Vinyl......easy to keep clean. Laminate floors can only be mopped with a mop wrung out til nearly dry in cold/lukewarm water or dry mop. My floor never felt clean the whole time I had laminate floors.......I like a hot mop with cleaner in it.

Hi Dorothy, the rental market is quickly becoming more fastidious - they don't want to vacuum, and there are an ever growing number of people with allergies. then there's maintenance - i suggest you'll be replacing carpet every 3-5 years, so it's a false economy. cedar is making a come back - we have a lot of projects similiar to this and one option is it's 'too much wood' is to simply paint it. Cedar has plenty of wonderful properties, so even if you don't love it aesthetically, i'd keep it. but to balance out the colours and not feel like you're in a sauna, i'd brave it and select a timber with a completely different colour - don't match - instead, compliment the cedar with a contrast. perhaps a black timber floor, or, if you want to lighten u the space, a beached timber floor. if budget is a big constraint, then Vinyl is a good product, but for just a tad dearer, you can go for gold and get marmoleum. people often mistake vinyl and marmo for the same - they're completely different - marmo is an organic product, so will wear well, won't release loads of toxic VOC's into the air and doesn't harm the earth. good luck!

Hi Lorraine, sorry I missed your question. I only bought this house a few months back and the glue has deteriorated anyway so I used the steam mop to test it out before I get new flooring. Because many animals lived in this house I was hoping the steam would help kill germs. I've read so many opinions on the use of steam on both vinyl and laminate so I'm at a bit of a loss now. One of my joeys has laminate and has been using a steam mop on it for 12 years now with no ill effects at all, despite that supposedly being a big no-no, but she found it so quick and efficient when the kids were toddlers particularly and the floor needed doing almost daily. I just have to wonder these days how much manufacturers are protecting themselves and not giving consumers honest information. How often do you buy an item of cotton clothing and then find the label says "dry clean only". This does not mean the item can't be washed, it is to protect the manufacturer from someone doing something like washing in boiling water. We need more transparency in care instructions, only then can consumers make informed decisions on the right product for them. If steam is going to affect the glue, then it follows water will too so then it comes down to just how do you clean your floors. Manufacturers' special products that are always ridiculously expensive are not the answer and having access to these products is not always possible for country people either. I believe there are two types of vinyl planks too - one type are glued down, the others are a floating floor which would not require glue, but I was told in the event of damage, a glued plank is much easier to replace than one in a floating floor. There are so many glues on the market now too, there must be one that could be used to reglue a plank that has come adrift.

Yes oklouise, understand about the skirting(now), I figured out the skirting boards technique after the fact, a little late I guess. Apparently it was one of the things missed at the local stores where the "advice" comes from the professionals. I was invited by one of the "professionals" to sit down at a table(where the apparent consultation happens for whatever project one has), and wasnt informed of that. Among several other things. He was very convincing though, I must give that to the "pro" at that supplier.(holme depo'). In fact, the "pros" at the local suppliers are like, I dont know, as experienced at these sort of things as I am at flying the space shuttle. I guess I could offer an astronaut advice that he/she try, "give a LOT of gas before take off, once it's in the air, try auto pilot, it will keep shuttle floating smoothly, eliminating the need for any button pushing till ya get back into earths atmosphere". But obviously I am only guessing at that. And I assume if I worked at the local coffee shop by the flight school, where I were to be around "flying" people, I'd possibly develop a knack for the language, then if I were to put forth the effort, I am sure I'd be capable of convincing(carelessly), anyone who stopped there for coffee that they could hop in a plane and fly, no problem. Especially if my job selling coffee depended on that. Well, that's the sort of thing the "professionals" do at the supply stores here; )lows, H-D, AZE, etc). Not to mention half are younger than anyone I've ever known to be dignified with the distinction of "professional". I would think time on the job doing the actual trade(flying) would be factored into that category. So, although I actually appreciate your advice, not really what I was looking for. But thank you for taking your time to try to help. It's just that I feel the "go to local supplier, seek the professionals" thing can be used for just about anything on here.