I have a customer who wants a laminate floor.
I suggested a hardwood floor, but they don’t want that.
Thay want Pergo. I know Pergo snaps together, but I was looking at Bruce Flooring which can at least be stapled to the subfloor?
Which would be the better way to go?
Thanks
John
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Replies
I would definitely research the proper installation of which ever laminate product you go with. All of the laminate flooring I have ever used, or seen has been designed to be a floating floor, and stapling it would result in serious problems. That certainly does not mean that one does not exist.I have never had I problem floating floors. Just make sure to leave the proper gap around the perimeter for expansion.
If they insist on a laminate floor, I would refuse the job.
While I have only installed one Pergo floor, I have removed and replaced several laminate floors due to damage (most often water damage). If they require a prefinished flooring, there are plenty of solid wood alternatives.
Even with the best laminate flooring, installed perfectly, it still looks like a piece of formica laid on the floor and sounds loose underfoot.
Terry
Ask then if they have dogs. When we were renting a house while building our home, my retrievers couldn't walk on the stuff without their legs going out from under them. This was the $2.00 sqft kind with not much texture.
Made a comment to our vet and he said he has seen some leg injuries/ broken bones due to laminate floors
REminds me of our old retriever. He would walk in and out of the house over a Pergo floor. No problem, until once in fifty trips he would realize he was on a wood floor. He would freeze and become very concerned. He would look around for the shortest distance to a carpeted surface, then bolt for it sliding all over the place. Twenty minutes later he would walk right accross the floor.
Very comical!
Those plastic laminate floors are interesting.
Even the expensive ones are obviously plastic. The seams are visible. I know of one that is very noisey, not from the shoe hitting the plastic but from the creaking as the whole thing gives under the weight.
And yet, there are people who just love them. If your customer has seen a few examples of an installed plastic laminate floor and they want one, then there is no reason not to install it for them.
And though it is a floor that just "snaps together", that doesn't mean it is easy. A proper installation can be a lot of work (OK, it IS easy compared to hardwood or tile).
The more expensive laminate that I installed had terrible instructions and I would have been doing a lot of head scratching if I had not already done some less expensive floors that had come with more thorough instructions.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Those plastic laminate floors are interesting
Very nice way of putting it.
Yes they are a lot of work, too. The smaller and more chopped up the space, the harder.
I hate 'em. Won't put them in (too damn much work for a cheap product I don't believe in), would never have one.
Grunge on. http://grungefm.com
Rich, after looking at a qtr million houses for my daughter and her fiance'..................I have some definite feelings on owner installed laminate floors. Perhaps the problems I've seen are a result of poor instructions and the DIY's reluctance to buy some of the key tools necessary for an easy and quality installation. You can't just do it with a block and hammer.
amazing, the number of trapped dishwashers in NW OH.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
amazing, the number of trapped dishwashers in NW OH.
And I thought central Michigan had cornered the market on captive dishwashers!
Terry
Terry, that border doesn't even have a line on it............A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Calvin and RRooster,Please understand, I'm not a big fan of the laminates. I do have on in my kitchen, but...I'm only saying that for reasons I do not fully understand, there are people who LOVE them. One of my best customers now has nearly his entire house in laminate.His wife has allergies, so they wanted to get rid of the carpet. He doesn't like hardwood because he feels it needs to much maintenance to look "good". He finds the laminate is a quick light mop away from looking new.I think that's nuts, and I still don't understand why the world doesn't universally agree with my conclusions.If the customer wants it and understands what they are getting, then I am willing to install it.Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
If the customer wants it.................
you are absolutely right. You put it in. and in, right.
The numbers of "I can do it's" done wrong is a sin. No matter how cheap it is, they'd have been better off giving the boxes with contents intact, to goodwill. Course, that goes the same for tile, hardwood and other hard surfaces. I'm thinking the big boxes are a little too free with encouragement that novices can install this stuff correctly.
So goes the days of our lives.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
, and I still don't understand why the world doesn't universally agree with my conclusions.
And mine, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well put, Rich, well put.
Grunge on. http://grungefm.com
I've never heard of a laminate floor that stapled down, or attached to the subfloor in anyway. They are all floating - perhaps you were looking at Bruce's engineered wood floor or something?Justin Fink - FHB Editorial
You are correct, it was Bruces' Engineered flooring.
Do you know anything about it?
How does it standup?
Is stapling sufficient?
Thanks
John
"but I was looking at Bruce Flooring which can at least be stapled to the subfloor?"
This might be a new product that is different. But I have never heard of a LAMINATE flooring that can be stapled down.
Are you sure that it is not a wood engineered flooring. Depending on the brand and application wood engineered floors acan be stapled, glued down, or floating (either snap lock or glued).
My mistake, it is a wood engineered floor!!
I was told it can be stapled.
If you have any experience with this type of flooring, I would like to hear of them!
Thanks!!
Laminate has come a long way in the last few years. There are veneer floors you can nail down but the floating click floors and glued engineered are the most common.
Like all wood/ composite flooring there are seasonal expansion issues.
Make sure you leave a 3/8" gap along all walls etc. Undercut all door openings and use a good foam underlay.
Find out about the best floors available in your area. Some products click together easily and others are a total PITA.
The first floating click floor I saw was in my cousins cottage at Kootenay Lake. When they bought a larger cottage they unclicked the floor and took it with them.
Since then I've installed a few. Wicked hard on sawblades. A slider is best, to score the laminate before cutting through. The good stuff goes in quickly. A couple of guys can do a house in a day, easy.
Gord
"When they bought a larger cottage they unclicked the floor and took it with them."
uhhh ....
they ain't gonna have enough.
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
They were building a larger cottage on the same site and decided to bulldoze the old one.
One of the locals asked if they could have the old cottage.
The forest behind was too heavy to truck it and they didn't want a swath of trees cleared, so the guy floated it down the Lake.
Kootenay Lake BC.
The second picture is decieving, the lake is over 4 miles wide at that point. (90 miles long)
View Image
View Image
Gord
Edited 5/4/2006 9:58 am by gordsco
The first floating click floor I saw was in my cousins cottage at Kootenay Lake. When they bought a larger cottage they unclicked the floor and took it with them.
Jeezs....
I thought they took the floor w/ them....then I saw the photos.
;-)