Unbiased Floor Advice – Does it still exist?

This was a question was initially worked on by another great member of iFLOOR.com’s sales team James A. James and I have recently worked to help another customer out with some underlayment questions – so James gave me an opportunity to chime in to help Colette out.
Q: I am a Canadian consumer and have been shopping for flooring for my home, believe me it has not been an easy task. I am interested in laminate and engineered hardwood but an unsure which may be right for me and my family (4 kids and 2 dogs). I have been to many dealers and I don’t know that I am getting the big and complete picture. What I was hoping was that you could direct me to where I may find unbiased expert product ratings on flooring. I have had a couple fellows tell me don’t buy anything except German as they are technically advanced as compared to other producers. I have yet to find such a site. If you could offer me some advice I would greatly thank you.
Sincerely,
Colette
James’ A: I completely empathize with you on how difficult it is to pick out the floor with the best fit for your needs. One of the reasons iFLOOR was conceived was because of an article that Mr. Simonson wrote that outlines the frustrations people have when shopping for floors:
Steve’s Stages of Floor Shopping
You describe a pretty active household. Since wood floors require a lot of care, most folks will tell you to go with laminate. There are people that will still install engineered hardwood in an active home, so it’s dependent on how picky you think you will be with the floor’s appearance. The following article does a good job of explaining the advantages and disadvantages of both:
Pergo vs. The World
A more recent project that iFLOOR completed was to do independent lab tests on many of the major laminate players in the market today. We tested for durability and moisture resistance, as well as included information gleaned from our customers’ experiences with asthetics and design. I don’t know how many of the following laminates are available in Canada, but hopefully this will help narrow down your choices:
Brand Wars II: A Laminate Showdown
Best of luck with your decision! At the moment we do not ship to Canada due to currency exchange, customs, tax and shipping issues. Hopefully in the not-too-distant future we’ll be setting up shop there soon though.
A: For the most part I will agree with James’ suggestion to take a look into laminate flooring. Laminate is the toughest stuff out there and is rather user friendly when it comes to installation. However, I have seen great success with many types of flooring in homes like yours where there is higher level of traffic from both family and our furry friends.
If you have not taken the time to read through Steve’s great articles which give both basic information to detailed testing on products, I highly encourage you to look into them:
Articles Section
I would suggest reading Laminate Brand Wars 2, Hardwood Brand Wars, Is Bamboo for You and Is that Cork on Your Floor. This will give you a good bit of information across all of the major flooring categories. Depending on your personal taste, I would look into Cork, Engineered Hardwood, Natural Bamboo and Laminate.
Here’s a quick rundown of tips for you:

• Laminate has great durability and is easy to install, but if you don’t use a premium underlayment you will get a hollow or clicky sound when you walk on it.
• Bamboo is a great eco friendly product and in the natural variation is harder than white oak. Bamboo also has a unique beautiful look.
• Engineered Hardwood is great for a combination of hardwood look with the benefits of an engineered product. These floors are more resistant to expansion and contraction than their solid counterparts and the cross-ply lamination technique used to make them increases their durability against denting.
• Cork is another eco-friendly floor. Although softer than hardwood floors, cork has a feature called memory. When dented, cork will naturally attempt to return to its normal state meaning it will naturally push dents out over time. Cork is also hypo-allergenic and naturally water resistant, making it a huge success in the commercial market as of late.

The flooring industry as a whole can become very opinionated rather easily, but we do our best in these articles to be objective and provide raw data rather than opinion. The statement you received about buying only German product has some insight into the opinions of various people, but its not entirely off. A vast majority of the European made floors are made to higher quality standards than products made in countries like China. European made products also tend to hold far superior environmental standards in regards to the manufacturing process and the product itself. However, there are many superior quality mills in Canada and the US making amazing floors.
My biggest tip would be to take your time when finding products and use every resource you can, including folks like James and myself.