most durable floor per cost?

[luv2liv]

what is the most durable flooring per cost?
personally, i like tile. in my experience they are virtually indestructible, easy to clean, and dirt cheap to buy and install. too bad i cant have it in this new house where tiles will be freezing to walk on in the winter months. i know i can have them heated but that just add costs.
so what is the next best thing? vinyl? some friends have vinyl flooring that looks just like hard wood. they swore their kids cant destroy vinyl.

 

[Bardock]

tile is best just get some rugs or slippers

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Wow you want it all huh? It's difficult to get nice, cheap, easy to install, and indestructible all in one. It also depends alot on the house. Some houses with perfect subfloors are great for tile. My old house tile would be a disaster.

I'm partial to wood floors. Wood flooring has a natural beauty and elegance and feels warmer. It is stain-resistant, easy-to-clean and offers long-term versatility because it can be sanded and refinished. It's fairly easy to install. It is not cheap.

 

[DrPizza]

Most durable, lowest cost flooring would simply be to have a house that's on a slab, and paint the concrete floors, with some throw rugs.

As far as wood floors, there are a lot of different hardnesses that you can work with. Pine is easily dented, compared to bamboo, for instance. If I had to take a wild guess at "durable per cost," I'd guess cheap carpeting with cheap padding. That would be why people who rent out cheap homes often use that. And, the alternative would be cheap laminate flooring, in bamboo. (Under $1 per square foot; I think I've seen it on sale at discount stores for 59 cents per square foot.) You can probably get 10 years out of it before it needs to be replaced.

 

[luv2liv]

i like hardwood too but the ones i looked at were $4/sqft. would buy if i intend to live in this house more than 4 years.
cheap laminate made of bamboo? can you send me a link of what you are recommending?

the laminates i got are horrible! they look nice and reasonable at $1.70/sqft. but if a drop of water gets between the laminates, it will expand and a bulge can be seen. there is no way that i know that will shrink the bulge back to normal.
the boxes of the laminates look like it was made in germany. but i got them from a chinese floor shop. my uncle got nice hardwood floors from the same shop. and 2 years later, all of his hardfloor shows discoloration! ouch. buyers beware indeed

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Cheap carpeting will be destroyed pretty easily. If this is for a rent house, vinyl planks. Many landlords have to replace carpets after just 1 year of renters. The vinyl lasts better. Make the tenants buy their own rugs.

 

[marvdmartian]

Cheap carpeting will be destroyed pretty easily. If this is for a rent house, vinyl planks. Many landlords have to replace carpets after just 1 year of renters. The vinyl lasts better. Make the tenants buy their own rugs.

AND, make sure they understand that they're responsible for damages to the floor, so you suggest they buy and use soft tips or pads, for their furniture with legs/feet that could damage the flooring. Rubber tips for chairs & tables, or those cups/pads that are carpeted on the bottom, for heavier items.

 

[Riverhound777]

I went with wood grain looking tile throughout. And while I love the look, I may have picked the wrong tile. I didn't really pay attention to the texture when I got my samples. It's a bit rough, like 200 grit sand paper. Which means it scuffs easily and it is a pain to clean. Not sure if all wood grain tile is like that, but this one is. Too late now, but we'll see over time if I hate it.

 

[CA19100]

so what is the next best thing? vinyl? some friends have vinyl flooring that looks just like hard wood. they swore their kids cant destroy vinyl.

I just did my downstairs in this stuff, and am extremely happy with it:

http://www.usfloorsllc.com/display-category/coretec-plus/

(Specifically, the 5" plank in "Norwegian Maple.") It's tough, looks good, really easy to keep clean, and has a cork underlay that helps a little bit with the cold floor issue.

 

[luv2liv]

wow, that Norwegian Maple looks good and waterproof too!
strangely theres no pricing anywhere on the page, guess i will have to call them and ask. how much did you pay per sqft?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I always think some nice bamboo wood flooring is worth every penny. I would gravitate towards a more darker tone, it's harder to see things like smudges, dings, etc...

More importantly, unlike carpet - I found hardwood to be easy peasy to install yourself. Most hardwood these days simply snap together and that's pretty much it.

But if you're just putting in flooring for other people (such as a rental home), then I would just go with builder's grade carpet.... Especially if you can't trust the people moving in to not spill or ruin things.

 

[CA19100]

wow, that Norwegian Maple looks good and waterproof too!
strangely theres no pricing anywhere on the page, guess i will have to call them and ask. how much did you pay per sqft?

Sorry, I just came across your reply; not sure how I missed it before.

Honestly not sure on the exact pricing of the floor -- it was part of an insurance claim for a busted water line on our ice maker that destroyed the cheap laminate floor that was there before. I paid the price difference between replacing it with more cheap laminate and this stuff, and it was about $2/sqft more. (It was about 550 square feet I was replacing, and it was an $1100 upgrade.) No idea if that was a competitive price or not, but I'm still happy I made the change. I'll still have to pull it up and let the subfloor dry if there's ever another flood, but at least I won't have to replace it again!