Real Wood or Laminated Wood Flooring

[KAHLUA]

We are getting ready to re-floor our family room.  The room is 260 sq feet.  Right now it's carpeted and it's taken a beating since we've had Kahlua and the addition of Paxton.  Of all the rooms in the house, we use this room 100 times more than any other room.  This room is connected to the kitchen/eating area (which is tiled).  Oh we also have a pool, so this room will sometimes get wet from the pool when the grandbabies come in and "forget" to dry off.    I would say that most people will enter the door in the family room and walk through this room to get to the rest of the house.  My point is this room takes a lot of wear and tear. 

I want to put laminated wood flooring in this room.  Main reason is the price compared to real wood.  My husband said that real wood would be better.  But I've talked to people and they said with animals and traffice that comes through it would be better to go with the laminate flooring. 

As you all know, my daily routine is to look at the newly posted pictures every day.  I see so many homes with some type of wood flooring.  So I thought I should see what the general concenus is amongst fellow doodle owners. 

Let me know what you think.  My hubby says he will be "open" to listening about the pros and cons from other doodle owners and will take all info into consideration. 

What do you think?  Real wood for laminated wood flooring?

[Judi, David & Maddie Irishdoodle]

We have dark oak floors in our entire house except the laundry room where we have tile (Maddies bowls and crate are in there). 

We also had wood framed areas with tiles inserted at the front door and back patio doors so that Maddie walks in on the tiles and we can wipe her paws if it was snowy or raining out.

The finish on our floors is a matte finish (not smooth and shiney). If the floor gets scratched which has happened once or twice in the years we've had it,  we simply wipe the spot with a stain the same colour as the dark oak and voila the mark is gone.

We love our wood floors - easy to run the dust mop over to catch the dust bunnies that seem to appear. 

[Susan and Sasha]

I'm a big fan of real wood!

We have them in our entire home...except the bedrooms and bathrooms.

We even have our kitchen and breakfast room in real wood and have had No trouble at all!

 

Sasha is in the kitchen/breakfast room all of the time...as is everyone...being a great gathering place.

She will come in from outside...wet days...muddy days...and I don't have a problem with clean up at all!

 

Will you use area rugs...etc.  They work very well...

People are in this room so much ...and we've had Sasha and other dogs in there with us at the same time.

I have a nice area rug under the big farm table where we eat...and some runners in other areas.

Everyone...people and dogs...are coming and going...All Of The Time!  We're preparing food...dropping food...sometimes water...and again...without a problem.

 

We live on a lake...so like you...we have wet people and dogs in and out...and I don't have a problem with the real wood floors.

I found a great rug for in front of the two french doors that come into the breakfast room...which is how most enter the house from the lakeside...and they really do pick up most of the wet...mud and dirt...and believe me...there's a lot!  Lol...

I would highly recommend them!  If your're interested...I would be happy to send you a link.

 

I was surprised...but we don't have a lot of  trouble with Sasha scratching the floors with her nails either...and...if you just read the post about Doodles with long nails...you might think that would be a problem!!  Lol...

If you need to have the floors  re-done in the future...the beauty of real wood is that they can be sanded down...stained and then a clear coat...and..they are.as "Good As New"!

As far as scratches...you can look for a "harder" type of wood that would not scratch as easily.

Also...you usually use area rugs in a room when you have wood flooring...and that works well.  You can have a soft area for when the grand-children might want to lay on the floor to watch TV...etc... 

 

In my opinion...real hardwood floors are beautiful and...as far as re-sale value...they are the best way to go according to research.

 

I hope this is helpful...and I wish you the very best...

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

We have (real) wood floors in our living/dining room.  They have this shiny glaze on them (they came that way with the house).  They definitely show wear from the doodles.  I would do real wood, but I would consider a natural color and w/o any sort of shine on them.  Then the "damage" the dogs do to it will look more like character :)

[Barbara and Jake]

I have a higher grade laminate that looks just like hardwood and does not scratch. We had put hardwood in our townhouse when Jake was a puppy and unfortunately it did scratch. There probably won't be much of a price difference-just your choice....good luck!

[Melissa & Porter]

I like my hardwood in my kitchen.  But I do have tile in the back mudroom.  Beware of right angles.  That is where the dog racing to the backdoor has cause gouging of the wood.  It's 3/4 in thick though so I have many sandings ahead of me if I want.

[Dot, Maggie and KoKo]

I have laminate in all rooms except my bedroom and, for the most part, love it.  The only problem is with water.  I too have had a problem with water getting into the seams and it swells.  Other than that it has stood up well to two doodles chasing each other around the dining room table and the grandkids skating on it.

[Corinna and Krimmi]

We redid our entire downstairs including kitchen in a laminate.  It's been in for a year and holding up great.  The dog, cats and my daughter and her friends race around and no damage. I do agree about the sound, we had pine plank flooring in our old house which was beautiful but we had 2 dogs at the time and the floors got wrecked in no time because the wood was so soft.  Probably personal preference as only you know if you can live with a scratch or 2.  We had one scratch on the laminate when the dishwasher flooded our kitchen and we had to pull it out but I actually took a dark brown marker and coloured it in and you can't see it was there :)  I love our laminate.

[KAHLUA]

UPDATE:

Taking everything into consideration and finding a very reputable flooring guy, we decided on a 12mm Armstrong laminate wood flooring.  It has a 40 year warranty and the only thing better (warranty wise) is a 50 year warranty.  12 x 11 room, they are doing everything except moving our big screen TV, which my husband insists he does on his own.  Padding, molding, carpet removal and disposal for $1,300.  We looked at woodflooring, but knowing that we would be putting the house up for sale within 3 - 5 years (depending on when we could get the human children out on their own) we didn't want to spend the money.  So we ordered it on the 2nd and it's being installed on Wednesday, pictures to follow.

 

Again, thank you all for all the feedback. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Congrats. I can't wait to see the results.

[KAHLUA]

[KAHLUA]

[Tammy (Tanner & Molly) Houck]

I have both in my house, and 3 dogs.  The laminate is definitely the way to go for scratch resistance.  It's a little noisier, but the durability is amazing.