My wife and I are thinking about getting a new floor in our house. We are thinking about a PVC floor because we have a big dog. Is there anybody who has some experience with these type of floors? What did you think of them, what are the advantages and the disadvantages? Thanks
Sounds like a bad idea. PVC has a natural degradation cycle that occurs because of the way it is formulated. You don't want to be around when that starts happening. Also, PVC off gasses for years. There have been some links to carcinogens in the early stages but also potentially off gasses phthalates which can interfere or mimic hormones (estrogen, for example). I don't know anything about PVC flooring and don't know if they claim to do something to it to stabilize but I would shy away from anything that was made of PVC.
I work in home remodel and a big issue a lot of home owners have is pets and floors. If you want wood like floors, Laminate is probably the direction you should be going, that or wood tile (porcelain and ceramic tiles that look like wood). Laminate being the cheaper route.
We have a wooden floor now, but it is very old and not that good anymore. We were thinking about a PVC floor since the shops here say that it is stronger than Laminate and wood, and it doesn't damage as fast as laminate. What is your experience with PVC floor? does it scratch less? is it much colder?
Don't know anything about PVC. But I've been seriously considering cork flooring in my kitchen, den area, bathroom, and hallway. And wood lamanent in the livingroom and bedrooms.
Depends on the grade of Vinyl floor you are getting. I have dealt mainly with the higher grade Vinyl flooring (same price range as some tile and entry level wood) and haven't had any issues personally. However a majority of homes I have done have been Tile or wood (laminate included). Vinyl is easier on cleaning/maintenance and have a variety of styles now so you could get vinyl that looks like wood or tile and you would never know the difference looking at it, but once you stepped on it of course it would be a different story. I dont want to lead you one direction or the other, but from the prices I have seen, Tile, Laminate, and Vinyl could all be in the same price range.
I really have not worked with cork flooring. From what I have been told (via working in the field) it is sort of a fad for flooring. Functionality wise it doesnt offer anything ground breaking. A lot of people seem to get it just to get it. thats just my 2 cents though.
If the floor is still structurally sound, it may be best to sand and refinish. You can do that many times with a real wood floor. If it is engineered wood, then I think it can be done at least once or twice.
Thanks for the tip. But that has already been done a couple of times. And we doubt that it is possible to do it again.
