Yep. Have it wall to wall including bedrooms. Live in socal on a slab, so solid Hw wasn’t an option. Wood fades with the sunlight and lots of west facing windows. Pool. Kids. Dogs. Tile wasn’t cheap but looks great and we love it. No cracks/chips or scratches in 3 years. Have 8”x40” tile laid in a couple patterns. Herringbone in living room. Gives it a different look and breaks up the space, then run in a long pattern the rest of the house.

Are your kids spilling caustic chemicals or you planning to get balsa wood floors? I grew up with hardwood floors and have them now. Your concerns seem nonsensical without further elaboration because one of the beauties of hardwood floors is you can spill stuff on it and it just wipes up

I have it wall to wall in the entire house and love it.

I'll post a picture later

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"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix

This! We had high end wood in SoCal and although it looked good and we took meticulous care of it, the dogs still managed to scratch the crap out of it. Sadly our current place also has wood. It was too expensive to replace it but we often say "sure wish we had that wood look tile! Most of our friends here have it and love it.

We have hardwood floors. There’s no substitute.

Cats barf on it, kid spills on it. It’s scratch, faded and creeks when you walk on it.

That stuff is called “character.”

Every room except the kitchen had it installed when the place was build in 1937. We resurfaced it in 2005 and added new hardwood to the kitchen at that time.

If I had wood looking tile I’d rip it out and replace it with hardwood.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

We have wood throughout the main floor. The kitchen is full of "character" as you call it. Every time one of us drops a knife, a can, a child, whatever... more "character".

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Preach it brother

kitchen I can see going with stone floor but that's because it needs to be mopped.

How frequently are you dropping your kid?

Two things I have learned...

When you have stone floors in your kitchen, if you drop something, even from 2 inches off the floor... it will break.

When you drop something on wood, it will dent the floor.

As for dropping my kids...

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Same here. Porcelain wood-look tile on the concrete slab floors. Very nice, not too hard to DIY.

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king of the road says you move too slow
KING OF THE ROAD SAYS YOU MOVE TOO SLOW

I feel bad for people that need everything to look new all the time.

Also I despise "printed" wood.

We recently put heated wood grained tile in a Reno. It looks great, is durable, but it's such a hard, unforgiving surface I wouldn't want it wall to wall in my home. The clients love it though so I suppose it's a matter of preference.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

More or less the same in my place. Original oak from '58. It is beat to shit as we haven't refinished yet. Lovely yellow/orange 100% asbestos linoleum in the kitchen. When we do the kitchen, we will replace it with oak to match and refinish the whole house.

Honestly, if it was worth it, I'd rip it up, go over the old squeaky subfloor with 1/2"plywood, and get engineered hardwood glued down. It's just nicer, and it's still wood and can be refinished if you choose.

The squeaks, cracks and character are great, but it does get old having to re-enact a scene from mission impossible at 4:30 every morning trying to hug the bearing walls and miss all the squeaks in the floor to not wake up our toddler.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

When I see it places, I tend to like it if the design is such that it "owns up" to being tile instead of trying to "fake it till you make it".

We have a crawl space house with about 2/3 hardwoods. No crazy hot sun from any windows or sharp clawed pets. We don't let kids "grind" crap on the floors. I would hope people would watch their crotch fruit enough anyway that they aren't doing that to anything, out kids know better.

But, I've seen it and would use it somewhere. I likely wouldn't use it for an entire house replacement of hardwood, as you can tell.

Most of the wood grained tile I have seen is pretty high end stuff and doesn't pretend to be wood like laminate flooring would. It looks like a quality product. It's just a matter of whether or not you like that look.


I don't know who would let kids grind shit on their floors, but, kids are kids and accidents happen. One of the reasons we haven't done our floor is because we have a big dog, a toddler and might have one more. The floor won't look perfect for very long.

I can't tell you how many renovations I've done for people who insist on spending thousands of dollars to go through crazy measures to protect new floors until their project ends, then when I come back for a follow up a month or so after the project ends, there are scratches everywhere from their pets or from moving furniture etc.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

We put in cement look plank tiles in a bathroom remodel and I love them! So easy to care for- the long skinny design makes the room look bigger.

Do you have in floor heat? I’m temped to do the same but hate cold feet. Our friends have tile floor with in floor heat and it is amazing!

We live in a 1920 bungalow. The entire first floor is original hardwood. The entire second floor is wood laminate. LOVE the wood laminate!

I agree with Duffy that nothing can substitute for real wood. I also agree that the scratches and stains add character. Finally, I agree that real wood floors can be re-sanded and re-coated.

BUT ... the laminate is wonderful. Visitors to our house think the upstairs is real wood, just like downstairs. Of course, upon inspection, you can tell it is not, but, that's how good the laminate works. The clean-up is so easy with the laminate. When a dog pisses on the first floor, depending on where it is, some of it seeps into the basement. When a dog pisses on the second floor, it is liquid-proof and nothing seeps into the floorboards.

We have a floor steam cleaner. About every 2-3 weeks, I run it over the laminate and it looks brand new again. Takes minutes. On the hardwood floors, we have to use a mop and wood soap. A LOT more effort.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

A year and a half ago I redid some flooring in my house. My downstairs had maple hardwood, the upstairs carpet. Ripped out carpet and put in hickory upstairs, refinished maple downstars. (they floor guy originally thought the maple WAS hickory, so hickory got installed upstairs to match, and when they went to sand and patch for new kitchen, realized downstairs was NOT hickory, but maple).

Anywho. The hickory kicks the maple's ass in terms of durability. I have a 90 pound lab and the downstairs maple floors are already ruined with scratches, and the upstairs hickory hardly a scratch. In short, go for the hardest wood (hehe) you can find. My hickory floors are gorgeous.

I loved the tile floor that came with my old house - until I moved in. It's hard, cold and SLIPPERY when it's wet. I have crappy lino in the new house - it stays until we do a full renovation.

We have a really nice tile in our kitchen - I hate "faux finishes" as a rule but made an exception in this case. Love the look and the product has been exceptional:

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"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

Laying down another 400 Sq ft of wood now. Love the look and feel of hardwood. And instead of wearing out like carpet it looks better with age.

Whole house tile seems like it would be too cold and hard.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

^^ This. Faux wood products are tacky. All types. That includes the fake wood tiles and the laminate floors, et al. Sorry.

I can tolerate tiles that mimic real stone or slate or just look like tiles. That works OK.

Real wood floors are great. The more they get scratched and scuffed, the better they look (mostly). Wood floors should not be soaking up or staining from liquids. That's why you stain and seal them.

Get the real wood floors.

.

Haha - no, nothing caustic. Can’t afford real hardwood. Milk, cereal, water, vomit, they want a dog one day, flooding toilets and 3 boys who can’t hit a toilet bowl to save their own lives - just regular old kid stuff.

Maybe it’s because we’re renting and any time something happens to the wood floors I panic because I don’t want to have to repair someone else’s floors. We’ve never lived in a house or condo with wood floors until now. Always had carpet, linoleum, or tile.

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Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

Haha!!

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Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

Yes, we will have in floor heat. Without that, it’s a nonstarter. It would be absolutely frigid!! Shoot - we’d probably be going with carpet everywhere but the kitchen and bathrooms if we didn’t have in floor heat - it’s too damn cold here from late October to May!!

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Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

I probably should have said we can’t afford real hardwood. So laminate would be the other option instead of hardwood. This is definitely an option too. Thanks!

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Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

With in floor heat I would 100% go tile. Love lying on the floor at our friends place on the warm tiles.

Ah, yes, wood floors are definitely more expensive, which is why even though I love them, I don't have them in my house.

If $$ is a limiter, the I guess real wood is not an option :*) I'd still choose a non faux-wood type tile then.

I ripped up all the carpet and linoleum in my house when i bought it and put tile in.

.

I had real hard wood in my first house. I have installed pergo and engineered hardwood (clearance products for small rooms). My current house has engineered hard wood and my in-laws across the street had solid oak floors. Both builder installed ~2 years old. I have also lived in older houses with old solid oak floors.

So here are my opinions.


Old Oak floors 1960 and earlier are head and shoulders ahead of most newer wood floors. They have tight seems and usually have a fully sealed surface or very few gaps in the finish.

Newer pre-finished hardwoods are nice depending on wood density, how they were finished and how well they are installed. My first house was pre-finished of an unknown type. anytime something was spilled on the floor if found a seam between boards and ran into the sub floor (not Ideal). Overall the wood was of decently high quality and resisted scratching well. Now my in-laws and come to think of it two more home owners in the area that I know have solid oak floors installed ~ 2-3 years ago buy the builder. Pre-finished garbage. The oak is slightly more dense than pine and in the first year they all have major gouges up to 1/8" deep.

Last summer the in-laws replaced the oak with wood look tile. The water/spill stains on the sub floor were amazing for only being 1.5 years old.

My current house shows some wear from the dog but nothing like the in-laws or the cheaper engineered hardwood I installed in my old house. In 5-10 years maybe sooner depending on how the flooring holds up I will be putting some form of tile in with sub floor heating. I have been interested in the luxury vinyl but it still seems cheep to me.

Are you talking porcelain tile that looks like wood or vinyl tile that looks like wood?

Are they really though? Especially if you will be in the house long term.

Top end hardwood is $7/ft, with a lot of varieties being half as much or less, install around here costs $3/ft. Or if you are decently adept, you can install it yourself. It takes some skills, but you don't have to be a master carpenter, just patient.

So cost of hardwood is basically $5 or $6 - $10/ft installed. Which isn't that far off of carpet. And it will outlive you. Carpet will not. And carpet never is clean, no matter what you do.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

We did it in our kitchen a few years ago, we have loved it.

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~Brad

We just reno'd our entire upstairs last year... Got heated tile in master bath, which we love love love, but outside of that feel like tile is too cold & hard ~ end up needing to put on shoes just to walk around the house any length of time, although it can look lovely in the right color/pattern (but not faux wood grain for ceramic tile ever, since the grout lines make it way too obvious that it's not even close to actual wood; just get some sort of stone or more vivid color pattern if you're gonna bother w/ tile for real).

Wife wanted real wood, but A) cost too much, and B) wanted something we didn't have to worry about getting wet in the kitchen all the time. Ended up getting the new-fangled vinyl plank (which i'd not even heard of previously) and would do it again. The cheaper versions look super obviously fake, but the higher-end choices look much better if it's installed well ~ there are only a couple places where you can see a pattern repeat too closely, and i'm an absolute OCD freak about shit like that; most folks like my wife would never notice unless I point it out. Cost was reasonable, durability has been pretty good (only a couple of bad scratches where we got careless moving furniture; it had seemed tough enough before, we could have avoided fucking it up easily enough w/ only a little more thought). I also like that it has just enough give/flex in it (along w/ the foam backing layer) that it's more forgiving ~ both in terms of walking comfort, and for a nice smooth install on an older/uneven subfloor.

Have various friends/fam w/ real wood, tile, and the EZ-install wood laminate ~ all of which I've paid much closer attention to since we had to make that same choice, and still feel like the LVP is the best trade-off for general use between material/install cost, looks, and durability/care.

Just finished our kitchen, put in Luxury Vinyl planking. LOVE it. Stuff is taking over the flooring world. Its not your old vinyl floor.

Just one brand. http://www.usfloorsllc.com/...tegory/coretec-plus/

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

That is a nice stove.

Please. Do not listen to the stretchy jean wearing, poo water drinking, Green Bay fanboy. Laminate is disgusting. It looks as terrible as JSA looks in his denim yoga pants.

If budget is an issue, use vinyl plank flooring. It looks way better then laminate, wears just as well, is around the same price point, and is currently decimating the laminate flooring industry.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

2nd this.

DONT DO LAMINATE, you wont be happy. LOVE our new Vinyl Luxury Planking its awesome

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

So every reply to the OP is correct, because it depends.

If I were JSA in a 1920s bungalow, or Duffy in a salt-free/mud-free Santa Barbara environment then go natural, because it can certainly take it.

Not humble bragging here but I own multiple houses--most of them high-end rentals. And quite simply from a PITA-maintenance factor the natural stone, or high-end ceramic is better (to maintain). They clean up better. They can take a ton of abuse. And if a stone/tile breaks, fixing it is pretty ez. That being said, there is something about hardwood floors in bedrooms that is really really nice (especially vs carpet). And our ski houses present much better due to the "mountain-chic" feel that hardwoods give the bedrooms.

And it also depends on where. I moved from Pasadena to MI about 2 years ago---our Pasadena house had hardwoods in bedrooms and in the "formal" LR/DR, and was great, but the travertine in the main walkways/living area/kitchen was bombproof. We moved to MI and bought a house with ALL hardwoods.....and I wish I hadn't (aside from the weather talking about the hardwoods-only; keep in mind we are talking 2 big dogs + 2 kids <13). Hardwoods don't do great in massive temp/humidity swings. They stain (which is good/bad depending on whether you want character). Salt (winter) is really, really hard on them. So is sun. Young kids are not hardwood friendly (especially dark hardwoods which don't do well with water stains). We end up having runners & rugs in the living areas to keep dog scratches & midwest dirt/mud/salt/chlorine from destroying them. Especially in the kitchen---hardwoods in a kitchen are a no bueno.

We redid our walkout basement when we bought the place and put in a combo of fake wood glue-down rubber/laminate/pergo 10.0-whatever, + the ceramic look-alike in the bathrooms.....and I hate to say it is awesome. On a high moisture slab it hasn't moved, and it has been bullet proof. Do I want it everywhere in my house? Maybe.....to each his/her own. But there is no perfect answer. Just anything is better than carpet (well maybe except on stairs......).

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____________
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

Uh, no, you moose-fucking, shit-beer-drinking, awkwardly feminine, hose blower. In addition, my buttocks look sublime in my denim man-leggings to the point that you would look, twice, with desire and lust.

Appearance

Not long ago, it was quite easy to distinguish vinyl from laminate flooring. Vinyl floors were usually sheet goods with printed patterns, often designed to look roughly like ceramic tile, though not very convincingly. And laminate plank floors were "wood look-alikes" that was also less than convincing since they looked and felt like the plastic materials they were. But modern laminate flooring and luxury vinyl can now both look remarkably like wood, stone, ceramics, or just about any material. They may even have three-dimensional texture to the surfaces, such as forms that resemble hand-scraped hardwood.

and

Real Estate Value

There is a slight edge to laminate flooring here, as it is usually regarded as superior to vinyl when it comes to improving the resale value of a home. But vinyl flooring's stature has been creeping upward in recent years, especially with the introduction of luxury vinyl flooring (LVF). But while buyers may expect—or excuse—vinyl flooring in the bathroom, they will cast a more critical eye on a living room floored with vinyl, even good-quality luxury vinyl plank flooring.

https://www.thespruce.com/...ate-flooring-1822800

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

You call me awkwardly feminine, yet, you wear denim yoga pants. You make fun of our beer, yet, your local offering is old milwuakee. You wear cheese on your head, and let your dogs piss in your house for Christ's sake.

As for your cute article it is mostly discussing sheet vinyl, which does look cheap. I am talking about vinyl plank, which is an entirely different product. Vinyl plank is simply superior to laminate. Any professional would agree.

Also, that article says laminate flooring is 99% wood. That is not entirely accurate, nor is it a good thing in an alternative to wood floor. See, with your shitty laminate flooring, the 1% that isn't wood is the wear layer. That's why it looks so bad. But you still get the instability of the wood substrate, which is where you want wood the least. It's literally the worst of both worlds. No wonder you cheese heads like it so much!!!

At least the article got one thing right in mentioning that LVP is taking over the laminate industry.

I work in the renovation industry. The only people still using laminate here are the cheapest of cheap spec builders and lowest end renovators. I'm glad you found some in the home Depot clearance bin that fit your tastes and budget, but, I wouldn't be trying to sell others on it.

You've got great taste in cigars, bourbon and watches, but I'd leave the home renovation tips to others, my friend!

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Long Chile was a silly place.

If you are going to offer nothing but an argument from authority, then stick to the issues you know best: man-moose love, being good at only one sport, apologizing for everything, and going "oot and aboot!"

You seem pretty worked up about my denim man-leggings. Not surprised. If you took one look at my sublime buttocks gently cradled by said man-legging, it would move. You know it. I know it. Now the LR knows it.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

It's called knowledge. All you brought to the table is an article from Spruce comparing your disgusting floors to a product I wasn't even talking about (sheet vinyl).

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Long Chile was a silly place.

You must really, really know stoves to spot it at that angle but yes, we've been thrilled. We got a deal where we bought the fridge and stove and they threw in the hood and dishwasher and all 4 have been flawless for 5 years now. Brand is Thermador which are a turn cheaper than the best known fancy brands (Viking, Wolf) but really well specced and built.

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"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

Nope. It talks about "luxury" plank vinyl as well. Stick to a topic you know, like man-moose love.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures I sent of my sublime buttocks clad in my denim man-leggings. At first, I was a little taken aback when you PMed me and asked for the pictures. But, then I thought - yeah, I get it, go ahead and drink it in!

It moved when you looked at the pictures, didn't it?

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR