What would TW do? Wood laminate or tile?

I have a small house, more like a town house about 1100 sqft of living space. A few months ago, I had tile installed throught the entire house, except the bedrooms. They still have carpet. Now it's time to rip that carpet out. I'm trying to decide on just doing them with the same tile the rest of the house has or do wood laminate.

I'm leaning more towards the wood, but am trying to decide on a shade. The rooms are small, but have high ceilings and I've heard darker colors make rooms look larger where as I thought lighter colors do.

I know it's probably best that I post pics and it's a personal preference, but I thought maybe I could get some ideas.

 

No tile in bedrooms. Too cold on barefeet and hard (if you fall out of bed or trip in the night). I say carpet or wood

 

You're right. This is exactly why I'm leaning more towards the wood.

 

I was going to say tile is too cold until I saw that youre in TX. Probably not an issue. I think wood will give you a bigger return if you sell.

By the way, look into actual hardwood. I my region at least it is comparable in price to the wood laminate and it is way nicer to have the real deal.

 

First, NEVER carpet in a bathroom - nor laminite due to the moisture. That's 101 stuff... the cold feet thing is negated by rugs and/or heating elements depending upon where you live.

Second, since it's a small home, it would've been best to tile the whole thing at once in the same tile (in general, many variable depending upon the layout). The reason for this is it creates a sense flow and looks much nicer, rather than a chopped up look where you can see the floor changing in each room. This is more important in a smaller home. These are general rules of design - not entirely rigid - depends upon the layout. In our house, you can see the entire house from a lot of points of view - at least you can see a bit of each room, where the room is connected to the hallway. We did all black slate in our house and it really makes the place look bigger (since it's not choppy going from floor type to floor type), and brings everything together. We have a small home... good luck!!

 

x2. I'd go tile or real wood flooring, no need to worry about cold feet where you live. You can do wood flooring for the cost of tile in a lot of cases (depends on wood type, cut, etc, but you can generally get a decent looking hardwood floor for the price of tile and it's easier to install IMO. What's the substrate? If it's concrete, you have to be careful with glue-down applications (laminate) because they don't always stick. If you have carpet now, it probably wouldn't be an issue.

If you're set on laminates, there is a composite out there that has a real wood veneer (like 1/4-1/2" of real wood on the face). This allows it to be sanded like a real solid wood floor but still has the longevity of a laminate floor.

 

Who said anything about carpet in a bathroom?

 

he never mentioned bathroom. but laminate or hardwood or prefinished hardwood is ok for bathrooms anyway....


i would do a dark prefinished hardwood if you have the money. laminates are and look cheap, real wood FTW.

 

Laminate or Wood is my vote. Easy to clean, helps with allergies and looks great! Not a fan of tile! Maybe in kitchen.

 

my bad - I was thinking he said bathroom, read it too fast.

it's okay for a bathroom, however it's not going to last as long. i wouldn't put laminate in a bathroom. it's a PIA to have to do it over when it needs replacing...

 

tile is
1. easy to clean,
2. helps with allergies (since it's not a dust-sponge like carpet is - carpet is disgusting once you realize how dirty it is and stays)
3. looks great.

both look great - not knocking wood, my reasoning is in a small house, consistent flooring looks better, from a design perspective. either can look great.

 

Like others have said I would go with wood in the bedroom. I would go ahead and get real wood flooring though and not the laminate. We installed it throughout our whole house minus the bathrooms and it looks great. Putting the glue down was a pain but it was well worth it in the end. Plus the real wood flooring doesn't have that hollow cushy sound when you walk on it. Worth the extra dough IMO. On a side note: we have high ceilings as well and went with a darker flooring. It did make the rooms look bigger and more open. I'm with pudge151, real wood FTW!

 

Tile itself is easy to clean, but some grouts are a nightmare! You can seal them but it's a tedious process just sealing the grout lines. If you seal the entire floor it can become very slippery. Each type of flooring has it's pros and cons, it really depends on the end user's needs.

Woody, you have some good design considerations listed! I'll be redoing my house shortly and those are some good things to keep in mind

 

I would go ahead and continue the tile...if you can match it.

I want to rip up all the carpet in my house and replace it with hardwoods I despise carpet with a passion! Especially with dogs. It takes me 2-3 hours to vacuum my 1700 sqft house with all the carpet. I've also thought about polishing and staining all the concrete in my house since I'm on a slab...but it's not as popular when it comes to resale.

Tile is a regional thing. In the coastal areas in the south, tile is in pretty much every house. It's more durable with the moisture and sandy soils. Try vacuuming sand out of carpet. HA GOOD LUCK! I don't care what vacuum you have. Hardwood floors also wear quickly in areas with sandy soil. The bottoms of your feet essentially turn into sandpaper.

Cold feet can be easily alieviated with rugs and/or slippers.

 

Thanks for the replies. The substrate is concrete. Real hardwood is too pricey fro me. About another 1.50-2.00 per square foot compared to tile. I've seen wood laminate in some houses and it looks great.

Should I decide on wood the only rooms where the floors would be changing is in the bedrooms. The entrance way, closets, hallway, kitchen, living room, main bathroom, etc., all have the same tile throughout. It just stops at the bedrooms. The color of the tile is a light creamish color to give you an idea.

FWIW, I plan to live in the house for another 2 years.

 

FYI you cannot apply real solid hardwood on a concrete substrate. It would need to be an engineered hardwood or laminate.

 

Let's hope the laminate looks good in 2 years... if you have dogs, etc., that would make the decision easy. If not and you know you can keep it looking good, then it's more an option.

 

You need a floating floor and building paper but you can use real hardwood on a concrete substrate. It can make the transition a little awkard because it'll sit up higher. The floating floor (plywood) and building paper (asphalt paper) creates a nailer for the real hardwood. I think that puts real hardwood out of your price range though OP. The floating floor adds a lot of cost.

 

Really? Hmm. First I've heard of this. I thought at least laminate can be installed on any smooth concrete surface.

I hope so, too. I'm not 100% set on either one, yet. I have a cat, but his front paws are declawed. You don't happen to have a picture of your floors do, you?




Another thing that was brought up in here is matching the tile I already have. I can't believe I didn't think about that. It's not that old, so I hope I can still find it.

 

True but for the money you would spend you can buy an engineered hardwood product.