Hi guys,
Just wondering if anyone on here has any advice on whether to buy engineered real wood flooring or stick with laminate for use in the living room and
dining room of a house with dogs? Our dogs, two medium-sized Petit Basset Griffon Vendéens love to run around and of course their claws will scratch
the floor.
We would love to get the engineered wooden floors as they are overall nicer to look at (when in good condition at least) and can be lightly sanded and
refinished in future. They also tend to help the resale value of the house from what I have read. Good quality laminate doesn't look too bad and
I understand it wears better with better scratch and dent protection.
So, advice most welcome either from direct experience or from someone in the trade. Also, which brands or features would you recommend (eg. wide
boards, particular click systems, glued boards etc). Also any tips on underlay for a relatively smooth and 15 year old concrete underfloor.
ps. Anyone used this stuff? http://static.flooringsupplies.co.uk/downloads/SalesSheetQSCoverSkirting.pdf
Not sure whether to remove the skirting boards or just use scotia quadrants. We only just finished decorating the room to not keen to rip off the
skirting really...
Many thanks,
Craig.
[Edited on 14/5/2016 by craig1410]
Our living room and diner have a good quality laminate that's getting on for 15 years old now. Survived 14 years of our terrier sliding around, running on the spot, going berserk when the postman was at the door etc etc.....
Good quality laminate every time with dogs or kids, ours has been down 16 years. Although we don't do it much in the UK for living room f!oors ceramic tiles are also worth considering I have a friend who did it and worked really well.
We spent 000s on engineered oak floor at our last house and within 2 years our labrador and 3 kids had taken its toll. Even dining room chairs with
foot protectors had made a mess. Go with a laminate that's advertised as hard wearing as it uses a harder lacquer. Laminate nowadays looks loads
better than the older stuff.
Incidentantally our new house had 10k worth of karndean engineered floor layed a year before we moved in and that looks worse than the oak at the old
house. I will be laying a decent quality laminate when the time comes.
With engineered it depends on what wood it is. We have oak downstairs and it scratches easily, but upstairs we have Maple which is mega-hard and seems to easily repel all attacks. It looks great as well.
Hi,
Our laminate has been down 12 years and survived 2 kids and our staffweiler doggy. Just spend out on a good one like quick step or deco step.
Jon
Thanks for the feedback guys, I think we've decided on laminate and have just been out to see a few samples. The one we quite like is a textured
laminate from a German company called Kronotex. Has anyone heard of them? Any good? Here's the stuff:
https://www.directflooring.co.uk/item/Kronotex_KronotexEverestOakBronze_209_139_499_1.html
Another thing we found when out is an expansion gap filler which isn't quadrant shaped like the usual stuff. It's from B&Q and is flat
so not as ugly as quadrant scotia stuff. We're not keen on skirting removal as they are tidy and we've just decorated and wallpapered etc.
So we were thinking of this stuff. Only concern is the small surface area for the adhesive. Anyone tried this stuff? Looking at the reviews on the
B&Q site we should expect to use a stronger adhesive than the self-adhesive it comes with.
http://www.diy.com/departments/colours-warm-oak-effect-pvc-floor-edge-trim/642656_BQ.prd#
Thanks again to all.
[Edited on 14/5/2016 by craig1410]
I think the best way to lay laminate is to take off the skirting boards and lay the laminate. Then replace the skirting to hide the expansion gap.
I'd go for a textured laminate too. Quadrants don't look too bad if mitred well. It's a lot of hassle pulling the skirtings off.
I have kardeen and two mad English Bullies. Tough as old boots and still looking good a few years down the road. Thats the floor, looking good, the
bullies always look good too
Ended up buying that AC5 rated Kronotex laminate - looks pretty good I'd say. Also decided to remove skirting boards even though it makes the job
quite a bit more involved. Got 5mm XPS foam underlay which, depending on who you talk to either does or does not require a separate damp proof
membrane. Some say it's fine as it is, some say to tape it with vapour tape and others say it needs a full separate DPM.
So, thanks for the advice, much appreciated as always! 
quote:
Originally posted by craig1410
Ended up buying that AC5 rated Kronotex laminate - looks pretty good I'd say. Also decided to remove skirting boards even though it makes the job quite a bit more involved. Got 5mm XPS foam underlay which, depending on who you talk to either does or does not require a separate damp proof membrane. Some say it's fine as it is, some say to tape it with vapour tape and others say it needs a full separate DPM.
So, thanks for the advice, much appreciated as always!
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
I think the best way to lay laminate is to take off the skirting boards and lay the laminate. Then replace the skirting to hide the expansion gap.
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
I think the best way to lay laminate is to take off the skirting boards and lay the laminate. Then replace the skirting to hide the expansion gap.
That's how I laid my laminate floor with skirting removed then replaced over the laminate with an expansion gap. Took a while longer to do, but gave a much better finish IMHO and avoided having to use the rather naff looking quadrant to finish the job.
bit late now....
we got some fairly cheap laminate from Wickes for the hallway and wasn't expecting it to last, but after 5 year of abuse there is hardly a mark
on it even after sliding the wife's massive (and very heavy) oak sideboard around with nothing under it to protect the floor 
- I'm very
impressed
had to use the moulding round the edge as the wife was several months pregnant and the house just needed finished fast!
but you hardly notice it in the hallway anyway...
[Edited on 16/5/2016 by mcerd1]
Also a bit late now !
But as BT said " ceramic tiles are also worth considering I have a friend who did it and worked really well. "
A family friend of ours has bought a place local with the whole ground floor tiled, and initially I was dead against it, but after seeing it a couple
of times, I can see the practical side, he has the dining table and chairs on a rug, and theres a big rug in the lounge,
the rest is just tiles, and no different to Spanish/Portugese style of houses
I would certainly think about doing the same
steve
Thanks guys, yes we've got ceramic tiles in the kitchen and breakfast bar area and they are great there but we'd prefer wood (or wood
effect) in the living spaces as it's a bit warmer. Just a personal preference really.
We got the living room stripped today and I've pulled off a couple of bits of skirting which has gone okay so far. I'm doing my best to
avoid plaster damage by using a wide pry bar after cutting above the skirting with a stanley knife to avoid tearing of the surface. I'll be very
lucky if that works perfectly all round but so far so good. There are only two walls which are decoratively papered so those are the main ones I need
to preserve. Other thing I noticed was a few low spots in the concrete floor so I'll get some rapid set self levelling compound tonight and get
that poured in to the worst bits. Generally it's not too bad though.
This is going to be a pretty long job but should be rewarding when done.