Wood Floors vs. Laminate Flooring

Need someone advice. I am getting new carpet put into our basement (TV Room/Play Room). But after the week we had with a sick dog (I won't go into detail) all our carpets upstairs (Living Room, Dining Room, Hallway) need to be replaced ASAP. I think after this past week we are deciding not to do carpet. I have a 9 month old daughter and the carpets are such a mess that I won't let her crawl on them. We are thinking about doing either wood floors or laminate flooring (ie pergo) with area rugs. My problem is that we have two crazy 80 lbs dogs and I am afraid if I invest the money in wood floors, they will damage them too quickly. So I was wondering if you could share some of your experiences with wood floors vs. laminate flooring. I have heard both negative and positive things about both floors and dogs!

Thanks in advance for any information you can share.

I had to replace my carpets too for cats! UGH! I put Pergo type flooring in my living room and it's holding up very well. My cats are not dogs of course, but they are at least 20 lbs each!

They have their claws and sometimes they have an accident. Truthfully, we did it for the cost. We also had to put a subfloor down first since the floor was uneven. That was an added expense but would have to be done with wood or Pergo.

If I could have done wood, I would have, but we were only in the house a few months and well $$ was not abundant. Happy with the choice though. The floors don't scratch like softer wood floors. I have a cherry floor in the kitchen and you drop something and you have a nick in it. So I would recommend something like that. I have pine hardwoods upstairs and even though they are really old, they are in good shape.

good luck with your decision.

The wood might not stand up as well as the pergo with the dogs but, having lived with pergo, I wouldn't put it in my main living areas again. Pergo cleans up easily and doesn't damage easily but I don't like the look as much as real wood (IMO) and it is 'clacky'. I like my wood floors much better that I have now.

My mother has a wood/laminate hybrid floor (1 year old...it's a laminate with a thin wood layer on top) and a labrador. They aren't holding up well at all! There are so many scratches and she has to wipe the floors often so the seams are lifting. Let me tell you it is no fault of hers b/c she dries them well. My mother is meticulous about her flooring...she vaccumms 3x a day and shampoos her carpets 2x a month! The over cleaning has gotten the best of the floor.

We have the wilson art (laminate) flooring in our house and are very happy with it... however, if money was no object i would get real wood in a heartbeat...

FILs have the pergo in the living room and real wood in their bedroom... they also have 3 dogs (one golden, a springer spaniel and a chiwawa) ... they are content with the pergo and how it has held up with the dogs... some places are starting to peal up... but that might be the cleaning lady's fault for not drying it well when she mops it weekly... who knows... i know if they would have done it again, they would do all real wood... but at the time that is what the budget allowed and they are fine with the decision... it was also put over tile floor, so they didnt feel like going through the trouble of ripping up the tile floor...

so i guess what i am trying to say is, if you have the money for the real wood, it is definitely worth the investment, if you dont, im sure you will be just as content with the pergo...

hth!

my parents don't have dogs lol but they just got a wood laminate floor from Empire and it's BEAUTIFUL!!! The room they put it in gets very little traffic, thought! HTH!