An overview of Laminate Flooring

With the current economic climate many homeowners are turning to renovation as opposed to moving. One of the most versatile flooring products on the market is laminate flooring can be one of the most versatile bases to work with for people planning to give their home a makeover.

Interior design fashions change exceptionally fast on that basis and keeping up with them - or even just ensuring your home stays looking fresh - can be expensive.
Anyone with carpets in their living room will find they have limited choice when it comes to color schemes when they want to make a change, unless they go to the expense of choosing new carpets. Additionally anyone with carpets, particularly builder grade carpet when you move into a new home knows that areas in doorways that get a lot of foot traffic show wear quickly.

However the laminate or hard surface flooring looks as good as the day you moved in, it is just that the hard surface products “the correct ones” are far more resilient to fott traffic, spills and accidents.

However, good quality laminate flooring will go with any kind of design that the homeowner wants, particularly if they are trying to create a chic modern look.

Laminate flooring technology has advanced so much that it is almost indistinguishable from real wood. However laminate flooring is wood just not solid hardwood of a particularly species but a high quality photographic image of wood. This is placed onto a HDF core board and is coated with a melamine wear layer. It is this wear layer which makes laminate wood flooring incredibly hardwearing and much less liable to scratch than a real wood finish and makes laminate ideal for those with a busy and hectic home life due to these properties and also the ease of maintenance.

Another reason Laminate flooring has quickly become a favorite in the home improvement market is the ease of installation, laminate flooring with easy to use glueless locking systems requires, no glue or nails this eliminates time and allows even the basic homeowner to complete installation on their own, hardwood floors with a tongue and groove system that needs glue and nails, it is far more complex and can cost upwards of $4SF just for the cost of installation, in some cases more than 4x the cost of the laminate.

Laminate is ideal for use in all rooms of the home or office with the exception of wet rooms such as bathrooms and shower rooms, water is the enemy of wood and any spills should be cleaned up as soon as possible.

The great aspect about laminate flooring is that it looks like regular wood but is much easier to install. It also has a longer shelf life. The striking similarity between hardwood and laminate flooring is confusing. You can notice a grain pattern similar to wood but this is décor paper placed under a highly protective cover. This is stuck onto a backing board of tough density. There is a multitude of different effects in laminate flooring such as ceramic and natural stone - even showing grout lines, even available in laminate flooring.

Laminate flooring has a multitude of advantages; some of these major advantages is that it is very durable, offers easy installation and cheaper price in comparison with hardwood not just for product but for installation as well. The other advantage is that laminate flooring is not stuck to the floor beneath. Only panels are stuck together. Thus, it facilitates installation in an easy manner. The tongue and grooves of the planks are placed together and clicked to adhere. The connection is very tight.