Plywood Flooring

After deliberating over flooring a lot over the last few weeks, my boyfriend and I have gone through a number of different stages of acceptance. At the beginning we both wanted real wood flooring. We thought buyers would pay more if they knew that flooring was real wood, and that it was the best most gorgeous flooring we could get. However, after taking a look at our budget, and doing lots of research online, we decided that we would struggle to afford the real deal, and even if we did stretch to it, the dog's claws might ruin it anyway. I reached this resolution first, convinced the boyfriend, then changed my mind back, and he convinced me. Either way, we've decided against expensive hardwood flooring.

Hardwood floor image - Wikipedia

 

Our next choice was engineered floor. Cheaper and possible slightly stronger. However, again the dog's nails might mean we'd end up with scratched and fairly expensive flooring that was even less practical because it couldn't be sanded and re-finished. There goes that idea.

 

 



 Engineered wood - Wickes

 

So then we figured we were left with laminate. We had a look at the laminates on offer and decided we would stretch to a more expensive brand like Quick-step so the flooring would look as near to real wood as possible. Laminate is more durable and stronger. Yet, at £23 a square meter and £10 extra per square meter to lay it, it didn't look so attractive.

 

Laminate - Quick Step

 

Then, after looking on Pinterest I noticed my friend had pinned a picture of plywood used as flooring. It looked gorgeous. I did some research and you can build your own plywood floor for roughly half the cost of laminate, and plywood is really strong due to the layers of wood. You can get it cut into planks and finish it in whichever colour you desire. You can even paint it if you like. You can't use it anywhere it might get wet, like a bathroom or kitchen, but for a hallway and lounge it would work well. My boyfriend isn't currently convinced but I'm hope he'll be persuaded. It'll be hugely cheaper as we'll lay it outselves and it looks gorgeous. Here are a few photos:

 



 

 Plywood floor - picklee.com

 

Plywood - Designdazzle.com

 

What type of flooring do you have? How do you rate it?