We did, twice. Had glue installation (sides are glued together) in our WI house - kitchen and entry way - helpd up just fine and we had 40 acres and animals and lots of water/snow/mud that got tracked in.

Had click fit in our SD home, after four years we pulled it out(last November) and put down ceramic. If anything, we are less messy in our current home (kids are moved out now) and the floor went to pot quickly. When they say "wipe up spills immediatley" they must mean "before the water actually hits the floor". We knew we had some bad spots, but when we pulled it up we found way more damage than we expected - many edges showed signs of delamination due to water seaping into the edges.

The way I live/cook just does not work well with flooring that does not handle getting water on it.

Cathy

I had pergo in my kitchen and adjacent family room for almost 11 years, and am replacing it with new pergo, and honestly, we probably would have kept the old except that changing the layout necessitated redoing the floor.

Back then there weren't too many options/upgrades. The planks were all the same size and the variation came in the laminate layer. Now there are upgraded versions with different plank sizes, handscraped and beveled edge details that look more realistic. They are still super durable.

We have a son (nearly 10 now) who played cars and trains on it, runs across it in his cleats, spills and drops stuff all over it and not a problem. We also have a 90 lb dog who hasn't made a mark on it. She spills water from her bowl all the time, and still no problem.

After 11 years there was one place with a scratch when we moved a heavy piece of furniture that wasn't on pads (our breakfast area table/chairs and family room couch and chairs have felt pads) and one small dent in the kitchen. The downside to laminate is these really can't be fixed, although the small scratch was pretty well hidden with some wood scratch filler.

We ended up using Pergo Handscraped Kingwood in the new kitchen. It looks great and I anticipate it wearing as well or better than the previous floor. For us it was a good place to get a nice looking, functional floor and save a little money that we could put elsewhere.

I used to have a Pergo floor -- it was no trouble. Not even when it sat under 4" of water all night when the kitchen flooded. OTOH, my Mom's laminate gets bubbles in the edges if you look at it funny. I do think the quality of the laminate matters a lot.

Does water damage the laminate?

We did in our last home and we loved it. Wore like iron and kept looking perfectly new. All laminates are not created equal, though. Good quality is important. Pergo and the kind we had, Wilsonart Estate Plus, use high pressure laminate while others can use a much more easily damaged surface...so go for the good stuff. (Only Wilsonart, Pergo, and Alloc offered that quality at the time, but hopefully there are more options now.) The click-together joint of the stuff we used didn't require gluing to keep water out...The seams were very tight, too. We also put in the best acoustic pad underneath that our flooring installer friend could recommend, so there was no plasticky sound.

We put Pergo in the kitchen in my last house. I loved how easy it was to clean, it was so perfectly smooth nothing could really stick to it without just popping off. Just super easy to clean.

We also had a water leak from an upstairs bathroom that we came home to from a 2 week vacation sitting on the kitchen floor. The Pergo buckled in those areas. To our amazement, it completely went away after a few days. You would have never known?!!

However, the bad part: I did drop a sharp knife right smack in the middle of the floor and it got a big chip in it. That is the downside of it's smoothness, that chip was very very noticeable.

Also, I would recommend the acoustic pad as rhome suggested. We had hardwood in all the other rooms of the house and then when you walked into the kitchen, the plasticky tapping sound of the pergo was a bit odd.

I've had it for 6 years. I have a 4 year old, a big dog and a construction worker husband who never takes his boots off before coming inside, Plus, the kitchen door is used as our main entry. I ALWAYS have water on the floor from muddy feet, pre-schooler spills, I walk into the dog's water bowl about 3 times a day. I have one small scratch because I dragged a broken washer machine that was half full of water across the kitchen floor in a fit of appliance rage. I would call it bullet proof and I don't think it's one of the better brands either, it's Quikstep.

I put laminate in my basement, cheapest stuff I could buy. I can't speak for the good quality stuff, but I can tell you to run far and fast from the cheap stuff.

The package said you couldn't mop it, you had to wipe up spills immediately etc. and they weren't kidding! Any little bit of water lifts the edges (it's click together, don't know if that makes a difference) and in some cases they went back down, but in most they've stayed that way. My doggie had an accident on the floor that I didn't notice for a day or so and that part of the floor is completely buckled and looks like crap.

I wouldn't do it again and want to tear up my basement floor so bad! But like I said, I bought the cheap stuff and I'm sure that's got a lot to do with my horrible experience.

We had our laminated floors all over the first level and porcelain tiles in the entrance and near the patio doors.
We have them for 9 years now and they still looking great. They are the 6 inches wide barn look planks. (6 inhes are rare but if you can find them go for it. I have seen my guests bend down to touch them thinking they were real wood. Even my cabinet guy stayed behind to touch them. I was wondering where he went!!!! He loved it. They also have the grooves which makes them look real. There are very easy to clean (water only) and dries fast. We have three teens a fifteen months old baby and a dog. If there is something still holding...it's our floor!

just wanted to add that the stuff we had in WI that wore well was Pergo. Don't recall what we installed here in SD - it was highly recommended by the local cabinet shop, but they were selling it. Looked wonderful and stayed real tight together. I was real bummed that it just didn't hold up well.

Cathy

I do and I don't think I would ever use anything else except ceramic tile if I ever change it out. I have 10 year old Pergo with glued sides. I also have a home day care, 4 children of my own (all grown now), AND a large dog. It has survived floods, neglect, traffic on a commercial level and still looks wonderful. It has suffered a few dings during the remodel but you would have to look really close to see them but this was our fault because we did nothing to protect it through the rip-out and install of cabinets and appliances. I love this stuff!

Cindy in STL

tartan22: You asked if water damages the laminate. In my experience it does not. However, the laminate is only paper-thin; it is the composition behind the laminate that can swell or deteriorate.

We have it in our kitchen. In December we were away for a week and when we returned we found we had a very small drip-leak in the dishwasher supply hose connection under the sink. Because we have an under-sink forced-air outlet also under the sink, while we were home the hot air evaporated the water. But while gone I set the heat back, and the water ran out onto the floor.

Now this was very little water we're talking about. But the floor is perfectly level, and the little bit spread itself out quite a ways. The result was swelling on the edges of pieces in most of the floor.

This was not the cheapest laminate by any means. Other than this instance it has held up well. I certainly wouldn't advise people to not put it in. However, they should be aware of this potential problem. This summer we will rip it out and replace it with ceramic tile.

danielle84, what brand do you have?

The distributor I spoke to before buying our Wilsonart Estate Plus was uncertain of its claims when it first came out, so clicked together a 10 ft by 10 ft section and set it out in their parking lot during a rainy time for 3 weeks. The only affect was minor swelling on the cut edges...not any problem on the finished edges that were connected. Not exactly like a leak underneath it, I imagine, but pretty good, and we never had any problems with water on it in our house. We weren't careful, but didn't have any crisis leaks either. 8 kids, 3 dogs...toys and trucks, cleats, dirty boots with gritty sand...It saw it and took it all. We had the flooring in our kitchen, entry, main hallway, and our dining room, which also served as a family room and busy outside entry to the back yard. I sure miss it everytime I see a new scratch in the finish of our hardwood floors in our current house!

We have Ikea laminate: we decided not to extend the budget to the wood flooring that we wanted, and decided we'd get the laminate "for now", on the principle that it was so cheap, we'd live with it, and change it later if we hated it, or if finances allowed.
In fact, it's turned out to be great: easy to clean, and forgiving. There's a tiny nick where a bottle was dropped and broke, but only I know where it is. It's hard-wearing, but inexpensive enough that we could replace it. And it has a 25 year warranty. Dogs, small children, gardening boots (mine) - it shrugs them all off.

Ikea say don't use it in bathrooms, but otherwise it's fine.

We've had WilsonArt Estate Plus in our kitchen/family rm/halls for 6 yrs now. It's bulletproof. Stands up to our kids & large dog so much better than the cherry in other parts of the house. It's gotten wet from feet & spills plenty of times, no problems. Never had standing water for any period of time. No stains, scratches, or anything.

Yes, water can damage laminate.

Where the laminate is near the sliding door is all warped due to frost melting off the inside of the door in the winter.

My water hookup to the fridge developed a small drip -- but we were gone all week. Even with the water turned off to the house, the pressure tank from the R/O unit pushed out 2 gallons of water through the leak - on to and under the floor. We had a 4 ft X 9 ft section of floor warp on us in the middle of the kitchen. By weighting it down for a week, it only looks a little wavy. It is laminate over concrete slab.

However, my sister used a mop and pucket of water on another section of same flooring in the dining room (you know, wet the floor down really well, scrub by hand, then rinse it). I caught her doing this within 5 minutes of getting the floor wet, but we still had the same issue of warping!

This stuff is going out this summer and being replaced by ceramic tile.

Hi there, If I'd be goog with a camara I would show you. maybe when my son gets back from work I will ask him
I think the company was CLIC Kronotex from Germany.
Good luck

Does wood laminate look as good as real wood in a room?

We have laminate throughout in our current living arrangemet. In my opinion, it doesn't look as good as wood, but it doesn't look bad.

Our laminate is very cheap (Sam's Club special). We have had it for 3 years with minimal care. It looks good but there is a spot where it got water underneath and you can tell it is starting to pucker a little at the seams. I'm sure this is mostly due to the quality of laminate we have. My SIL got pergo and they also had a water instance but there's is still as good as new.

Depends on the quality and the thickness of it.