Real hardwood flooring or laminate? Why?We bought real hardwood and I'm starting to think it may have been a bad choice because I'm worried about our furniture moving and scratching it.
real hardwood, hands down. Your furniture isn't an issue if you put protective pads on the feet of all of them. Chairs like kitchen or dining room can be outfitted with those nylon buttons. Large chairs, ottomans, sofas, coffee tables, etc., can be turned over and heavy duty felt pads attached to teh feet. I have hardwood in my entire house and the only problems have been from heavy falling objects denting the floor. But never furnishings or shoes. Laminate is cheap crap and nobody wants it.
There is good wood flooring and the bad stuff. The bad stuff is the 1/4 wood veneer you get maybe one sanding out of it. The good stuff is 3/4 wood through and through. If I had a choice between the wanna be wood flooring and laminate I would choose the laminate. But nothing is better then a real wood floor.
Real wood will keep a better value in the long run for the house. Some better quality laminates have their place but real wood is better over all. A few tips to help your floors. Add rugs and furniture leg protectors to help keep the wood from getting scratched up. Sweep regularly and with a good vacuum. Use a dust mop with a light spray cleaner. Something as simple as white vinegar and water with the dust mop. Wear something other than shoes when possible, especially tennis shoes that trap stones in the treads. And diluted vinegar and water makes an excellent cleaner. Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar.GL
Real hardwood is best for resale, and if you love it. If you have a lower end house and neighbourhood, then go with laminate as you will not get the money back from installing hardwood. If you are not concerned with resale, then you need to pick what you love. You obviously liked the hardwood enough to buy it, so you must have done enough research on the maintenance and care of the flooring before choosing it. Yes you will get scratches, dings, dents..that is part of having wood. Do not use the nylon buttons on the legs of furnishings..they mark hardwood. Use the felt pads on every piece of furniture you own. You will have to vacuum all the time to keep grit off the floor. If you do not have any animals running in and out, then it will be easy maintenance. I have very high quality, expensive hardwood throughout my home and a large dog who runs in and out in all weather...I spend a lot of time cleaning the floors. Laminate is nice...low end and it will scratch too without the option of repair. You have already decided, so don't worry about it now...most places will not exchange hardwood...Oh, and when cleaning hardwood..never ever use vinegar on the floor. It will ruin your finish.
hardwood flooring is very stable except for the scratching, if you want to avoid scratching, you can choose laminated flooring. the finish of hardwood flooring is lacquer, it will take you lots of time maintain and clean and even protect like a little baby. we are a china flooring supplier, as what we know, laminated flooring is most popular, then coming the engineered wood flooring, seldom people is installing hardwood flooring now. you can learn how to maintain hardwood flooring on 9 Miles Oak Flooring Co., Ltd.
