Comments on: Little House and Laminate Flooring

By: Laminate Flooring

Laminate Flooring — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:01:15 +0000

Agree with “Nick Electric radiant floor heat” thought. It is very easy to install Laminate flooring in your new home. And it gives a traditional touch to your floors. It has a huge variety of styles which can make your home attractive and pleasant.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:57:03 +0000

For laminate flooring in “wet” areas, use underlayment that is made specifically for this purpose.

I also love the idea of cork flooring. Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity to try it out sometime in our future home improvements.

By: Ilana

Ilana — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:40:39 +0000

I’ve had the same experience with two rambunctious dogs and laminate flooring – no scratches, and it’s beautiful and easy to install. I recommend this.

PS – a rug can be rolled up and sent off for cleaning without any disruption to the living space (ie. no waiting for wet carpet to dry). VERY important in a tiny house!

By: Nick Electric radiant floor heat

Nick Electric radiant floor heat — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:15:15 +0000

Laminate flooring is the best to choose for a new house. The reason behind the rapid laminate wood flooring growth is the ease of installing laminate flooring. Its durable too.

By: Mo Skba

Mo Skba — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:23:19 +0000

Timely discussion as we are debating the viability and affordability of flooring we will put in our little place. Thanks for posting.

By: Kerri

Kerri — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:22:41 +0000

XsTatiC,

I think it is all about what we can do reasonably to minimize harm. For us, it didn’t seem quite the worry when there was conflicting data on laminate and the amount of VOC’s to go any further. As well, we have the durability issue with the dogs. However, we do spend more money to buy organic, free range meat, dairy and eggs, as well as premium food for the dogs.
This discussion makes me think of the time a friend of mine was spouting the chemical dangers of my using Coffee Mate each morning – all while she sucked on a cigarette!

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:00:42 +0000

I wonder about the ecological credentials of bamboo. If it’s expensive then presumably the money is being spent somewhere along the supply chain. It might be on labour but I suspect it’s on processes which would be better avoided.

I’m quite keen on cork tiles, particularly for bathrooms and low traffic areas (e.g., bedrooms). Here in the UK cork comes mostly from Portugal so it’s not travelled too far and the source will be reasonably well managed.

The previous times I’ve used them I used polyurethane sealant. I have some more to do in the next few days (completing a bathroom replacement) and would have liked to use something a bit more breathable. However, the tiles I bought in rather a hurry already had one coat of polyurethane so I’ll finish off with that.

My thinking with preferring a breathable sealant, particularly for bathrooms, would be that any water that gets in at the edges could evaporate back out again. On the other hand, the 10 year old previous set of cork tiles in this bathroom where in fine condition when I had to rip them up for other reasons.

Anybody got any ideas for a suitable breathable sealant for future reference?

By: XsTatiC

XsTatiC — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:27:06 +0000

@Mark
“Unless you are willing to spend great sums of money or know of a secret stash of reclaimed wood, you are going to have to make compromises.”

Pretty much every single town in North America has access to a local lumber yard. That’s the actual reality. There is no secret stash and it doesn’t need to be reclaimed (though there’s lots of that too if you look). Trees still grow and are harvested right here! People are just choosing boxed products. The thing is… it’s not even that much cheaper than buying local, natural when you’re talking about a small space. (note: of course calculated by percentage it would be the same escalation in small space as it is in large, but overall cost isn’t that much in a small space… ie: yes, large sums of money on a big house… but we are talking about small spaces here ).

Anyway, you are right about it being personal choice. Laminate boxed products are not only cheaper, but also convenient. And we are surrounded by chemical laden products and won’t escape it. As for people being stressed about the topic… there’s a difference about being stressed and just stating opinions. Bills and too much work, now that’s stressful. I fully respect everyones personal choices, even though I may disagree with them.

For me it just seems like a decision of waving a white flag and giving up. For others it’s not even something they consider. There are so many things that we’re surrounded with that are full of toxic substances, that even when we have the choice to have something that isn’t, a large percentage of the argument is “well, everything else is full of chemicals, so what does it matter if this is too?”.

Anyway… I should be doing work while at work . I didn’t mean to preach. To each their own.

By: Roxanne @ Champion of My Heart

Roxanne @ Champion of My Heart — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:11:20 +0000

It’s a good thing you did NOT go with bamboo. We looked into it, and (thankfully) were warned that it is too soft for a home with dogs.

By: Kerri

Kerri — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:45:03 +0000

Wow. I had no idea flooring would spark such a lively discussion! Thank you all for your thoughts. I touched a little on the environmental aspect of our choice, but price and durability played such an important part of our decision, I didn’t write this article with that thought in mind.
However, I will note that the literature I’ve read suggests that many natural pre-treated hardwood floors do release some formaldehyde or VOCs, especially in the first few weeks after installation. On the other hand, most laminates certified by NALFA for sale in the U.S. comes well under the acceptable level for VOCs. I suppose there could be the argument as to whether ANY level of VOCs is acceptable. But I’m with Mark on this one, can we really sidestep all of the chemicals that is put into our world on a daily basis? I could well be equally as scared of my cell phone, my well water or I suppose the radiation released by my computer monitor for that matter. I do know for a fact that although I’m in the woods closer to nature, my allergies do not rule my life now as they did when I lived in a house with carpet (and after what we saw was under that carpet and pad, it was no wonder).
I’m also very sure, eg, that the damage my dogs (or any large dogs -we have 2 large, 2 small) would create on hardwood in our tiny house would be more than I could keep up with and definitely not look like “cherished used space.”