kitchen for dinner time.

 

[Weedwaka]

Laminate swells with water

 

[gesoffen]

I've done laminate, solid oak hardwood and engineered bamboo with hardwood ply. Based on my experience, the laminates are the most robust/resilient of the three - they're generally tougher, less susceptible to swell/warp from moisture, and don't show damage as easily. However, if you do damage it, they're a lot tougher to repair unless you replace the damaged section.

As far as the engineered bamboo, vertical caned bamboo was claimed to be harder than rock maple but all the dents/dings in my floor have proven otherwise. Granted, the matt, smooth finish won't do anything to hide surface imperfections (in fact, it does the opposite quite nicely), they're still moisture resistance (use them in a kitchen, powder room and laundry room/entrance with no issues). The laminated bamboo is about 1/8" thick so I might get one or two refinishes out of them if I let them stay that long. Its a floating floor and takes to wood putty/staining well so repair or replacement is easy.

The oak hardwood that we have is a nail down, hand scrapped, dark finish so it does very well at hiding imperfections. In fact, I joke with the wife that we bought it pre-distressed so that I don't get distressed when the first dents/dings are made. Call it a well worn patina.

Face it, you WILL damage or dent a floor sometime in its lifetime, no matter what you do or use. Laminate is probably the best for all around toughness and bang/buck. Beyond that, I think its more a matter of choosing a finish and color that hides imperfections rather than a choice between engineered and solid wood.

 

[jklingel]

Our basement bedroom has had laminate for 8 yrs now, and it is spotless. Of course, a bedroom isn't exactly a high-impact/stress area. Our living room has had laminate for about 3 yrs now, and no dog toe nails, etc, have winged it one bit.... so far. No one has spilled a gallon of liquid while watching the Stupid Bowl, either, and that concerns me. If I could get agreement w/ my other half, I'd have color-all-the-way-through vinyl everywhere. The Armstrong stuff we put in suffered huge abuse (gouged by kids pushing each other on chairs, for ex) and it was perfect when we covered it (color change) after 20+ yrs. In my limited experience, if you keep good laminate dry and clean, it will do well. In a kitchen, bathroom, entry way, etc, firgit it. I am going to avoid the engineered wood now, though it looks beautiful. I found that radiant concrete floors do/should not get above about 70 degrees F, and laminates can take up to 85 degrees F (Armstrong web site.) What is wrong w/ painted concrete? Wish my wife would buy into THAT ONE!

 

[gesoffen]

Laminate swells with water

Most wood based flooring will swell/warp when exposed to moisture.

With the exceptions of some exotic woods, I'd say that a proper application of a laminate floor (e.g. a moisture rated floor with sealed edges) would fair better in a moisture prone environment than wood.

I had laminate in my old house. It was in the main entryway, garage entryway, kitchen, powder room and master bath - all moisture prone environments. No issues at all. I've installed laminate in my basement bath in the current house - its moisture rated, and has a vapor barrier. Since I'm in the middle of a master bath demo/remodel, we've been using this bath full time for several months. Also, it's all tile with a glass door (i.e. not a water tight seal between the glass door and curb) so we get the occasional small water leak from the shower. It usually gets wiped up after showering but sometimes we've forgotten or missed a spot. No issues at all.