Laminates

BUYING A LAMINATE FLOOR:

Laminate flooring offers the look of hardwood or stone flooring, but without the expense and required maintenance.

Laminate flooring usually is made from high-density fiber or wood particles, with a laminate overlay that is designed to look like wood or stone. A clear, hard layer is placed on top, giving the laminate floor its durability. Laminate flooring has become a popular way to update the look of a home.

Pros of Laminate Floors

Price and Installation
Laminate flooring is cheaper and easier to install than hardwood flooring. Prices range from about $1.50 per sq. ft. to $3 per sq. ft, but you can find better deals from wholesalers and from online distributors. Laminate flooring can be placed on top of almost any existing floor, excluding carpet, and several manufacturers offer a glue-free, tongue-and-groove system. The interlocking planks make it an easy installation for weekend warriors and it can be uninstalled without damaging the laminate or the original flooring underneath.

Durability
Laminate flooring works well in high-traffic areas and homes with pets. It is scratch-resistant, durable and easy to clean. Just use a dust mop or a mop dampened with water. Most manufacturers offer at least a 10-year warranty on their product.

Resale Value
Laminate flooring can add to the resale value of your home. Most home buyers are looking for hardwood floors instead of carpet. Laminate gives you the wood look for less and can make your home look more open and modern. It also is environmentally friendly because it uses less wood – if any – in its construction.

Cons of Laminate Floors


Noise
Laminate flooring does not absorb sound well and can have a hollow sound when you walk on it, particularly in high heels. Using an acoustic underlay will help reduce the noise, but it still may be a nuisance. Laminate also lacks the visual warmth of other materials, including hardwood.

Buyers Know It’s Not Hardwood
Although laminate floors will increase a home’s value compared to wall-to-wall carpeting, hardwood floors will increase it even more. Buyers generally can tell the difference between laminate and hardwood or stone, and they prefer natural materials.

Design Options
Another drawback is that the look of the flooring is set by the manufacturer. Color and sheen cannot be customized so choices are limited, and a buyer may not like your selection. Hardwood floors can be sanded and re-stained.

Warping
The materials in laminate flooring are moisture resistant, but the floors can warp in high-moisture areas. There is a debate over whether it should be installed in kitchens and bathrooms or other rooms that are exposed to heavy water or steam. Most manufactures warn that laminate flooring will be damaged by standing pools of water. This is true of other materials as well, but hardwood floors may be able to be sanded and refinished. Laminate floors would have to be replaced. The material is still relatively new, so it isn’t clear how this type of flooring will hold up over time.

Before You Buy
Homeowners thinking about buying laminate floors should visit a few stores before making a decision. Talk with a store associate and research the different manufacturers. Some companies use different materials or construction methods

Laminates

Unlike hardwood, laminate floors will not stain, fade, dent and are far more scratch and water resistant. Entry level laminate wood flooring is designed for light traffic areas and come with warranties ranging from 10 to 15 years. Most people set their expectations too high and expect that entry level floors will perform under heavy traffic conditions and still look good for the duration of the warranty. This is however not the case, as an entry level floor subject to high traffic will start to show wear and tear within three to five years.

Laminate floors come with cores ranging from 6mm up to 12mm. A thicker core is more stable, less vulnerable to buckling and will sound more like real hardwood when walked on. Good quality cores are treated with water repellent chemicals, and resist swelling due to excessive moisture. This is very important especially when considering placing laminate wood flooring in bathrooms and kitchen. For these applications also consider a floor that has Paraffin wax impregnated joints. The Paraffin wax acts as a water repellent and will prevent topical water spills from penetrating down to the core. Also remember to scrutinize the warranty, as certain products are not covered for use in bathrooms and kitchens.

Buying the floors that suits your needs will save you money in the long run. This is not to say that every home requires a high end floor with an extensive warranty. Consider the amount of traffic as well as the amount of time you intend staying in your current home. There is no point in purchasing an expensive floor with an extended warranty if you plan on moving in the near future. Remember, the floor is usually the first thing replaced by people when moving to a new home.

Laminate wood flooring offers the best combination of quality and value in a wide range of colors, styles and designs and are also engineered for exceptional strength and durability and will last for years and years. For a rich and long-lasting experience, at a home friendly price, choose laminate; it's a natural look for your home and for the way you want to live.

Laminate wood floors history

Since their introduction into the US in 1982, the sector has experienced growth of up to 20% per annum at the expense of other floor types, making laminate the fastest growing floor type in the country. The appeal lies not only in its aesthetic value of its representation of real hardwood, but also due to its incredible durability and ease of maintenance.

The traditional look of hardwood is timeless; its beauty has brought a sense of comfort and elegance to homes around the world for many generations. Hardwood floors are however pricey, not very durable and require a fair amount of routine maintenance and care. Even the most recent technological advancements in surface treatment have not been able to solve such problems as scratching, fading, denting and staining. This has lead to the invention of laminate wood floors. With its machine made construction and hardwood photographic laminated surface, this floor is the perfect solution for the look and appeal of real hardwood that is more durable and requires less maintenance.

End Block Flooring

Here's something in the unique category! Doubtful if many of us have ever seen this kind of hardwood floor pattern work. Leave it to anyone's imagination, end block flooring can offer a multitude of designs.

One company that specializes in such is Kaswell Flooring Systems. Currently offering a multitude of different hardwood patterns with hardwood species in the likes of teak(shown above) to bamboo and some reclaimed hardwood. Products offered vary in four different thicknesses and glued to any proper subfloor. Following installation, sanding equipment is brought in much like traditional hardwood floors.

The appearance offers a busy look, but think about using them for border work or entry ways. If they're installed with solid 3/4" floors, other preparations will have to be considered to reach the same vertical height.

Unlike older methods where lumber was cut on site and dried accordingly, the Kaswell product line arrives kiln dried with some patterns sanded to a 40 grit appearance. Definitely more time saving than the older methods.

How To Choose

How to choose

Last reviewed: August 2009

VIDEO:

Testing Flooring

 

See Types to pick a type you like. Then see our Recommended (available to subscribers) for top performers. Here are other tips:

Gauge the traffic

While the best plastic laminates and vinyls might be tougher than solid or engineered wood, they can't be refinished when worn. Moisture resistance is a strong point for some wood. But our Lumber Liquidators solid oak and bamboo flubbed this test, as did the Lauzon, Bruce, and Armstrong engineered-oak flooring.

Think safety

All but the solid-wood Anderson Pacific oak were judged at least good for wet and dry slip resistance in our flooring Ratings (available to subscribers). High-scoring floors rated very good include the engineered-wood Mohawk Antiquity, the laminate Montado and Wicanders, and vinyl Congoleum and Allure.

Don't get bamboozled

Even greener options use some petroleum when shipped. Teragren says its Synergy bamboo uses adhesives that emit less formaldehyde in the home than the usual glue, though they still emit some at the factory. And while the linseed oil in linoleum comes from flax, growing that plant might require harmful chemicals to fight disease and insects.

Learn how to get the best installation for your new flooring.

floor tube

FloorTube™ Has The Videos You're Looking For

Installing, maintaining and purchasing flooring is now made simple with FloorTube's™ flooring videos. On FloorTube™ you can find floor installation videos on a wide range of floor types such as carpet, hardwood, laminate, tile and more. There are even floor care videos that can show you how to properly clean your specific floor surface. For those looking for eco–friendly flooring options, visit the "Green Solutions" section for more information. FloorTube™ is a great tool for homeowners who are interested in do–it–yourself flooring. Best of all, uploading and viewing flooring videos on FloorTube™ is free.

Bamboo Floors

Bamboo Floors - Walk The Plank... In Style

Just mention "bamboo floors" and many people will imagine strips of uneven cane or round poles which would seem difficult or uncomfortable to walk on if used as a floor. The fact is, this relatively new type of  flooring is as flat as any other hardwood or laminate floor as we know it. With the help of recent technological advances, manufacturers are now turning bamboo stalks into high quality ultra smooth flooring on a grand scale in order to meet the fast growing demand for this exceptionally stylish floor covering. 

Just like some other wooden floors, the processed and machined cane comes in short laminated strips, planks or tiles, therefore installation is conducted in much the same way to any other similar type of flooring. It should also be said that, being tough and durable, it will also last many years if both properly installed and cared for. See our section on Bamboo Flooring Care for some tips.

Types, Styles & Species

Types & Styles

Wood floors come in a variety of styles to meet the demands of today's busy lifestyles - factory finished, unfinished, solid, engineered, strip, plank, parquet, and acrylic impregnated. Click here to read about the types and styles.

Choosing the style that is best for you is an important decision, and will be based on a variety of issues including your lifestyle, your decorating style, and the area in which you live. Consider consulting with a wood flooring professional in your area to weigh the advantages of each alternative. Click here to find an NWFA professional.

Colors

Wood floors come in a rainbow of colors to fit any décor. You can achieve unique, one-of-a-kind looks with custom stains and finishes. And even if your floor is old, you can achieve an entirely new look with new stain and finishes. The possibilities are endless.

Species

Today's wood floors come in more than 50 species, both domestic and exotic, spanning the spectrum of color options, hardness, and price ranges. No matter what the look you want to achieve, there are a variety of species to meet your needs. Click here to see the wide variety of species available.

Grades

The appearance of the wood determines its "grade." All grades are equally strong and serviceable, but each affords you a different look.

• Clear
  Clear wood is free of defects, though it may have minor imperfections.
  
• Select
  Select wood is almost clear, but contains some natural characteristics such as knots and color variations.
  
• Common
  Common wood (No. 1 and No. 2) has more natural characteristics such as knots and color variations than either clear or select grades, and often is chosen because of these natural features and the character they bring to a room. No. 1 Common has a variegated appearance, light and dark colors, knots, flags and wormholes. No 2 Common is rustic in appearance and emphasize all wood characteristics of the species.
  
• First
  First grade wood has the best appearance, natural color variations and limited character marks.
  
• Second
  Second grade wood is variegated in appearance with varying sound wood characteristics of species.
  
• Third
  Third grade wood is rustic in appearance allowing all wood characteristics of the species. 

Cuts

The angle at which a board is cut determines how the finished product looks. Wood flooring is either plainsawn, quartersawn or riftsawn.

• Plainsawn
  Plainsawn is the most common cut. The board contains more variation than the other two cuts because grain patterns resulting from the growth rings are more obvious.
  
• Quartersawn
  Quartersawing produces less board feet per log than plainsawing and is therefore more expensive. Quartersawn wood twists and cups less and wears more evenly.
  
• Riftsawn
  Riftsawn is similar to quartersawing, but the cut is made at a slightly different angle.

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