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May 10, 2008
Floating Flooring - Anyone Have It?
We are considering floating flooring for various reasons that I need not get into. I'm wondering if anyone has tried this and what you think of it. Does it feel solid? Does it creak to walk on? Is it durable? Any major negatives or positives? Thanks!
Comments
Floating floors are extremely popular. They are durable if you follow the correct maintenance recommendations. They often have a fairly hollow sound when you walk on them, but this can be minimized by using a high quality underlayment. I have written some free ebooks on this topic, including 'The Ultimate Laminate Flooring Buyer's Guide'. You are welcome to download them here http://www.home-improvement-time.com/free-ebooks/
Posted by: guest at May 11, 2008 2:44 AM
We have a floating floor over our radiant heat. It feels just like a normal floor. Make sure your subfloor is flat and use a good underlayment.
Posted by: vanburenproud at May 11, 2008 10:41 AM
I installed a floating floor a couple of months ago. Underlayment is important, as 2:44 indicates, to minimize the "hollow" sound. Floors seem very durable, and the one I chose can even be refinished. Most important point to laying a click-together floating floor, imho, is that the underlying floor is flat, otherwise it's pretty hard to get the planks to snap together.
Posted by: guest at May 12, 2008 10:44 AM
We chose floating floor (pergo) a few years back. Perhaps a similar reason as yourself. (subfloor issues? and layers of old flooring, potentially asbestos tiling you don't want to deal with?)
Similarly posted above, as long as your flooring is relatively leveled and the floating floor is carefully installed, no worries at all. We had a contractor do it for us since he was working on other stuff. And there were lots of nooks and crannies, entry ways and rounded walls to deal with. But if you have a simple square room, you could do it yourself easily.
We do have a few 'soft spots' where the floor below was less than level (at an entry point, and at an interior doorway) but other than that it is quite sturdy and durable. Granted, if your floor squeeks now, it will still squeek with a floating floor above it.
It's easy to clean and looks pretty good. we have it over a large swath of the house and it looks seemless. Most people don't even notice it's not 'real wood' flooring.
Posted by: guest at May 12, 2008 11:54 AM
I would choose a real-wood floating floor over a picture-of-wood floating floor because you can refinish and even sand a real-wood floating floor. Over time, this will save you money, as the picture-of-wood stuff can only be replaced as its age becomes a problem.
Posted by: vanburenproud at May 12, 2008 12:25 PM
Thanks so much for the feedback. I see to be faced with quite a dilemma. I will admit first, at the risk of being bashed on this site, that we are covering very expensive marble. We don't like the look at all so despite the haters, this is my reason to cover it. I've had 2 pros tell me that the house is too high quality to throw floating floors over the marble and with all the special cuts we'd need it's just not worth it. One guy said he would refuse the job if i wanted floating flooring. They both said the proper thing is to take up the marble and do it right, but this would mean a 2-3 week job because although only 500 sf, the marble was laid well and it will be a massive prep and demo job. Two other floor guys said they'd lay floating over the whole floor and it would be fine! I'm really at a loss here!
Posted by: BrooklynWilly at May 12, 2008 10:57 PM
Get a high-quality floating floor, leave the marble intact. You'll be doing a great service to the next owners of the house, who will probably feel like they have died and gone to heaven when they see it.
The contractors you talked to sound unhelpful. Screw them!
Posted by: guest at May 13, 2008 2:46 PM
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