Home Flooring

[PeterT]

Any of you have opinions on different flooring types?

With the still ongoing repairs of my home from fire damage, I'll need to install new flooring in the living room / dining room / bedrooms and hallway.

Any thoughts from the masses on Laminate vs Vinyl vs Wood?

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Any of you have opinions on different flooring types?

With the still ongoing repairs of my home from fire damage, I'll need to install new flooring in the living room / dining room / bedrooms and hallway.

Any thoughts from the masses on Laminate vs Vinyl vs Wood?

Cork laminate is nice, especially with an underlay.

[DNSB]

My preference is hardwood but laminate looks good and a heck of a lot cheaper. Vinyl used to be a better choice for durability and water resistance but laminate and vinyl are pretty much equal now. For either vinyl or laminate, a quality underlay is pretty much necessary.

[Quoth]

We did living room with clip together oak boards (pre-sealed) on an underlay.
Kitchen and hall with quarry tiles.

The ground floor is solid concrete/cement stuff.

Not all vinyl and laminate are equal and both are poor in high traffic areas. There are massive differences in underlay, from thin light-weight foam (like a parcel wrap) to self adhesive waterproof high density stuff like a heavy-duty wet-suit material.

Edit:
Laminate certainly can work well in bedrooms and vinyl in a bathroom.

[pdurrant]

I've always liked a solid wood floor. For bathrooms I like actual linoleum, rather than vinyl.