Is laminate floor out of date ?

Ours has never suffered any ill effects from regular washing.

I've washed my laminate flooring many many times why do you think it can't be washed? Teddy123

Ceramic tiles look nice and are easy to clean but I would recommend under floor heating as they can feel cold in winter.

As I am permanently in a wheelchair we cannot have rugs [they ruck up if I drive over them!] and carpets would have been difficult as our drive is gravel [and plant debris/shedded leaves after a rain storm] which gets caught in the wheel treads and brought into the house.

We have bamboo floors, because it is sustainable. It has been down for almost 5 years and looks just as good as when it was first laid.

Dh insisted on tiles in the kitchen. Four are damaged by dh dropping heavy things [three pans, one hammer] onto them, others are cracked, and I hate the way they look, but he "loathes lino" [his mother's choice, in her house. It was worn, but had been down for about 50 years when she passed on!].

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What Karen?

We have Karen in the conservatory. We were assured that it was suitable, but it has faded, an the bits under the chairs now look grubby. It looked lovely when new, just be careful which rooms you use it in!
We have 2 little dogs, so chose engineered wood for the lounge - not a goodchoice as it turns out. We one of the dogs was ill she was sick and wee'd a couple of times. As we were out / in bed at the time and it wasn't cleaned immediately, the floor now has dark stains in a few places. I wish we had gone for a good quality laminate.

We have 'Karndean' on the ground floor and it is excellent - warm underfoot, very attractive, and a real boon with a dog and cat (eight muddy paws!) about the house.

We inherited terracotta tiles which we couldn't afford to replace. They were cold underfoot and 9 years later we replaced them with Karndean wood effect which is laid in strips to resemble real wood. It has proved to be the best decision we ever made. The floor looks wonderful as we had a wide range of colours to choose from and made the right decision. It is warm underfoot and doesn't show the dirt. Cleaning is easy too.

I have been married for 42 years and lived in several different houses. I have always painted rooms magnolia as its clean and doesn't date. If paint gets scuffed with the back of a chair I just dab on more, which takes a minute only - easy - and still looks clean. You can introduce colour with cushions/curtains/blinds which I often change to keep it interesting. I also have laminate flooring instead of carpet downstairs because we have always had dogs and you can just wipe clean - easy

Well Im amazed! We have had laminate flooring in the kitchen for 20 years. It is washed at least every week. Apart from a few chips its absolutely fine. Much warmer underfoot than ceramic tiles.
I prefer carpet in the lounge and bedrooms - much more cosy and again only vacuumed once a week. Doesnt look dirty and Im not neurotic about germs!
Im all for easy care and don't care if Im not fashionable!

This is a really interesting thread for me. We have a flecked creamy carpet everywhere except kitchen, bathrooms and loos but the hall looks awful. We have decided to change the carpet in hall for something wood like. So there is lots to think about here.

I wouldn't like to get rid of the carpet anywhere else as I like the warmth.

i get loads of ideas for decorating from programmes like 60 minute makeover. don't like some but there are some ideas which are worth bearing in mind especially colours for paint and wallpaper.
lamiminate flooring has its place but these days it's generally engineered wood not laminate.
however, as a friend found out, laminate can make a room "echoey" and not as cosy as carpet.
i, for one, wouldn't forsake my carpet!

We had huge ceramic tiles in the hall with a well mat as you walk in. Looks smart, can be washed etc.
Carpet would have been very grubby by now whereas the tiles look good as new.

I'm not keen on laminate mainly cos you can't wash it. My daughter has wood in the entire ground floor ..... Looks fab & hard wearing. She bought hers on the internet and it wasn't exorbitant. No more expensive than an average carpet.

I'm sure whatever you choose it will look great.

Those long-legged dogs such as greyhounds and pointers do find hard floors a problem. We had a friend's pointer staying and his legs kept sliding in all directions . Smaller dogs with lower CoG seem to cope no problem.

I must admit Gilly that hard floors make the best race tracks. My crackers (from the Guide Dog Dogalogue) contain wind-up robins intended to be racing robins. My hope if that the GC will finding these entertaining after Christmas dinner and leave us humans adults free to enjoy our post-prandial talk, the hard floors making good robin race tracks.

On a practical note beware Karndean in a very sunny room. It fades! Mine has been replaced by suppliers but 2nd lot has now faded too.

Karndean and Amtico are both very expensive Anya and Harrigran gorgeous though .

I have a tiled hallway, kitchen and downstairs loo and a laminate floor in my dining/family room, it's been down for about 4 years and still looks as good as new. It does get a lot of punishment too and is constantly being swept, vacuumed and mopped. It is used as a race track a dance floor and is frequently covered in glue, glitter, paint, peas and grains of rice. Talk about "well used"

You don't have claws and long long legs (well maybe the latter!!) think the canine equivalent of Naomi Campbell in high heels. It's not getting purchase on the ground/floor because of the very small surface area of the paws in relation to the length of the legs. Try walking on tiptoes in smooth leather soled very high heels!

DaphneB My Karndean kitchen floor is far from slippery. My feet seem to be sticking to it as I walk about.

Solid floors and I include Karndean, can be very slippery for older dogs, as can tiles. I think laminate is probably worst of all. We have a tiled dining kitchen and I have Turtle mat runners everywhere as poor Grace has been known to come a cropper going round the table and also if she lies down, can't get up as she can't get any "purchase" on a slippery floor ?(Turtle mats happily go in the washing machine and drier though.)
Bear in mind, you have to trap dirt from outside somewhere. We used to have Minton tiles in our hallway in our old house, great, but there was more risk of dirt and mud being carried further into the house!

Laminated wood ('engineered' wood) is cheaper than wood floors and looks as good.

Be careful if stripping carpet to reveal original floor boards at ground floor level, check what is under the floor boards. If it is concrete or a solid floor, fine, but if it is void underneath, you will end up with a very cold house as drafts of cold air come up through the floor. DD found herself in this situation so put a layer of insulation with laminate floor on top and the difference in comfort was incredible.

It's mainly because of the dogs that we got rid of all downstairs carpets. Just brush or hoover on the full moon and a wipe bi-annual wipe down keep everything smelling fresh

Don't tell me it's out of date! We've just replaced the tiled floor in the dining room with light pine laminate that looks like stripped floor boards and is such an improvement!

I have had laminate down, in various rooms, for about 15 years. I have always bought the best I could afford and I can honestly say I have always been very pleased with it. As required, I give it a sweep over with a soft brush and once a week I wipe it over with a floor wipe.
My daughter has karndean and it is excellent. When her washer flooded she just mopped it up and the flooring wasn't affected at all. I would definitely have it if the budget allowed

We have had laminate down for over 8 yrs now and it looks as good as new,cleans well and looks modern it gives our smaller sized apartment a sense of space,I don't think we would ever consider carpets again as they carry so many germs and dust mites in their fibres.