Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Flooring in my tripple wide

Hi,

I have a tripple wide manufactured home and we are going to tear up the carpeting. I was wondering what opinions there were on putting in hardwood or laminate in my family rooms and hallways. We will probably re-carpet the bedrooms. This is being done for my 5 year old daughters asthma so the main room choices will be hardwood, laminate or linoleum. This is a tripple wide on blocks that are on footers. It is about 7 years old. We do have 2 dogs and some lazy cats. We don't have a lot of spills but we do get some muddy shoes or paws.

Being a depreciating asset, is it worth it to throw hardwood or laminate at a mobile home? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you very much.

--Chris

I've never worked on a triple wide. I wouldn't think there would be any problem with installing hardwood. Most MHs have particle board sub floor and I don't think particle board makes a good nailing surface for hardwood but I don't know for sure. The flooring guys in that section of the forums could better advise about that.

Assuming your MH is on your own property, I wouldn't worry a whole lot about depreciation. It's been my experience that MHs that are well maintained and permanately set on property don't really depreciate although they won't necessarily rise in value as a conventional home will.

My wife also has asthma so I understand what a big deal dust can be. IMO it would be well worth the extra investment in hardwood or laminate. Also I would think that a diy install of laminate would be cheaper than carpet and paid installation. Do the pets not pose an allergy problem?

Hi Marksr,

Thank you for your reply. Fortunately, when I ordered the house, I paid the extra for the OSB flooring, so particle board won't be a problem. My biggest concern is that I would rather have hardwood or laminate over linoleum, but don't really know if it is worth the extra cost.

The pets are a problem, but getting rid of them is a very touchy issue. Some we've had longer than our kids and my kids are so attached to the dogs that getting rid of them may make her brother resentful of her as well as tear her up over losing her dog.

To overcome that issue, I have installed a new AC system with an air cleaner that removes contaminates as small as .01 microns and will have a couple HEPA's going in the house as well. Adding the flooring will help I hope.

So the answer is that as long as I maintain my home, hardwood and laminate are worth the investment. Is there a preference between them? We don't have many spills but we have a pool and they come in from it wet. Our dogs are outside most of the day, but do come in some. They are young and playful so they will be going through the house. Indoor cats are declawed. Does that scream Laminate or vinyl flooring? Or is wood ok there?

Thank you again for your help.

--Chris

I'm probably not the best one to advise about which flooring to use. We do have pro floor men that frequent the flooring section of the forums. IMO real hardwood is best because it can be sanded and refinished as needed. Some of the laminates wear real good while others are kind of cheap. I don't know a whole lot about laminates other than they are usually diy friendly when it comes to installation. My wife's sister has Pergo laminate flooring in their home and it is supposed to be fairly water and scratch resistant. They've had it several years and it seems to still look great - but I've never really looked all that close :D

Thank you again. I will check out the flooring section. I want to go with the hard wood but the wife thinks it is not worth it because she thinks it puts too much money into something with no payback. I think you can get a decent payback. No, you will not get a dollar per dollar raise in the appraisal, but, you will get more than with laminate and certainly more than linoleum.

I'll check out the flooring forum.

Thank you again.

--Chris