[Tango-L] FLOORING: HARDWOOD OR LAMINATE?

[joanneprochaska@aol.com]

I have found no difference in dancing on hardwood compared to laminate. 

The difference is in how the floor is installed, if the subfloor is a concrete slab. 
 If the floor (either type) is installed directly on a concrete slab, then your legs and feet get tired much more quickly, because there is no cushion underfoot.
If the floor (either type) is installed  as a "floating" floor, (i.e., with some type of riser intstalled over the concrete to lift the floor off the concrete slab),  then the floor has some "give" under it and your feet and legs do not get as tired.
In our house (built on a slab), the floor contractor used plywood strips as the risers under our maple hardwood dancefloor.  We love it, and we can dance all day and all night on it.
I have heard that there are rubber discs that can be used as risers under the wood flooring.  I am sure that would also be good.  I don't know the lifespan of the rubber discs.  You would have to find someone who used that product to get a recommendation.
As far as your basement, I would personally install the laminate in the "floating" configuration, because the investment is less costly than the cost of hardwood.  If the basement gets water in it, the loss would be less than if the hardwood got soaked.  I still would definitely use the floating configuration for the installation, for the benefit of my legs and feet.

In your bedroom, the better investment is hardwood flooring. You can refinish hardwood many times, and it will last for hundreds of years.  Laminate is limited, in that you can only refinish it once. Laminate has only a thin layer of wood on the top of the engineered material, and that layer is greatly reduced when you sand it and refinish it, so you can only refinish it once.
If your subfloor is plywood, then I don't think it is necessary to install risers under the flooring to ensure comfortable dancing.  A plywood subfloor is already a surface that will offer some "give" under your hardwood or laminate flooring.

Happy dancing!
Joanne Pogros
Cleveland, Ohio
www.tangocleveland.com




-----Original Message-----
From: PAUL SATO <sato160 at gmail.com>
To: tango-l at mit.edu
Sent: Mon, Nov 16, 2009 4:11 pm
Subject: [Tango-L] FLOORING: HARDWOOD OR LAMINATE?


I'm looking at redoing the floors in the den and spare bedroom for dancing.
Any opinions out there on Laminate and/or engineered wood flooring compared
o Hardwood?
Is the dance experience noticeably different on hardwood vs laminate?
Den is in the basement so unless moisture levels are surprisingly low, I'm
hinking laminated ("Pergo") flooring, unless dance experience is really
uch worse...
Thanks
aul
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