Note - we are replacing the orange wood and the carpet in these adjacent rooms so I’m wondering if it’s worth replacing the tile as well.

Are you replacing the orange wood and carpet with white oak laminate? Do you have the budget?

Yes, we are planning to replace the orange wood and carpet with the white oak laminate. It will stretch our budget but I think we might regret it if we don’t.

If you’re going through all this expense and mess then get a high quality laminate. There is nothing worse than seeing
something cheap looking which doesn’t wear well or look good. Look into Luxury Vinyl as well. It’s water resistant so you don’t have to worry about it lifting, warping, etc., especially in the kitchen or powder room where there is water.

All the same …..

Agree all one flooring - even if you have to wait and save up for it. fwiw get the best pros you can for install, folks often skimp here and most Lvp and laminate fail bc of poor install - this is a great facebook group if you want to learn a lot about flooring https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1ChhfMPckn/

Laminate is now water resistant. No need to look at vinyl. A flat floor is important.

" Look into Luxury Vinyl as well. "

"Luxury" Vinyl is an oxymoron unfortunately. Not opposed to vinyl (I have it throughout), its just there is nothing "Luxury" about it.

If you think it makes sense financially, I would do it. I replaced 1500 s.f. of carpet with water resistant laminate and wish I had had the budget to do the other 450 s.f. of tile at the time.

I’m not a fan of laminate and it wouldn’t be a good choice in my neighborhood. But if you like it and it fits the house and neighborhood be consistent and use the same flooring throughout the first floor.

Hi Diana, what flooring would you recommend? We've looked at doing engineered hardwood, but the cost is over our budget.

Is there any urgency to this project? If not, consider saving for the engineered hardwood? I've been shopping both options for my basement and engineered flooring is just so much nicer IMHO. Though I think it really depends on the value of your house and area expectations. LVP seems to be the norm in mid range homes, whereas engineered is the norm (and expected) in high value homes. Where I live, you'd only put LVP or laminate in a basement (if you were concerned about resale).

Lower end engineered hardwood can be prone to scratches (higher end laminate and lvp will out perform it) so make sure if you do EH you spend enough to get good wear layer thickness, core construction etc

^^^^^ @la_la Girl has provided some good advice.

Engineered hardwood would be a great choice to use. I couldn't install vinyl/laminate in my neighborhood either - it would really effect the resale value of my home.

I installed European Oak engineered hardwood in my home a few years ago. It has a 4 or 5 mm wear layer = it can be refinished a couple times. I did not purchase flooring with an aluminum oxide finish because that would make it very difficult to refinish in the future. My EH has a 7 or 9 layer plywood core.

Just saw your question, lyndieyes. My preference is always site-finished hardwood, but that is probably the most expensive flooring. If your budget doesn't support that or engineered hardwood, then you're left with tile, vinyl or laminate. Of the three I'd probably choose the vinyl. Tile is unforgiving on your joints and on anything dropped on it. I had laminate once and it was not a good experience; maybe it's improved by now but I don't know that. I've seen some vinyl floors that were very realistic facsimiles of wood, so if you go that route, get the best you can afford. Good luck with your decision.

FWIW we went with laminate in a recent lake build (dogs, sand, water etc) it’s in a more rural area so I didn’t have a ton of choices - i went with the highest line of Mohawk Revwood (aka premier), my flooring pros really like working with this line bc they get zero complaints about it so that was a big selling point for me - for sure it’s not hardwood (i have that at home) but it feels nice underwood with good texture and I have zero worries with my always sandy wet dog or when my sons dripped thru the entire house over july 4th 😅

@la_la Girl - that floor looks nice! I am thinking about changing the floor in my lake house - I am going to take a look at the ones you installed.

I agree with @Diana Bier Interiors, LLC - I have site finished hardwood floors on my main level and they have held up really well. I am just about to have the refinished - the floors were installed thirty years ago (house built in 1996) and this will be the first time that they are refinished.

I went with engineered wood floors for my upstairs - it was much easier to have installed vs. site finished hardwood floors (I do wish that all of the floors were the same - however, I will refinish my main floor ones to work with the engineered wood floors upstairs).

@la_la Girl I've been looking at Revwood Premier as an option. What color is this? It looks really nice.

It’s called lighthouse oak - we get tons of eastern light in the AM and it can look a bit washed out then but warms up when the sun shifts - so just make sure to look samples in your space at different times of day. Once you think you have a winner order a whole box and lay it out so you’re comfortable with the pattern, repeats etc

Check out Kronotex laminate from Germany . We had the slate look one for 18 yrs with 3 huge dogs (all over 100 lbs) and not one scratch or issue .