Are the people who have said these things giving advice based on their
laminate floors, or are they just perpetuating these things? I have the
cheapest laminate flooring you can buy in my kitchen (well, not the
cheapest, but close to it - Ikea Tundra with a 15 year warranty) and my dogs
(both with long nails when I don't get around to trimming them often enough)
have never came close to scratching the floor. I've had the floor for a
number of years now and it looks as good today as it did new. As for the
water ruining the floor - yeah I'm sure it could if you use the non-glued
together flooring *and* let a large amount of liquid sit and eventually seep
in.

So it is not true that laminate flooring does "not wear too well" and
although I'm sure it would look bad if scratched, it's almost impossible to
scratch it. Just last month I dragged a new refrigerator over it, and
removed the old one. Not a scratch left behind. But I guess I'm just lucky?

"Tim" <none@unavailable.org> wrote in message
news:oobufv4blih7oln787e7e5qnu12hd9d5tu@4ax.com...
> I've been looking into replacing our kitchen ceramic tile with a
> laminate. However almost everyone I've talked to say this is a bad
> idea.
>
> Not only does it not wear too well and look bad when scratched, but if
> it gets wet it will swell and turn real ugly on you. Water (or dog
> pee) cannot be allowed to seep into the under layer of composite
> material.
>
> So I'm going with real wood. Once I get the tile up that is...
>
>
> On 29 Jun 2003 07:36:58 -0700, russ@russ.net (Russ) wrote:
>
> >Hi.
> >
> >I'm preparing to rip up my nasty old green carpeting in the house, and
> >need some suggestions.
> >
> >I've decided to go with wood laminate, as I have two big labrador
> >retrievers who have big sharp nails and like to chase each other
> >around.
> >
> >I've narrowed it down to either Wilsonart or Mannington since I've
> >heard good things about both.  Would it be better to pick a 20 year
> >warantee model over a 15 year?  I understand the construction is
> >better on the 20 year ones vs 15.
> >
> >I am looking at ordering through either fastfloors.com diyflooring.com
> >ifloor.com or internetfloors.com.  They all seem to have roughly the
> >same ending price including shipping.
> >
> >Is there any way that I can save some money, like maybe by using some
> >other brand's underlayment (I was told it didn't matter which brand
> >you use, as long as you use the right type for the subfloor).
> >
> >Any suggestions overall?
>