What Is The Best Type Of Laminate Flooring?

What Is The Best Type Of Laminate Flooring? In the past decade, the use of laminate flooring has taken the home improvement world by storm. With a mixture of synthetics in layers that provide protection from scuffing, scratching, and tarnishing the price can’t be beaten.

Before laminate had the beautiful hardwood finish many people prefer laminate had a cheap plastic look that wasn’t insanely popular. Real hardwood floors are expensive and hardwood laminate has provided a cheap alternative.

Laminate flooring can be installed without professionals and is easier to maintain than hardwood. Laminate flooring generally lasts for up to thirty years with incredible durability. However, not all laminate is created equal.

What Is Laminate Flooring Exactly?

Laminate flooring is a cheaper alternative to hardwood flooring and preferred over vinyl. It is a four layer synthetic flooring that is supportive and anti-dent finished with a wear layer that helps prevent nicks and scratches from daily use.

Laminate can come in a stone or wood finish, more often than not wood finish is the chosen look. Laminate flooring can perfectly mirror the aesthetic of a true hardwood floor and come at half the cost. Installation is easy and doesn’t require a team of experts to lay it down.

There are two different styles of laminate that remain the most popular: engineered wood and plastic. Engineered wood is going to be the more expensive of the two but if it’s taken care of properly has a longer lifespan.

Plastic laminate is durable, long-lasting, and cheaper but the look is slightly different. Both come in a myriad of finishes and most laminates are waterproof if installed correctly.

Best Type of Laminate Flooring For Your House

All of the color and design choices in laminate flooring can be dizzying. First, you need to decide the style you want the overall aesthetic to be. Second, you need to really look into what type of lifestyle you lead. Do you have kids and pets? Is there lots of traffic?

If you answered yes then getting a high gloss might not look as good. Laminate with a distressed-like finish or low gloss finish will look more appealing to guests. Having a patterned grain finish can also help hide any dirt brought in by kids or pets until it’s cleaned.

Stone laminate can be a really beautiful replacement for hard stone on a patio or deck. Rather than deal with the grouting and dirt that can accompany a stone floor laminate can make installation and maintenance a breeze.

Click In Or Glue?

The majority of laminates are a glue-less click in style that makes it easy for a DIY beginning to install. The tiles do as they say, they click and lock in place. Under-pads are needed for any laminate flooring prior to laminate being installed.

If this is one of your first home improvement projects choosing a laminate with a built-in underpad may be the better option. It’ll ensure the floor is laid correctly with the proper preparations.

Click ins are spectacular in their own way because they can easily be changed or removed without much fuss.

Glue in laminates are a stronger flooring due to the glue being used, but installation is time consuming and costs more than click ins. Glue ins are good for people looking for long-term flooring and that have some experience laying flooring down.

You can choose it as a first project but patience is important to ensure the floor is glued and laid correctly.

What Is The Most Durable?

Laminate companies have made this question easy to answer. Laminates come with what is called an AC Rating (abrasion class) that shows exactly how much the flooring can take traffic wise.

There are five levels starting from moderate residential (closets) to heavy commercial (department stores etc). Where you’re putting the laminate floor determines the AC rating you’ll need.

When you’re looking at finishes and brands check AC ratings on each option as companies may have similar finishes with different ratings.

What Is The Best Type Of Laminate Flooring? – Conclusion

Laminate flooring is a popular choice for homes because of its durability, price, lifespan and installation. Choosing the look and finish is just as important as choosing the brand. Now that you’re a bit more educated it should be easier for you to know what you’re looking for and what to ask.