Wood, Parquet or Laminate???

Senior Member Joined: May 29 2006 Posts: 196

I'm renovating now, and I dont know if to put real wood parquet down or the lamenation for floors.
What are the pros and cons of each?
Anyone have any experiece/advice?

We used laminate and I am really sorry that we weren't able to spend the money for parquet. The pros of laminate that I know of are that it's much cheaper and supposedly easier to maintain. The cons (IMO) are that laminate is colder, doesn't have the sheen or beauty of parquet and I find it very difficult to keep clean.

Senior Member Joined: May 29 2006 Posts: 196

Anyone else?

Diamond Member Joined: Apr 03 2006 Posts: 4473

I have a parquet and I am very happy with it. It is easy to keep clean and everything but every time I see a scratch I get SO sad.
But I know that I can always resand and varnish it if I wanted to.
So, although laminite is cheaper I don't think you can fix scratches, or sand it or anything.
It really depends on what your budget is. I think parquet or hardwood has a nice long life because you can revarnish it, but it's more expensive. I don't think laminite has the same longevity, but it's a cheaper expense now.

Platinum Member Joined: Jan 01 2006 Posts: 48223

There are 2 kinds of floors?

Diamond Member Joined: Apr 03 2006 Posts: 4473

3 kinds

Diamond Member Joined: Apr 03 2006 Posts: 4473

Laminite- synthetic wood, cheapest
Parquet- made of real wood but can only be sanded and revarnished so many times
Hardwood- most expensive, can be sanded and revarnished almost as many times as you want (assuming you don't do it every year Smile

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Senior Member Joined: Jun 17 2004 Posts: 243

laminate floors are def. cheaper, but IMHO, putting down parquet or hardwood is an investment. think of the long run...
We have hardwood floors. it came with the house (well, it was hidden under hideous carpet, so we just uncovered it). it costed us a fortune just to sand, stain and varnish-but thta's also because it's a very very large area (2100 square feet). but it was worth it, it looks beautiful, and true, I get nervous about scratches, that's why I have a "no shoes in the house" policy. worse comes to worst, we can always resand it (usually done evry 10 years btw)

Active Poster Joined: Nov 20 2006 Posts: 46

we had laminate put down on polished floor boards!
Not sure how good an idea it was now.
I love the look of the laminate - it's smart and bright and really easy to clean but it has a couple of deep scraches in it that can't be fixed ( as far as I know )
also we had a bit of a leak in one area and the board swelled a bit and has not gone down yet. doesn't look like it ever will!
you might have the same problem with parquet though!
dunno
good luck in deciding.

Senior Member Joined: May 29 2006 Posts: 196

Thanks, you really helped me decide. I'll go for the wood.
However I didnt know there were two types of wood - parquet and hardwood.
Whats the difference?

Diamond Member Joined: Apr 03 2006 Posts: 4473

Well, parquet has a maximum time you can revarnish. But people don't varnish that often, so it shouldn't matter. It also looks different then hardwood. Hardwood is long rectangular pieces of wood. Parquet are smaller rectangular pieces of wood that make up those squares. So the floor looks like squares, but really each square is made up of 4 little rectangular pieces of wood. You know what I'm talking about?

So again, it depends on your budget and how long you are planning to stay in this house. If this is the house you will be in ad meah vaesrim, then it might be more worth it to just spend the money and put in the hardwood now. If you are planning to move in 10 years or whatever, then you might as well put in the parquet.

Although if you do decide to put in parquet in a house that you are staying in for long term, then there is nothing wrong with parquet, because it is cheaper.

I have heard that the resale value jumps up considerebly when eighter parquet or hardwood is used, whereas with laminate it doesn't Confused

Diamond Member Joined: Apr 30 2004 Posts: 4367

what about ceramic tile?
it can cost 1$ per square foot and up.
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Platinum Member Joined: Jan 01 2006 Posts: 48223

wow, I wonder what I have...........

Diamond Member Joined: Apr 03 2006 Posts: 4473