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[DianaR]

I am half tempted to cover our existing wood floors with laminate, but am worried that the laminate will be too slippery and too heavy.

Is laminate fairly light weight?  Is it always as smooth as it feels kn the store or doesn't it get a little "grab" with use?

[KrisNY]

Oh no, why?  I love wood floors- Real hardwood floors that is.  I'm not into the fake wood or laminate.

Have you considered just redoing the hard wood floors and not covering them?

[Moondance]

I can understand using laminate if refinishing might be an issue.  Often, when refinishers step in they also want to do other things and you have to argue with them to get the one, simple thing you want done.

Laminate is also a great way to change the color of your flooring without having to strip everything down to bare wood.  IF you have dogs, you don't have to worry about their running and scratching the wood flooring that will be important to your resale value.

If I had pets and kids, I would do laminate.

[Dee]

We have semi solid, they are bit of real and a bit of laminate, very light weigh, they look real but with a soft sheen and half the cost of real hard wood. I love mine and everyone goes mad for them when they call.

[Lissy]

I love real wood, so I'd always prefer hardwood floors, but the cost can be a problem. I think something like what Dee has, real-looking yet not so expensive, would be a great solution.

[Moondance]

In a pinch, I would use floating laminate flooring.

Has anyone seen some of the exotic wood-like samples?

They are divine!

[knight]

I think hardwood is a better investment as far as longevity goes. However laminated ones are more resistant to moisture and water. If you are thinking of short term solution laminated ones would be the right choice.

[Ricardo]

I think laminate flooring is pretty light to work with and I know people who have it.

One person's laminate floor looks pretty good, but I can think of several examples otherwise where it seems to have shifted, exposing cracks between the sections.

Does anybody know what causes that?

[Moondance]

I think hardwood is a better investment as far as longevity goes. However laminated ones are more resistant to moisture and water. If you are thinking of short term solution laminated ones would be the right choice.

Wouldn't laminate be a good protective surface for hardwood flooring, especially if you plan on selling within the next few years?

You could pull off the laminate, since it would be the floating floor, revealing pristine hardwood floors that needn't be worked on for sales purposes.

[antkmom]

I believe that laminate is very easy to install and pretty light weight. 

I would redo the original hardwood floors.  My sister redid her whole house which has hardwood all threw and it turned out beautiful.

[kitti72]

Laminate flooring is nothing compared to wood flooring. Because it is a floating floor, it may damage the wood floors further.  Laminate is very light to work with but is also full of glues and sometimes these have a tendancy to bother people.  Why wouldn't you redue the woodflooring?  you can rent floor sanders and edgers from a rental company.

[kelsey1999]

we have laminated flooring. it is lightweight and not slippery. but we had it done from cement flooring, no hardwood floor underneath.

[Simplyme]

Laminate is a wonderful choice. As long as you look into your choices first before having it installed. My parent have laminate flooring that was put in years and years ago and they have had to do very minimal upkeep to maintain it.

If it is installed, treated and reinforced properly you should not have to worry to much about cracks between the sections but that is simply caused by the house, foundation shifting which is why you see cracks between boards on hardwood floors as well.

[joe]

laminate is always the better choice for your case. i would love to do that

[patrol71]

My mom put in laminate flooring in her new floor.  It's a dark cherry color and it looks fabulous.  It is quite slippery though.  I believe laminate is cheaper than hard wood, so it's a great choice when you have a small budget.