Real Wood vs Laminate

Heard mixed views about this

Fitted Laminate in the office room a couple of months back and thinks it's fantastic. It wasn't the cheapest laminate though, but a doddle to fit and after weeks of my office chair going back and forth over it there's not a single mark on it...phew!

Now we are planning to do the lounge and hallway

Whilst I am happy with the laminate in the office, I just thought I'd ask what everyones views are between laminate and real wood.

My friend used to have real wood and after two years ripped it up and replaced with laminate. He said real wood is a nightmare and scratches easily. He is very happy with his laminate.

another friend (well work mate) swears by laminate and has had his down for nearly ten years.

Then I go on some random forums and read people saying to go with real wood I'm not after the glossy look, quite like a natural oak matte finish

Laminate can chip, also can be hard to colour match so make sure you buy in one go and it's all the same batch number if you go down that route...

You should be able to get laminate in a fairly "flat" finish, the cheaper ones tend to be a "blonde" sort of birch colour and very glossy, so shop around.

As far as real wood is concerned, have always been told that this is more prone to expansion and contraction, that you should leave a gap around the edge of the room and use very good underlay.

Edit: Real wood will scratch easier as it's natural wood and therefore softer than a man-made material, but don't let that put you off unless it's in an extremely high-footfall area / roller chairs etc...

It's a while since i've been involved with either and prefer carpet myself, but Real-Wood is very good if you can get it cheaply.

So two of your friends, who know and trust, swear by laminate... and you yourself have laminate and think it's great.

But random people on internet forums think wood is better, for reasons that you don't make clear.

Ok.

Richdog said:

So two of your friends, who know and trust, swear by laminate... and you yourself have laminate and think it's great.

But random people on internet forums think wood is better, for reasons that you don't make clear.

Ok.

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well when I'm spending £400+ I'd like to get the advice from as many people as possible.

That ok?

robz21 said:

Laminate can chip, also can be hard to colour match so make sure you buy in one go and it's all the same batch number if you go down that route...

You should be able to get laminate in a fairly "flat" finish, the cheaper ones tend to be a "blonde" sort of birch colour and very glossy, so shop around.

As far as real wood is concerned, have always been told that this is more prone to expansion and contraction, that you should leave a gap around the edge of the room and use very good underlay.

Edit: Real wood will scratch easier as it's natural wood and therefore softer than a man-made material, but don't let that put you off unless it's in an extremely high-footfall area / roller chairs etc...

It's a while since i've been involved with either and prefer carpet myself, but Real-Wood is very good if you can get it cheaply.

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Yeah, the chipping part is what is holding me back to be honest. I've seen a few makes of laminate which claims to be ten times stronger than other laminates so I'm thinking about choosing one of them.

I'll be fitting under the skirting and there's a good gap under the plasterboard walls so the expansion gap won't be a problem.

It's just the whole scratch thing with real wood. I have two small children who WILL scratch it with their toys

Thanks for the reply

Bear in mind that you can "refinish" (Read : Sand/stain) real wood to repair or extend it's life.

At the end of the day, go with whichever your happiest with, i'd personally go down to my local DIY superstore and pick up a sample of each to compare, and give it all the abuse it'd be getting to see how it fares.

I myself prefer engineer flooring to real wood planks every time, more stable.
Engineer flooring has typically between 3-7mm real wood layer, though you can get up to 15mm with some top brands.
Finished correctly engineer flooring will wear better & probably outlast laminate.

Engineer flooring should only need resanding about every 10 years on average.

The scratches on real wood add 'character' .

Laminate will be more resistant to scratches and chips as the wear layer is incredibly hard. So hard that it causes little sparks when cutting it with a circular saw! Whereas real wood is either varnished or oiled, which is really quite soft in comparison. But as has been said it can be re-finished.

You can also repair chips in laminate. I have only chipped mine by dropping a knife on it and I repaired it with a dark oak kitchen worktop repair kit, but you can get laminate floor specific ones. You wouldn't know the repair is there unless you got very close to it.

Another option is Amtico or Karndean type vinyl, I never would have considered this until I saw it in a friends house, really really impressive, without many of the drawbacks.

I have quite a bit of experience with this decision as recently I had to make a choice between engineered wood and laminate.

I strongly considered Engineered wood for a while due to very good reasoning supplied in this sub-forum but, like you, I noticed that it scratches really easily (I got 7 different samples).

The truth is that laminate does have its place despite the very real risk of chipping.

The conclusions I came to were:

1) Laminate has a FAR superior wear layer but some are better than others (do not buy the cheap IKEA laminate Tundra - I don't care if it is made in Germany it is JUNK) I went with Quick-Step and it is the real deal for very decent money.

2) Chipping - As said this is THE drawback to laminate but it depends on the brand. Quick-Step (and other medium to high priced laminate) is far better than anything from IKEA (common sense I suppose) at resisting chipping but the BEST way to defend against chipping is to buy V-Groove laminate - this is where the edges dip thereby giving you a nice effect but also this does very well to keep the edges (where the chipping will occur) away from your feet/shoes and your furniture.

3) Styles - aesthetically many will say that whatever type of flooring they go with they want a natural wood effect. IF so they'll be fine with engineered wood or laminate BUT if, like me, you don't want your floor to actually look like plain oiled/varnished wood planks then laminate has much more variety.

cheers,

Superficial said:

the BEST way to defend against chipping is to buy V-Groove laminate - this is where the edges dip thereby giving you a nice effect but also this does very well to keep the edges (where the chipping will occur) away from your feet/shoes and your furniture.

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This is the only type of laminate they should make! I see so many laminate floors that aren't v-grooved and the edges are all lifted and they look a complete mess when the sun light highlights all the raised edges.