I am changing my carpet to laminate/wood flooring. I was told laminate is more durable and better on the budget. I have been in homes and businesses since deciding to do this and when walking on the floors it sounds hollow…I do not want this for my home. Is it like this with all laminate? Can you suggest anything that would be nice, durable and affordable?
Flooring – Wood vs Laminate Flooring
flooring
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Best Answer
First, we should clarify terms. Hardwood is pretty clear...it refers to solid wood that is nailed and/or glued to a subfloor.
Laminate is a it fuzzier. It's sometimes used to refer to Pergo, which is a flooring that has a top surface that is actually printed paper. It's fine, but not as durable as engineered laminates, which are more like plywood...having a solid wood top surface.
For this discussions, we'll omit the Pergo option as that's usually reserved for cheap rentals and the like.
Between engineered laminate and hardwood, it's really impossible to say one is more or less durable than the other, as it will heavily depend on the quality of the manufacturing, the protective finishing and, of course, the actual species of wood being used.
As for the 'hollow' sound, yes, laminates will sound like that because they float on top of of the floor rather than being connected directly to the subfloor. But you can reduce that by choosing a quality underlayment. I've had success personally using cork as an underlayment.
Today, I usually choose engineered flooring because:
However, hardwood flooring has one huge benefit over laminate:
The latter means a hardwood floor can last many, many decades.