hardwood vs laminate your thoughts?

[TudorChick]

debating...we have laminate in most of our home except for living room and master bedroom which are carpet.my sons room is laminate.he has had a few accidents in potty training and his floor is starting to lift and peel.it is hard to keep up with.i have to mop with a very light mop with minimal liquid.

is hardwood better as it is more resilient? i dont want to buy it if it lifts like laminate does.it is expensive and,well it's real wood..

your thoughts? do you have hardwood?

[Zonny]

When it comes to liquids I don't think that either one is great, but I think the hardwood is more durable.

Are the accidents happening in the same area a lot? Maybe have an absorbent pad in that area like a diaper change pad - I know we used to keep one by the toilet for when we got DS up in the night, sometimes he'd stand there mostly asleep and pee on the floor! Even a small piece of linoleum in that area might protect it until these days have passed.

[oddduck]

We have engineered hardwood... we've had water accidents and no lifting/peeling. It however is not nearly as resistant as I would like (scratches easily). We also had laminate for 6 years in an older house and did not have issues with it lifting or peeling either...

MIL had hardwood (oak) in her old house. One of my kiddies drained about half a water cooler on it, left it and it wasn't noticed for days... there was a water stain in that spot, but the wood itself didn't buckle.

[Poirot]

How about getting linoleum.

[iggysbabysitter]

My youngest son is finally past that stage but he often sleeps with his window open now, and if it rains his laminate floor lifts. I had considered getting the garage floor covering for his room. It's $200 at Costco, it's durrable and comes in a sheet. It's not permanant, so it can cover the floor in his next room; I like that it's no skid, too.

I'd keep that potty training on laminate for now, it's a short stage. I like laminate for price, but hardwood gets a better price on the house when you sell. I've had laminate in a house with big, heavy dogs and there was no scratching... not so in the hardwood rooms, though.

[ame555]

We have hardwood (our home was built in 1960) they are still in really good shape. (I think they may have been polished before we bought 5 years ago). They have seen spills and our crazy dog and two kids and so far they are in really good shape.

I know they are quite a bit more expensive and you may need a perfessional to install whereas laminate can be installed by yourself (or atleast we did when we finished the basement).

Zonny's idea is great to have the pad on the floor.