Real Hardwood next to Laminate Wood Floor

[Frank Jacobs]

We are considering installing laminate wood floor in a room that butts up to
real hardwood floor. The real hardwood is red oak; the laminate would be
maple. What are folks opinions of this in terms of how it would look?

The real hardwood runs the majority of the mainfloor; the laminate would
just be in a garage entry/laundry room. There is a door where entry/laundry
room ends and the real hardwood begins. This allows us to close off the
rooms. However, the door will often be open.

We considered installing a nice porcelain tile, but with muddy, snowy shoes,
wiping up will be much easier. With tile, it is hard to quickly wipe up dirt
as mud and stuff gets caught in the grout. Also, grout stains easily.

We currently have vinyl floor installed by the previous owner. We love its
functionality (easy cleaning), but not the look. We figured that the
laminate would be a good middle ground between vinyl floor and porcelain
tile since it has pretty good looks, durability, and cleaning up.

Any opinions of how this would look from a design perspective would be most
appreciated!

-Frank

[Tock]

IMHO, and I'm not a professional designer, but I see the situation like a
guy with a hairpiece. Even if it's a quality wig, if you try to pass it
off as "real," other folks just ain't gonna like it. But if you flaunt it
as an optional accessory by waving it at people from time to time, they know
that you know they know it's fake, and you know they know you know they know
it's fake and the whole thing is more acceptable.

If you put real wood next to fake, there's not much to be gained in paying
extra for high-quality fake wood because people are gonna squint at it and
wonder to themselves, "Gee, but that looks fake--what are these people
trying to get away with?"

If it was me, I'd either spring for the real stuff or make the difference
obvious. JMHO . . .

-Tock

[Frank Jacobs]

Thanks for the input. :-)

Normally, we would spring for the real stuff. However, this is a garage
entryway, so we figured that laminate would work much better than real wood
against water and dirt.

We hoped that by putting the laminate maple next to the real oak, that would
make the difference obvious and it would generally look ok.

Now if I could just figure something out with that baldspot!

Thanks,

Frank

Post by Tock
IMHO, and I'm not a professional designer, but I see the situation like a
guy with a hairpiece. Even if it's a quality wig, if you try to pass it
off as "real," other folks just ain't gonna like it. But if you flaunt
it as an optional accessory by waving it at people from time to time, they
know that you know they know it's fake, and you know they know you know
they know it's fake and the whole thing is more acceptable.
If you put real wood next to fake, there's not much to be gained in paying
extra for high-quality fake wood because people are gonna squint at it and
wonder to themselves, "Gee, but that looks fake--what are these people
trying to get away with?"
If it was me, I'd either spring for the real stuff or make the difference
obvious. JMHO . . .
-Tock

[Mark]

You can buy pre-finished solid wood flooring that's as indestructable as
the laminate stuff is, that'll probably match your old floor pretty
close. It's well milled, and has a number of coats of processed finish
on it. Since it's tongue & groove (like your old floor), you'll need a
plank nailing machine to install it, it doesn't glue down or snap
together like the lam floors. I'm converting a 3-season porch into a
"regular" room, and the pre-finished maple looks just like the
refinished 80-year old maple in the rest of the house. Comes in a
variety of different woods, I'm sure you can find a match w/ the oak in
the rest of your house.

Post by Frank Jacobs
Thanks for the input. :-)
Normally, we would spring for the real stuff. However, this is a garage
entryway, so we figured that laminate would work much better than real wood
against water and dirt.
We hoped that by putting the laminate maple next to the real oak, that would
make the difference obvious and it would generally look ok.
Now if I could just figure something out with that baldspot!
Thanks,
Frank

Post by Tock
IMHO, and I'm not a professional designer, but I see the situation like a
guy with a hairpiece. Even if it's a quality wig, if you try to pass it
off as "real," other folks just ain't gonna like it. But if you flaunt
it as an optional accessory by waving it at people from time to time, they
know that you know they know it's fake, and you know they know you know
they know it's fake and the whole thing is more acceptable.
If you put real wood next to fake, there's not much to be gained in paying
extra for high-quality fake wood because people are gonna squint at it and
wonder to themselves, "Gee, but that looks fake--what are these people
trying to get away with?"
If it was me, I'd either spring for the real stuff or make the difference
obvious. JMHO . . .
-Tock

[Frank Jacobs]

Thanks for the input. :-)

We had thought about having oak hardwood installed in that area, but since
it is a garage entryway, I think that the real oak will look pretty bad
after a while. It is going to get it's fair share of dirt and mud and would
probably get scratched up pretty quickly. We figured a laminate would
perform a lot better under these conditions.

Thanks,

Frank

[Jim Hunter]

Why not use a different natural material instead of matching wood colors?
Transition with slate, tile, etc...

Post by Frank Jacobs
Thanks for the input. :-)
We had thought about having oak hardwood installed in that area, but since
it is a garage entryway, I think that the real oak will look pretty bad
after a while. It is going to get it's fair share of dirt and mud and
would probably get scratched up pretty quickly. We figured a laminate
would perform a lot better under these conditions.
Thanks,
Frank