Selecting the Right Laminate Floor
Are you considering putting a laminate floor in your home,
apartment or condo? While having a
professional carpenter install the flooring is often faster, laying it yourself
is possible.
When selecting the proper laminate flooring for your space,
it is important to know which type is best.
You will need to determine if the area where you will be installing the
flooring is dry or damp. These factors will determine the type of flooring you will
want to install.
Selecting the right laminate floor can be daunting with the
many choices available. There are many
brands and types of manufactured self-locking flooring systems. Typically, retailers carry different brands of
flooring so as to not have to compete with each other on the same product.
Plastic laminate, very similar to a Formica countertop is one of the most
popular floorings and also the most durable finish. Laminate is typically
bonded to a medium density fiberboard (MDF), a fine particle board substrate. This type of flooring holds up quite well in dry
environments.
Engineered flooring is a laminate or wood veneer bonded to
plywood substrate. The plywood is a stronger and more stable substrate, more
suitable for an occasionally damp setting such as a kitchen or basement. The
decorative wood veneer can be very thin and it is important to note that this
type of wood can never be refinished. There are some solid wood veneers up to a
1/8” thick and they may be able to be refinished once. Many laminate flooring systems have a shelf life
of ten to 15 years. A traditional
hardwood strip floor can be refinished many times and may last over one hundred
years.
Floating floor means that they are assembled together and
not affixed to the building’s subfloor. The benefit of floating laminate floors
is that the flooring expands and contracts independently of the building and
therefore the seams won’t open up seasonally or crack when the building settles
or moves. The panels are locked together with a space if left around the
perimeter to allow for expansion.
Learn how to lay
laminate flooring in our next
blog.
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© Architecturally Speaking 2012
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