New Flooring - Tile Vs. Hardwood

If you have dogs and young kids I would go with handscraped laminate. It looks like wood & does not scratch, has a 30 yr warranty and looks like wood - it will be hard to tell the difference. I thought I was going to put hardwoood floors in my home but I have 2 dogs and 2 young kids at home, I didn't want to have to refinish wood floors a few years after getting it installed - one of my friends had hardwood handscraped floors in their home & two years later they had to refinish the floors. Not all laminate is the same. I decided to install QuickStep in my home and I do not regret one bit - it's tough, looks like wood, it does not sound like most laminate when I walk on (it's quiet), does not scratch, and it is easier & faster to install than wood, and it's easy to clean. I don't have to worry about scratches & dents from kids & dogs. My dogs are Australian Shephards one is 65 lbs and the other is 45 lbs. My kids have dragged & dropped toys on the floor, rode bikes through the house and I have not had any damage to floor. RCN flooring installed our floor.
http://www.allflooringandtiles.com/home.htm

http://us.quick-step.com/?dir=products&page=viewSerie...

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A.,
My husband and I are thinking about replacing our carpet right now as well. We are looking at a tile that looks like wood planks. (Something similar to this: http://www.southcypress.com/Design-Gallery/Wood-Tile-Idea...)
A girlfriend of mine did it in her house and it looks fabulous - the benefits of tile with the look of wood.
Just thought I'd throw that out there for you to think about :)
D.

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I've been contemplating this same thing and have come to the conclusion that I like wood floors and reserve tile for the bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room. We have 3 kids and a dog so I'm going with handscraped and something mid-range in color. I also intend to consult with the floor experts to get their take on which wood floors stand up best to a busy family. I personally like the idea of bamboo but I've heard it doesn't have the resilience I need.

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We have hardwood in the living areas and bedrooms, and tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. I like having tile in kitchen and bath because those get wet and/or washed so often, but I prefer hardwood in the rest of the house. Tile is VERY slippery when it's wet and VERY hard if you fall on it or drop something. We have small children so I'd rather they fall on the wood floor and get a bruise than fall on the tile and chip a tooth.

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We have both. As far as durability the tile holds up better for us. We do have a lot of travertine which tends to pit and sometimes it is hard to keep any pits cleaned out. You can just grout them again though. I clean the tile with a steam cleaner.

We have wood in the formal areas (the nailed down, good stuff). LOVE it but it I find I am much more cautious with it because I don't want it to get wet, scratched, etc. I keep it dusted with a dust mop and Bruce hardwood floor cleaner.

I'm sorry I have no good reference for you. I'll be checking your post often to see if you get good references. We also want to remove the carpet in the other areas and use tile.

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we got wood downstairs when my youngest was 6 months...about 2 years ago. we have a 50 lb dog as well. we did have them hand scrape it to be more forgiving. I like it enough, we get compliments on it a LOT. I really thiink the scraping is the the answer...or was for us...we have knicked it, furniture has scratched it a bit (all covers easily w/ old english scratch cover), but you really can't tell because of the scrapes they put into it. if you are interested, feel free to email me and i can zip you a pic of what it looks like...
we used a great kid, starting out on his own after several years of experience...would hilghly recommend him...i'd have to track down his info though...
WHATEVER you decide....we ended up moving out for a couple days because of the dust...may not have if my kids were older, but w/ a 6 month old and 2yr old at the time...it was my best option. Stayed at the Homewood Suites down the road, it was great. BUT before we came back we called Nina Hayes Cleaning company to come clean the downstairs...it was VERY MESSY and they did a FANTASTIC job. I think it cost us about 300.00, but it was clean when we got home and after paying X amount for the floors, it seemed pretty nominal. there was NO WAY I could have done what they did at the time...so I would really recommend that. I would imagine tile would be just as messy with all the grout and cutting tiles inside.

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I had a house that had tile and we replaced it with wood and I loved the wood. Just did this out with wood too. The tile is definately durable, but it's also cold...cold in feeling and literally cold. I'm assuming you can get some darker tile that seem so cold, but I don't think you can get rid of the literal cold of the tile, especailly in the winter. I love the look of wood. As for kids/furniture, etc. Get hand scrapped wood and then any dings, nicks, etc. will just become part of the charm! I love, love, love Red Rock Custom Floors in Hurst. David Rodriguez is the owner and he was great. His guys worked their butts off and did a WONDERFUL job on my wood floors. You can customize the stain color to exactly what you want, and they will let you pick right there in your house with your floors, etc.

All that being said, tile is probably easier to clean b/c you can just damp mop it, but I still love wood.

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I have to second the new laminete plankings. They are really awesome. I would call a dealer and installer and ask to go see some of their work.

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Hello,

We have both tile and wood. For me, tile is easier to keep clean... But I absolutely love our wood. I have 3 boys, so we went with the handscraped wood in a dark color. It is so beautiful but I am sweeping it everyday it seems. Makes you think about all that stuff that was getting in the carpet before. If your style is shiny non scraped wood I would stick to formal areas that don't have high traffic. We just built our house this year and We already have several scratches in the wood but they aren't noticeable
since the wood is scraped. My mom has all tile
Throughout her house. She loves being able to clean it easily by mopping, but misses her wood floors. I think wood helps with the home value when
you sell as well... At least that is what our agent said last year when we put the house on the market. Sorry I don't have a clear answer.. I think either choice is great! Good luck! We used builders carpet and design center in McKinney on Alma and Eldorado. They used to only do new builds and custom homes but now are open to the public. We used them for our last house too.. Their products are wonderful and they do a great job installing
Too. We paid $8.50 sq ft for white oak installed/scraped/stained etc.

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We had tile and laminate and our house flooded. Naturally, the laminate was destroyed, but I was shocked that so was the tile. Also, the house moves slightly due to foundation, so the tile was cracked in a lot of places anyhow. When we re-floored, I wanted a flood-proof floor that was beautiful and forgiving of the house movement, and our 3 year old falling down.

I went with a vinyl "faux-wood" product that is planked like wood, but not tongue and groove. So it is easy to replace a single board if damaged. Which we have not had to do since installation in 2007. It is INDESTRUCTIBLE. We even had a fire in 3 rooms 2 years after the flood and it is flawless. The fire chief was stunned, of course, he thought it was real wood! Every person who sets foot on it or sees it thinks it is real.

It is temperature neutral, unlike tile, so always a pleasant cool, never cold in winter. It is water-PROOF, not just water-"resistant" which most woods claim to be, but really are not. We have 3 large dogs and 5 cats and 1 toddler. So spills happen everyday. We drop glass on it and they don't always break. And when toddie falls, no biggie.

Brand: Kardean, Product Line: Da Vinci, Color: Spanish Cedar

LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!

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