<p>I don’t know anybody personally who has wood floors, and I am reading so much conflicting info online I am confusing myself. Hoping for some sage advice from CC!</p>
<p>The first question has to do with hardwood vs laminate… We went to home depot today and I really liked a “cinnamon maple” hardwood floor, but I am wondering how it would perform with two dalmatians in the house-- a scratch here and there is to be expected, and I think we’re probably going to have a pretty big area rug, but I don’t want the floors to get totally trashed. Are maple or oak hardwood floors an option for people with big dogs, or are we better off with laminate?</p>
<p>The other factor here is that the kitchen already has wood and is next to the living room in question, and I don’t want them to clash. The kitchen is a step up so the woods won’t run right into each other, but you’ll be able to see both floors at the same time. The wood in the kitchen is a darkish red color… that is one reason why I liked the cinnamon maple, it’s a medium colored wood (which is what I want) that has a SLIGHT reddish tinge to it that I thought would complement the kitchen well. Can I do that or does it have to match? Could I go with a medium wood that didn’t have the reddish tinge? What can and can’t I do? The rest of the kitchen is white cabinetry, black granite, and stainless steel.</p>
<p>Whether the kitchen is real wood or not shouldn’t have bearing on whether or not to put real wood in the living room, I think, because I can’t actually tell for sure whether or not it’s real. I don’t want one to make the other look bad but I don’t think that should be an issue.</p>
<p>we have laminate in our entire house (except bathrooms and laundry room) and I have never regretted it. We do have a larger dog and it is scratchproof. No longer do we need to vacuum up hairs, we just bring out the big broom.</p>
<p>Wood floors definitely look a bit nicer, but they are not so great with animals.</p>
<p>Personally I don’t like the laminate floors I’ve seen and walked around on (I’m referring to Pergo and similar floors - not necessarily every laminate floor available). They look fake and plastic to me and feel the same way. OTOH they’re practical - inexpensive, easier to install yourself (or less expensive for a pro to do it), and durable. </p>
<p>I’m not nuts about hardwood floors contrary to the home buyer reality shows on TV (but I think they’re mostly following scripts). I like tile and carpet. I did put in some wood floor in an entryway that I’ve since torn out in favor of tile - that was real wood and held up very well in an entryway (the toughest area for a wood floor) and held up well with my 75 pound very active dog that’d do a tap dance there whenever someone was at the door. I think it was ‘Bruce Hardwood’ that I installed myself.</p>
<p>A friend had existing hardwood floors in part of her main level; she had the carpet removed from the remaining floor and a flooring expert put in new hardwood floors which he stained on location and matched the old wood beautifully. It was amazing. I think it would be tacky to have two different wood floors next to each other. If you can’t match exactly, I’d do something totally different.</p>
<p>This was my thought exactly when we opted to change our computer room flooring from carpet to hardwood. The room is off our main hallway which had a gunstock color. Even though the same color was available, when I got the sample to put next to the existing floor I just didn’t like it. It didn’t ‘match’, even though it was the same exact flooring.</p>
<p>I went with a plank that was an inch wider and a much darker color. It looks fabulous, and the fact that it is SO different from the floor it is up against means it looks no different than a room that has carpet off hard wood.</p>
<p>We have wood which is quite distinctive looking (hickory) and just had it refinished and it is gorgeous. And will be for about… five minutes. Just kidding, but really-- it’s a lot of work and with kids and/or dogs (we have both), it is hard to keep it looking great. But it is a hallmark of this house (which we did not build) and so cannot and should not be changed. But if I had a different house, where it wasn’t so obvious that the floor was a showpiece, I’d totally do laminate. I think there are some really cool ones out there. And if the wood, or “wood” is near another wood floor, if you make it really different from each other, it will look fine. Just need enough contrast.</p>
<p>I’ve got hardwood floors throughout my house–I have maple. We have area rugs throughout and also have a 65-pound dog. He doesn’t create problems with the floors. Maple is a tough wood–most damage (and it’s minor) has come from women wearing high heels. I had oak floors in a previous house and they were great.</p>
<p>I don’t think you have to match the kitchen floor with the rest of the house just because it’s wood. Many lovely homes have a different floor in the kitchen than in other rooms, or different floors in bathrooms. Find something that compliments the kitchen floor -maybe something with a larger plank in a similar color, or lighter.</p>
<p>Laminate is bullet-proof, but wood is really more beautiful. Because you already have wood in part of the house, I think you’d regret going to laminate, and I think you’d be able to tell the difference, even if your occasional guests could not.</p>
<p>Our 1923 house has oak floors - we refinished them in 1999 and they look great except for where the boys had chairs in front of computers. We don’t have dogs. If your kitchen is a step up or down from the next door room it could be helpful to make the woods different rather than exactly the same so people don’t miss the step. I don’t think wood has to look perfect. I think most laminate looks too perfect.</p>
<p>I think the woods should match exactly - uniform flooring creates continuity and flow, especially in a home with multiple smaller rooms. Even with the step down, going from the wood floor in the kitchen to a laminate in the living room may look like a cheap remodel. Have the dogs scratched the floor in the kitchen? I would look at the wear in the kitchen and assume that it will be equivalent in the living room.</p>
<p>We have hardwood floor throughout our first floor, with a few area rugs but certainly not over everything. And we have two 48-pound dogs. I’ve found that the dogs don’t make scratches, but the bottom of our furniture does. I’ve put felt pads on all legs of every chair so that when one slides in and out, it doesn’t scratch the floor. Seems to have worked pretty well. The floor was installed in the kitchen in 1999. We had it redone – sanded and polyurethaned – in around 2007 by a guy who did not do a good job. We just had it redone maybe six months ago and I expect it will be good for another 10 years. (Although we won’t be here to see it.:))</p>
<p>Edited to add: IMHO, hardwood is beautiful and classy. Laminate is fake hardwood. Similarly, marble and granite are beautiful and classy. Formica is fake marble and granite.</p>
<p>I have oak throughout my house with kids, a dog and cats. No problems with scratching though I would like to sand and restain them at some point. So much easier and cleaner. There is no way a vacuum picks up all the dust and dander from carpet. I actually think carpeting is gross now after seeing what we sweep up. Given that perspective, I do think the floor should all be the same throughout the house or it will look choppy.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the opinions! I have lots to think about… I think I would definitely prefer real hardwood, but I also don’t want to buy something that’s going to be impractical for our purposes just because I want everything to be “real.”</p>
<p>The hardwood I liked best was the “bruce” brand… it does appear that the woods I like are of the more durable ones, but maybe we should keep looking and see if we can find a laminate that fits the bill before we go with hardwood just to be on the safe side… I think a laminate in good condition will look less tacky than a wood floor that’s destroyed. I know refinishing is inevitable no matter what, but my mom’s friend has a german shepherd and has to redo her floors every year… that sounds like a LOT to me, I guess depending on how much it costs. I don’t know anything about it. I feel like if you trim your dogs nails like you’re supposed to, some scratching is going to happen but it doesn’t seem that it should be that big of a deal.</p>
<p>It sounds like I need to confirm for sure whether or not the wood in the kitchen is real. It’s one of those things where we thought it was laminate looking at it (with no experience whatsoever with wood floors), but the houses documentation says it’s real hardwood. I could have been wrong, or they could have been lying-- either possibility is just as likely, I can’t always tell the difference. I didn’t care either way but I guess it matters before we decide which to put in the living room. How can I tell? We were able to figure it out in one house by lifting up the heat vent and looking at the side of the flooring, but I don’t think there are any vents on the floor of the kitchen area.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, the kitchen “wood” goes all the way to the entryway and is the center of the household, you have to walk through it to get anywhere else, and isn’t showing any signs of wear. However, the previous owners are an older couple with no pets. I think they also probably remodeled recently, because the cabinetry and appliances are all brand new. I can’t really tell how old the floors are.</p>
<p>If there is a register in the kitchen floor where the heat comes up, just pull out the metal grate, and you will be able to determine the nature of your flooring and any subfloor or underlayment. You also should check your attic/basement/garage and see if the previous owners left any spare materials behind. We have half boxes of both the living room floor and the basement floor that were passed on to us by earlier owners.</p>
<p>Is this a house you’re planning to stay in for a while? If so, I would go with wood, which not only looks better but can be sanded and refinished, something you can’t do with laminate. </p>
<p>Call a flooring specialist (or two) and have them come over and tell you what kind of floor you already have, what they would recommend, prices, etc. That way you’ll have a point of comparison when you’re shopping. Home Depot may be less expensive for the actual product, but their installation costs can be very high. Make sure to find out the total cost of the project before you proceed.</p>
<p>If the wood in the kitchen is hardwood, then while you are doing the job of installing the rest of the floors, stain them all the same color. Generally speaking most woods that get installed in a home get a stain of some sort. If you are doing the job yourself - get the poly used on high-end yachts, especially in the kitchen. If you are using a contractor - do not agree to the one or two uses of poly - insist on three or four.</p>
<p>Hardwood floor lover, here. Have oak floors throughout main and upper level of our home, carpet in the basement. Other homes we’ve had maple and cherry. I like what we have now the very best. It’s wider plank, site finished and a really excellent stain and finish. Was installed twenty years ago and I honestly can’t find a single scratch. We have a dog. We do have a lot of runners and area rugs in high traffic areas.</p>
<p>Check to see if your Bruce flooring that you like can be sanded and refinished. Years ago when that toe of flooring came out, this was either not possible or difficult. </p>
<p>We have red oak regular tongue and groove hardwood in our entire downstairs. It still looks good after almost 18 years…better than the 18 year old carpet. We also have felt pads on the bottoms of all furniture legs (actually given to us by the hardwood installer). We are also very careful about what gets dragged in on shoes…dirt grit is not good for hardwood floors.</p>
<p>Our downstairs is very open, almost like one big room. Our floors are all the same (although we chose not to stain the red oak so there is some nice variation in color).</p>
<p>All I’m going to add to this conversation is if you decide to go with a Home Depot brand of hardwood, shop online and see if you can get it cheaper yourself and then hire your own hardwood floor contractor. Your local realtors are good resources for good, reputable contractors. (We’re adding a little over 1,000 s.f. of hardwood to our existing 5-year-old floor in our great room and den off the kitchen which already has hardwood flooring. It is the “same” flooring but, even so, the distressed characteristics have changed somewhat.) </p>
<p>The savings by resourcing it yourself can be substantial. I was able to save over $2.00 per s.f. (plus free freight, no sales tax) and my flooring contractor did not really want to order the flooring anyway. Out of curiosity, what did Home Depot quote you for installation? There are variables from job to job, but my contractor quoted me $4.50 s.f. to put down the manufactured hardwood and $5.00 a lineal ft. to paint and install 6.5" Coronado baseboard…</p>