>One option is installing some
>laminated hardwood flooring, like Pergo. Does anyone have some experience
>with this? Would taking on a task like this make my life a living hell?
>Or will it be pretty easy, and a good excuse to buy some more power tools?
We put in Pergo three years ago. It looks GREAT, many people will not
believe me when I tell them it's not real wood. But I paid someone to do
it. I was told that the surface (concrete slab for me) had to be perfectly
flat --- it looked that way to me. But when the installer showed up, he
walked around and said "too low here" and "too high here", etc. Then he
came back and filled in the low areas (which I still couldn't see) with
patch cement.
There was quite a lot of cutting and fitting involved, more than I would
have anticipated, but this guy was extremely careful about his work. He
"undercut" around all the doorways so that the flooring actually goes under
the door jambs. The whole thing floats on a 1/8" pad of foam material,
which also gives it more of a wooden feel and sound when walking.
I guess you could do it yourself but be prepared for a large job. You
might want to consider at least hiring an experienced helper if you don't
contract out the job completely.
See the brand new issue of Consumer Reports, in which wood and fake-wood
floorings are rated. Pergo was rated much higher than most. It was also
rated as the most scratch and dent resistant. It will still get dents and
scratches, but certainly not as badly as real wood. I put the best pads I
could find on the table and chair legs and haven't had visible scratched
areas yet, even with two kids. Have dropped a couple of cans that have
made small dents; I filled one of the big one in with epoxy.
Lee M. Daniels Laboratory for Molecular Structure and Bonding
daniels@tamu.edu Texas A&M University
'74 TR6 '88 XJ6 http://acs.tamu.edu/~lmd1191
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