I have laminate flooring from my foyer/entrance through my center hall and throughout my kitchen. Generally, I like it, but regret not giving hardwoods a closer look.
My home is new construction -’ bout 4 years old - and the bathroom floors are terrible…cheap cheap vinyl.
I would like to do tile, but don’t appreciate the coldness/hardness, the effort of install or the chance of cracking (even when subflooring is great and strengthened, I just don’t trust it).
I love some of the new laminates that are out…some even mock tile, and they float over the old flooring. With glue in the new 'quick lock" seams, and with the newer versions, they can be used in a bathrooms.
I’ve not had the laminates in the houses I’ve lived in, but I’ve seen them in houses I’ve looked at. Generally, they don’t look bad… they just don’t look all the good, in my opinion. (This goes only for the pseudo-wood stuff, I haven’t seen the mock-tile ones yet.)
Generally, the pseudo-wood laminates look too ‘fake’: you can see the seams if the light hit’s them right (assuming they were put down properly), and it ruins the whole effect. I would think you wouldn’t have this problem with the mock-tile.
I have heard good things about using bamboo for flooring, but I don’t know anything about how well they’d do in a bathroom. (anyone else know?)
Well, I know there is a product call PlyBoo which is a laminate made of bamboo and is used as high-traffic flooring in a couple of NYC restaurants. It is supposed to as hard as oak or harder, plus its renewable!
We installed Pergo in one room, and disliked it for exactly what Night song says - when the sun shone in the room, the seams were very apparent. A minor point - it is a relatively thick product, which can cause a substantial rise from one room to another.
When we redid the adjoining room, we tore up the Pergo, and did both floors in a wood-finish linoleum. Nafco, I believe. It is laid in individual strips, so IMO it has a much better appearance than the Pergo. It also wears the same as linoleum, so avoids some of the moisture sensitivity questions for bathroom and kitchen usage.
We avoided wood because these two rooms involved som pretty high traffic areas, and I feared I would feel sick over how beat up the finish would get. If I were to do it again, I’m not sure if I would have gone with the Nafco or wood.
We installed laminate flooring in our kitchen and dining room and are happy with the results. It is a fairly simple DIY project, especially if the room is square or rectangular. It doesn’t look exactly like wood but it wears a lot better and I think it is a better choice than wood for our kitchen.
I really really hope our dishwasher never leaks however, because I can see that stuff swelling big time if it gets a lot of water on it. I assume that is your concern with using it in a bathroom. Regular after bath/shower moisture should be OK with laminate flooring, but if any of the fixtures leak there could be a problem. I’d say your best bet would be to talk things over with someone at a flooring outlet or maybe better yet a flooring installer. An experienced installer may have some stories for you that might help you make a decision.
They can go down right on top of what you have, (usually) and they come in a wide variety of colors and patterns. I find them very easy to install and pretty cheep too.
I’ve got Pergo over my entire apartment (studio) It actually looks pretty good, but will not hold up to scrutiny, and direct sunlight brings out the seams, as was mentioned above. On the “pro” side, it was easy for a DIY to install (it was a snap fit version, no glue) and was fairly cheap. I would be careful about a bathroom use, it didn’t exactly look waterproof to me, i’d be worried about a big spill, or drip damaging it. Check the specs on whatever you get to be sure that bathroom use is OK.
We installed laminate flooring in our basement this past winter. Personally, I like the way that it looks, and it’s a whole lot cheaper than installing ceramic or hardwood.
I’ve been told that this type of flooring should not be used in areas where there’s lots of mositure (ie a bathroom). ONce these boards get wet, they swell up and tend not to get back to their origninal shape. My advice for a bathroom would be to spend the extra bucks and put in ceramic tiles.
While we’re at it…does anyone have experience with cork flooring? I hate the look of wood (looks like furniture on a basketball court to me) but I want to get rid of the carpeting and my husband won’t go for tile. I looked at a few sites but couldn’t really tell much. I’m guessing you can’t do it yourself and is pretty expensive. Supposedly very versitile and durable though.
I had laminate - some knockoff brand I found at a National Wholesale Liquidators - installed in my kitchen, much over the objections of my contractor. (“If you have a flood it’ll warp! horribly!” “Yes, and so would wood - which you have no problem with but which you could sell me at a markup. Bite me.”)
It was my second choice. I’d have preferred linoleum, but couldn’t find any that (a) was a light color and (b) worked well with my cabinets and countertop.
I like it. But my kitchen is only about 46 sq. ft., of which maybe 18 sq. ft. is actually visible - so the seam issue isn’t a problem for me. My mom, who’s a real estate agent, warned me that you have to be careful in cleaning it - don’t let water sit there, since it can penetrate the seams. For my tiny floor I usually just use windex, but again you have to be careful because if you let it soak the ammonia can dull the finish.