laminate or wood flooring?--update: perhaps cork?

[Therese's Mommy]

We are looking to replace our old disgusting carpets in our bedrooms. I felt like I was pretty set on laminate, but then I started wondering about outgassing. I really prefer to use natural products. Also, I have a child with loads of food and seasonal allergies and don't want to do anything that might tax her system more. Unfortunately, cost is an issue. What would you put down in my situation?

Thanks!

Beth

[LaughingHyena]

I haven't looked into the chemical issues, however IMO

Wood is warmer than laminate and wood is quieter than laminate (since it's not perfectly flat it absorbs more sound). For those reasons I would prefer wood, especially in a bedroom.

In larger rooms laminate can start to look odd since you can see that there are only a few "prints" you start (well DH does) the identical boards.

That said we are having the same discussions, mainly due to costs.

[bigteamug]

Look at the lower grades of wood - they will have more knots/character marks (which I rather like myself) than best quality, but are still cheaper. I would try for wood. Remember also that when laminate wears out, it's done, but if you have a solid wood floor, it can usually be refinished a time or two. You can also mix in different grades of wood (like a mix of 60% good grade and 40% lessor) to save some money. If you put wood in the closets, use the lessor stuff there....put really ugly pieces where they would be hidden - under furniture or in a closet.

You can also get "ends" (short pieces) cheaper, but you have to factor in the labor - whether it's your own time working, or someone who you pay.

I would also tend to think that a wood floor that you seal would have the stuff flow into the cracks, sealing it better than a laminate, in terms of places for dust to hide.

[Therese's Mommy]

I was just looking at stuff on Lumber Liquidators and came across cork tiles. They seem very affordable and from the reviews it seems that most people installed themselves. Any experience with this?

[LaughingHyena]

My parents had cork tiles in their kitchen. In the less well walked areas they were quite nice. In the well worn (and wetter) areas they did not last so well and went black after a few years. They were nice to stand on, defiantly warmer than laminate and things did not get broken as much as they do on their laminate. I think they would work well in a bedroom.

I seem to remember the glue they had to use to lay them was pretty nasty smelling stuff and they had to reseal them every couple of years. The varnish/sealent was not nice either. This was a few years ago so there may well be greener options now.

ETA: Look at how thick the tiles are, some can be sanded back and refinished, others are too thin.

[sunnysandiegan]

We have cork floors in our downstairs (main floor) and it!!! Ours are not the squares, though. Ours are planks and we installed them ourselves, which made it very affordable. We had a major flood and that's the only reason we changed our flooring. The carpet was ruined and the tile was cracked. We seriously disliked the tile anyway. Friends and the various contractor-types gently discussed the benefits of not having carpet anymore. We still liked the "warmth" of carpet and cushioning of the pad/carpet, which is what led me to research cork. I read a lot on the subject before deciding that was what I wanted. I just had to show it to DH & DD and they fell in love.

We got ours at Lowes on Memorial Day last year for a great price and got an additional discount for opening a new account with Lowes and had free financing for a year, which we only needed for a few weeks until the insurance check arrived. I banked the insurance check and let it accrue interest and paid off the balance before the interest was due. We actually paid LESS for our beautiful new cork floors than replacing our carpet and tile would have cost!

[beanma]

We just installed Marmoleum (natural linoleum—not vinyl) Click planks in our kitchen and love it. We got it on close-out and there are still some deals around. They've just upgraded their "click" system, so we got the old style for $2.99 a sq ft. Check ecohaus.com or other green building supply stores.

Marmoleum is made from linseed oil (flax), jute, etc. It has a lot of great properties going for it (anti-static, allergy-friendly etc) and comes in all kindsa colors. Very nice stuff.

[talia rose]

We LOVE our cork! We did Nova which does not use toxic glues and comes in 3ft x 1ft click planks. It was fairy easy to install ourselves. We sell eco flooring and have tried bamboo and Marmoleum and the cork is hands down our favorite!