Is laminate floor out of date ?

I hate my laminate flooring but we have a dog so carpets are not practical.

I wish mine would wear out - sometimes I feel like a change

It was from a firm specialising in laminate flooring, not off the shelf though and seems to be wearing too well after about 15+ years.

In your opinion Jaxie, my laminate flooring doesn't look horrible and certainly hasn't got any damage water or otherwise.

I would like old-fashioned parquet flooring in the hall though, by choice.

I have steam cleaned mine and it doesn't appear to have succumbed to water damage.

My laminate flooring downstairs does not look horrible and has been there since 2009.

Laminate is the equivalent of the linoleum we used to have in the 1950's; it's horrible but practical - but susceptible to water damage. I quite like WHITE wood effect laminate though.

Another option is cork tiles, don't laugh. They're not just off the 70s. Put them into attic conversion. Cream colour. Don't show the dirt, warm to the foot, have put up with endless abuse from previously teenage son. Look good after 12 years.
I also have laminate in kitchen and bathroom. They're looking a bit bashed up.
Original oak wooden floor in hall is the must forgiving surface of all.
As for my carpets elsewhere, they look dire after 20 years.

The flooring in our living room is made of 2 by 2 ins. tiles in a sort of mosaique. Shades of beige and green. It must have been laid well before we came, and is in perfect condition.
I wonder if you come across this in the UK?

and I should add that the laminate gets a lot more wear than the wood in the conservatory

We've got some laminate (which was a good make) which has worn well and some real (expensive!) wood in the conservatory which in fact has not worn so well and only 3 years old.

Engineered wood is the 'in' thing at the moment.

I originally had Quickstep laminate flooring in our kitchen/diner but was never that keen on it. Then we replaced it with Karndean and can recommend this above anything (apart from solid oak flooring which is definitely out of our price range!).
If you go to the head office of Karndean flooring with your measurements they will give you a virtual room design with so many options, you'll really be able to see what your room will look like.

We used an emulsion paint called Timeless to update magnolia walls. Looks much brighter now.

We had laminate throughout the ground floor in this house when we moved in. Great Plumbing Disaster of 2010 meant that kitchen, hall, living room and downstairs loo all needed replacing. Now we have carpet in living room and ceramic tiles in hall, kitchen and loo. We have a long Persian runner which we put down in the hall in winter. Much better arrangement, still have some laminate in dining room and conservatory but its days are numbered!

Our hall and kitchen floors are tiled. Looks great, easy to keep clean but feels cold to the feet. If you never go barefoot that's not a problem, and in summer it's nice and cool. We went to a specialist tile merchant and it cost about the same as laminate. We have had laminate before but it began to come up (glue gave up)after we had the occasional mishap in the kitchen.

I have replaced the old laminate I inherited when I moved in here with non slip vinyl, looks like wood and is so easy to clean and non slip, which is essential for me now.

I have a mop with a water tank on it (not steam) but it makes life so much easier, no bucket to fill or empty.

I have no dread of visiting GC or the dog now.........in fact dirt hardly shows on it...........bliss

I should add that I agree with the comments about using a proper underlay, both on a draughty floor with a void and on a solid floor. It makes the world of difference to both heat and noise.

One of my daughters has a floor similar to laminate but it is actually engineered wood, with a thick veneer of oak and a very durable seal on top. It is laid like laminate, with sheets of 3 planks clicking together in situ, and has a slightly matte finish so doesn't show marks.

She's had it down for around 18 months now in hall and living room and so far it shows no signs of wear at all. One of my sons has a laminate floor and it doesn't look nearly as good and has not worn so well.

We bought it on special offer with an additional discount from Homebase when the range was being discontinued, so it ended up costing only slightly more than laminate. Could I suggest that you look around at products like this in the DIY warehouses and grab an offer when it appears? For the small additional cost you get a much better looking floor which wears better.

I was a bit perplexed about the 'noise' factor too as I don't find it at all noisy. We don't wear hard shoes in the house anyway but it isn't at all noisy. Maybe in apartments it would be different.

It's interesting that people find laminate flooring noisy. If you have a good acoustic underlay underneath it, it should not be noisy. Neither should it be particularly cold. Good quality laminate is tough too. We've had a heavy piano moved on ours three times and it hasn't marked the floor at all.

I'm glad you said that Antonia as I was keeping my head down! I hate it too. Both my children have laminate in their houses and I find it so cold and hard and echoey. When they ring up I hear the echo on the phone. It's also very noisy walking on it. I think it's still fashionable, but personally I prefer the warmth and comfort of carpets.

Thanks Shanma
Have huge cump of rosemary in the garden and shall try it on my kitchen floor

My daughter has laminate in every room of her flat and it has worn really well and looks lovely. She had some that looks like ;arge square tiles and some that looks like floor boards. She has white floor boards in the bedroom which looks very classy. If you buy laminate that is too cheap it looks cheap but the more expensive one have grain and look like wood.

In our previous house we had some oak Wonderwoods (I think it was called) vinyl flooring put down in our hallway. Warmer than tiles, not noisy like laminate - wheelchair user in house so mucky wheels coming in! It was quite expensive but worth it as it was hard wearing and looked amazing - like real wood boards and people couldn't believe it wasn't the real thing. I'd love it again but we have too many variants of wood here already and one more would do my head in! I have had a tile effect vinyl laid instead.