ᐅ Flooring. Laminate, engineered hardwood, vinyl? Where is the best place to buy?

This office chair has been rolling over the hardwood floor for 2 years!

Grym schrieb:
RobsonMKK, Alex85: Your experiences completely contradict the almost unanimous opinion of experts available online (websites of parquet installers, articles on websites, etc.).

I can’t really tell you much about that. Really, I can’t. I also don’t want to argue against it. It may well be that annually oiling the floor helps preserve it better. But the people I know apparently don’t do that. They also refuse to sand the floor after 20 years because the patina is deliberately desired.

As I said. That subjective argument.

Do you base your decisions purely on datasheets?
We are talking – I repeat – about flooring for a LIVING SPACE. It’s not primarily about finding the most rationally effective flooring for a manufacturing hall, garage, or basement. Of course, price, durability, and so on also matter. But first clarify your priorities. What do you actually like?
After all, there is a huge difference between parquet and vinyl, far beyond car comparisons. One is a high-quality natural product, the other is printed plastic. Again: priorities—what is important to you?

In that respect, parquet “feels” like parquet in terms of quality. Then—subjectively—there is nothing better except solid wood or natural stone (although I personally find the latter unattractive).
But feeling in terms of touch, smell, and so on is extremely important for flooring—remember: living space!!

So you really believe that the advice to oil once a year is unnecessary, even though it is so frequently recommended?
You think oiled parquet can keep up with or even outperform vinyl with usage class 23/34 in terms of resistance?

Based on what you have described so far, my only recommendation is to concrete your living room floor.
Then you can study the label beforehand and compare which one is the best.

Grym schrieb:


So you really believe that the advice to oil the floor once a year isn’t necessary, even though it’s recommended so often?
Do you think that oiled parquet can match or even outperform vinyl with wear rating class 23/34 in terms of durability? Moving furniture around, a swivel chair with casters, a ride-on toy, things being dropped—none of these are a problem for oiled parquet?
Is oiled parquet also ideal for dirt and mud in the entrance area?
And for the kitchen? Where spills happen and cleaning up perfectly only occurs a few hours after eating?

Hello,

We have had cheap, mid-range, and expensive engineered parquet, carpet, laminate, cork, and now 2.5cm (1 inch) thick solid hardwood flooring oiled, plus laminate and tiles.
Cheap beech engineered parquet with a 4mm (0.16 inch) wear layer scratched immediately—one dog walking across it left scratches, one remote control dropped from 40cm (16 inches) caused a dent. Cork was an absolute nightmare; it attracted dirt like nothing else and couldn’t be properly cleaned anymore. So far, the laminate has no scratches that we’ve noticed and still looks like new; it’s very low maintenance. Our solid hardwood floor does scratch and definitely doesn’t look like the bamboo under the chair casters (bamboo is extremely hard anyway). You just have to accept scratches on parquet and say it makes it look nicer as it ages. At least, that’s what you read everywhere.
If you occasionally wipe the parquet with a lightly damp cloth, the oil slowly disappears from the wood pores and you’ll need to re-oil, otherwise the floor gets dirty quickly. However, you can also oil only parts of the floor, for example leaving out the entrance area and the part under the cabinet. Three weeks ago, we re-oiled our wooden floor in the office completely—it’s a bit of work, but afterwards it looks very nice again.
However, I believe lacquered parquet has only disadvantages. The floor feels about as cold as laminate, scratches are very visible, moisture penetrates through the scratches into the wood, and the scratches turn gray, making the floor look unattractive.

Best regards,
Sabine

This is what our floor looks like. Bobby cars are driven on it, doll strollers, Duplo blocks are played with, and so on.

@RobsonMKK
You have very nice floorboards!

ypg schrieb:

This office chair has been rolling over the hardwood floor for 2 years!

And is it now oiled (so, unfinished) solid bamboo flooring? Never re-oiled and no damage? Planning to keep it that way for now?