Laminate Flooring

[PorkChop]

Did this mindbogglingly godawful stuff ever catch on in New Zealand? (No offence if you like laminate floors. I still love you, even though you definitely have very very bad taste. )

So what do most houses have in the living areas and bedrooms? Laminate? Wood? Carpet? Lino? Concrete? Something else?

Anything I might need to consider about floor coverings that I wouldn't in the UK?

Thanks,

PC (who likes carpets or wooden floors)

[Super_BQ]

Laminated flooring hasn't caught on in NZ mainly because there's a huge industry in carpets. Even newly built houses don't use this material and old houses that see renovation rarely use this product. The problem I find with laminates is they're not really suited that well. In N. America they've been a big craze and favoured by home DIYers. The installations are very poor and give a spongy feel when you walk on.

Majority of the flooring is done in carpet - maybe 80%. The rest is vinyl and tiles. When it comes to high quality products like 'engineered timber wood flooring in planks", most ppl in NZ do not know what it is or can see the difference. They associate wood flooring as having problems of shrinkage, warpage, gaps between the T&G grooves, etc - none of these problems occur in engineered wood flooring. However, the price difference between laminates and engineered is 2 or 3 folds - enough to scare any home owner to choose such a product. To give you an idea, we had both our lounge room, living/dining/kitchen room done in oak engineered flooring, the cost was about $14K (just for 2 rooms). The carpeting to the rest of the whole house would be 1/2 that figure (for 6 bedrooms).

Another reason why I suspect laminates aren't taken seriously as floor covering in NZ is the cost of labour for installing usually amounts to more than what carpets can be layed down for.

You also have to factor how in NZ, houses aren't centrally heated so carpets add better comfort in rooms that aren't heated.

[PorkChop]

Great answer, thanks. When there hadn't been any replies for a few days I started wondering if I'd bumped into a secret den of laminate flooring fanciers who were giving me the cold shoulder. Loved your house building stuff BTW.

[G-Mo]

I built our last (North American) home in my spare time, using a small older home with laminate flooring as my starting point. I disliked the laminate floor that was in the older home initially and eventually replaced all the flooring in the house with Quebec Maple hardwood, however, with 2 dogs the hardwood took a beating! We are not carpet people (yuck!!!!), and they don't suit animals or humid (NZ!) climates for health reasons. Tile is meant for entrances, bathrooms and certain kitchens (travertine, slate, etc...). In preparation I have sourced two different laminates to ship over to NZ, one for our eventual house, and one for my eventual business space. 99c/square foot, and I know how to properly install. Couldn't be happier... Maybe I'll become a laminate importer/installer in NZ?!! LOL

[Super_BQ]

G-Mo, that's some intersting post. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't waste time on laminates and buy engineered flooring. They're probably 1/2 the price where you are compared to in NZ.

Unlike in N. America, you may encounter some installation challenges when installing those flooring products in NZ built houses. This has to do with the way houses are built in NZ. Older houses say pre-1980 mostly are built on piles and had solid wood flooring. The challenge is getting the floor flat but as you may know, wood floors tend to twist and warp over time. When you go to the effort of planing/sanding the floors flat, many people will gasp to say, "You're going to cover the lovely Rimu wood floors with another product?"

In my opinion, any flooring that tries to give the ressemblance of wood floors should NOT feel spongy. Almost all the laminate stuff I see doesn't seem to be thick enough or the floor isn't prepared flat enough to stop this spongy feeling. Worse of all, over time the movements turn into annoying squeaks as you walk on.

Be surprised that the type of carpets in NZ is nothing like in America.

[jawnbc]

Carpetting is a just a detritus trap/catchall. Yuck. I'll vote hardwood or engineered unless I had kids--then laminate makes sense for wear, tear and despair.