Laminate Flooring?

[Uncle Cracker]

Interesting, I have a 95 lb dog along with the lesser priced floor in my livingroom and there are no scratches.

I don't think price necessarily equates to durability. One of the best examples I can think of is my neighbor, who is a custom builder. He used some really high dollar flooring, and his yellow lab turned it into a shambles. He had to replace it all within 6 months. Looking at it, I don't think I could have done more damage with a chisel.

[3thumbs]

I tore the carpet out of two rooms, and replaced it with Lumber Liquidators pre-finished Tiger Strand Bamboo. I rented a nailer and did it myself for less than it would have cost to do laminate. In my opinion, it looks much nicer than any laminate.
I can't vouch for it's resistance to a 90 pound dog, but I think that it would hold up just fine.
DM

[chopnhack]

Probably, most installers never bother to check to see that the sub floor is flat. They rely heavily on the vapor barrier and padding to "take up" the highs and lows, which is b.s. If you dont make some attempt at flattening the floor its not going to work out very well. I have seen my share of pergo and although they are durable, the various ones that I have seen looked too fake. I have personally had the wilson art and can vouch that it was a good product, very tough (my router table insert is a piece!) and much more lifelike.

The only installation that I have seen of "pergo-style" flooring was done over a concrete slab. The installers laid down a thin foam sheet under the laminate.

The end result was horrible. The floor compressed as one stepped on it. It felt very cheap and made noise with each step. If you didn't know there was concrete below, you would think that the floor joists were undersized - that was the effect.

Perhaps this was an incorrect installation????