Laminate Floors - experiences??

I would just love some feedback from those of you who have had laminate floors installed - where did you get them from? Who did you use to install them? How much, about, did it all cost?

Advice would also be greeeeatly appreciated!

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

I had almost the entire first floor of my house done - living room, dining room, foyer, kitchen and my master bedroom.

I LOVE IT! I have 3 dogs, it is so easy to clean up.

I have Pergo, purchased and installed by Home Depot, 2 years ago. It cost about $8500 for the whole thing. I could've had DH do it, buthe doesn't have alot of experience with it, my Dad would've helped, but it would've taken them forever to get it done. The professionals had it done in 1.5 days.

**Edited - I did not get a dark color - it's a medium color, it does show dust, but with 3 very large dogs, I don't have scratches. That being said, I put felt pads on the bottom of all the furniture and I put towels under the heavier furniture if we're going to move it.

Message edited 2/14/2011 8:36:50 AM.

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

I got mine at HD. I got a darker wood tone and my contractor told me it would show everything. And it does. Dirt, scratches, etc...

We have had our for 1 year and we have many scratches. I am disappointed in it.

Don't assume laminate floor is scratch proof. It's not! I have 2 dogs and a small child.

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

The floor store on Route 110 - we dealt with Rocky. He was excellent - We went with Shaw Laminate Flooring. We did a lighter color and we put it throughout the first floor of our home including the kitchen. We paid $2.99 a sq ft. Its really good flooring. We had a darker color laminate floor before which had a gloss to it. It was beautiful when it was clean but it showed every scratch, piece of dirt and anything else. It would get dirty so fast.

Here is a picture of the floor

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Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

We have laminate all downstairs. We bought from Lowes and installed it ourselves. Ours has held up beautifully - still looks brand new. We have a darker color also, and it does show dust, but so would anything darker colored. I agree with PP that not all laminates will resist scratches. Buy samples and see if they will resist being scratched by a coin or a key.

Message edited 2/14/2011 8:34:25 AM.

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

We bought ours from Lowes and DH and my dad installed it. We have it in our livingroom, diningroom and upstairs in the hallway.

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

I have laminate in my sunroom and kitchen, I hate them. OMG they show every single thing and I find them to be a pain to wash and dry. I think maybe the kitchen was the wrong room for them. I have hardwood in all the other rooms and they are so much easier than the laminate.

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

Love ours! We bought from lumber liquidators and installed them ourselves. We wanted a darker color and wider planks and lumber liq had these at a great price. I think we paid about $1200 total for everything (LR, DR, hallway, den).

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

Have any of you had stairs done?

That's my concern - how do they do stairs that are currently carpet?

Also - Scott - at $2.99 a square foot, about how much total did the project cost for how many rooms? That might help me figure out my space better. Thank you so much.

Thank you everyone! Big help!

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

IMO, that is expensive. I paid 1.25 sq ft at costco and it is a good quality laminate.
Cleans easy, pet friedly, mutple choice of colors. By time you finish the room with the floor, vapor barrier, you budget is gonna climb up there quick.

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

I dont remember the total price but we did around 1000 sq ft. So it was around $3000 I guess. We also got the Padding from the store.

The floor was more money but we got it on discount.

On our stairs - The landing we did Wood because we have hardwood upstairs

The funny thing is the wood was cheaper than the Laminate - we got that at Lowes

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

I agree with Costco - my sister got them at Costco but my Dad installed them for her. He has too much going on to install them for us - with my brother and all. I would buy them there in a second but I need someone to install them.

I think the quality of my sister's floor is great.

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

Generally speaking, someone to install flooring should run between $2 & $4 a SF, with $3/sf being the average.
It will depend on who is doing the job and what is involved, but this is a good rule of thumb. That is in addition to the cost of the floor.
Where I work, we have installers that we refer customers to. Always check references and make sure that they know what they are doing. But a laminate floor installation is easy and most homeowners can do it themselves. The first 3 rows are the hardest.
if you have any questions, please ask. DH and I both work for a flooring retailer.

Re: Laminate Floors - experiences??

I love Long Island Paneling and found a great price there.

I have the fancier line of Pergo, and the guy who installed them also came highly recommended - he was amazing.

His name is Phil and he was fast, reasonable, trustworthy....consider him like the "Willy the Painter" of laminate flooring installation.

He even did the base mouldings for us.

FM me for his number if you wish.

Message edited 2/15/2011 8:45:50 PM.