Laminate Floors
Laminate flooring was invented in 1977 by a Swedish company called Pergo. A few years later the company commercialized their product in Europe which became quite a success. Decade later laminate flooring finally arrived to the United States where the popularity of this new invention sky rocketed. The homeowners immediately recognized all the benefits that this product had to offer.
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Structure:
The appearance of laminate floors can be easily mistaken for solid or engineered hardwood flooring. Although the resemblance is there, but in reality there is no solid wood in laminate flooring construction. Laminate floors are usually composed of 4 layers and joined together under heat and pressure. The construction consists: moisture-resistant layer on the bottom, followed by high density fiberboard, topped with a decor paper layer and polished off with a transparent, stain-resistant protector layer. What appears to be an illusion of a natural wood grain is actually a thin layer of a high resolution photographic image which is placed on top of the HDF (high density fiberboard) and finished off with an extremely hard coating layer for laminates protection.
Because of its structure laminate flooring is highly resistant to moisture, staining, and fading. Durability is one of the strongest benefits of laminate flooring. It would be an ideal choice of flooring for a household with children and pets. Due to the moisture resistant quality, laminate flooring can be installed anywhere in the house including a bathroom. Laminate floor can be installed over any floor. Most laminate flooring falls under a “floating” method of installation. This method does not require for the floors to be attached directly to the sub floor. It is simply installed over a proper floor underlayment by linking the planks together using the tongue and groove connecting system. Sometimes it is required to use special glue on the tongue and groove while installing. This method of installation is fairly easy for a homeowner to try it as diy (do it yourself) project.
Advantages:
Water Resistant: Laminate flooring is usually impregnated with paraffin which acts as a water repellent and prevents the spilled water to reach the core of the floor. If any kind of liquid, food or other substance is spilled on the floor- it will not get absorbed.
Durable: Laminate floors don't dent, don’t scratch, don’t stain and don’t fade. The texture, the use of materials and the finish on the surface help to protect from various accidents that would typically damage other floors.
Price: Laminate floors are lower in price than solid or engineered hardwood flooring products. As mentioned above, a homeowner can simply take on the installation as a diy project to eliminate the cost of the installation fees.
Environmentally Friendly: The construction of laminate flooring requires very little wood if any at all.
Care and Maintenance: It is very easy to maintain laminate floors. Just regular sweeping, vacuuming or mopping will do the job – no special cleaners or any other fancy substances are required. However if the floating method was used for the installation , over time the planks might come apart creating gaps in between them. So, every so often it is recommended to link the planks back together to prevent the dirt getting inside the gaps.