| Laminate flooring is a viable solution for using in new construction or in renovations. Floating floors with real wood surfaces, or wood, stone or tile patterns, have benefits not found in other flooring products. |
As a verb it means to bond together in layers, while as a noun, it refers to a material that is produced by bonding together layers of material. For flooring, “laminate” is a family of products in which a finish material is fused to a substrate. Laminates can resemble many things, including wood, stone (like marble, slate, or flagstone), tile, or a solid surface of color (though that’s usually saved for countertops).
You may be wondering why you would choose a laminate over a wood, tile or stone floor. There are lots of reasons!
- Cost.
- Environmental concerns.
- Health issues.
- Speed of installation.
There are some reasons to not choose a laminate floor too.
- Durability.
- Maintenance.
- Noise.
Before we delve into the pros and cons, let’s understand better what laminate flooring is and a quick review of its history.
Laminate flooring is typically made with an interlocking tongue-and-groove system that sometimes clicks together and sometimes glues together. It can be pre-finished at the factory or finished after installation. It can be installed on any surface and in any room of your house, including wet rooms like the kitchen and bath. Laminate flooring consists of four main laminated components. First, the decorative surface — wood grain or stone look — made of resin is based melamine or a thin slice of wood. In the middle is a moisture-, heat- and dent-resistant core. On the underside is a balanced backing that adds support. The top is a clear, wear-resistant finish, often of aluminum oxide, which provides the protection and stain resistance.
Laminate flooring has a hardness factor, assigned by independent testing labs, reported on an AC scale. The AC rating considers resistance to staining and cigarette burns, impact, abrasion, and thickness swelling along plank edges. You want either AC-3 or AC-4; AC-3 is made for heavy residential and light commercial use. AC-4, which is 60% heavier than AC-3, is rated for heavier commercial use but is also fine in homes.
Pergo, a Swedish flooring company, developed the idea of a laminate floor out of their laminate countertop business, in 1977, introduced it to Europe in 1984 where it has grown in popularity ever since. It was introduced in 1994 to the U.S. where it spread quickly. Now there are numerous companies manufacturing laminate flooring, though Pergo has become the household word for the product.
Durability is one reason to not choose a laminate floor. Laminate flooring is tough, but by its nature of being made of thin layers it’s not as durable as wood, tile or stone flooring. It can’t be refinished when it gets scratched and the scratches can’t be easily camouflaged. When a laminate plank is damaged it’s challenging to repair it, though with the repair kits you can get from the manufacturer it can be patched. In some cases, you can take the floor up and replace the damaged plank.
The cost of installed laminate flooring can be cheaper than wood floors, making it one good reason to consider. Speed of installation from start to finish is faster than wood floors. It’s because it comes pre-finished, removing the additional step of coating the surface with a protective seal, and because it isn’t nailed down. It can be noisy to walk on, sounding a bit hollow.
Environmental concerns are worth evaluating as well. Trees, though a renewable resource, are very slow growing, and using them for floors consumes quite a bit of natural resource. Laminate floors, on the other hand, use manufactured materials (often from scraps of wood, cardboard, or paper) which are more abundant, being gentler on the environment.
Health issues are still another consideration in purchasing laminate flooring. Some laminate floors are off-gassed at the factory, saving your home or office from the health-challenging fumes. The quality of laminate flooring varies, along with the contents. Some products are made with more urea-formaldehyde and high volatile organic compounds (VOC) ingredients while others are made with low VOC ingredients. If the off-gassing is handled at the factory, you are in better shape.
Is laminate for you? I enjoyed my laminate flooring, laid in the entry, kitchen, and bathroom. The present owner of that house says the floor looks great more than 11 years later, even after being subjected to men wearing hiking boots, to dogs racing through the house, and all kinds of weather conditions, showing that it can definitely be a durable surface despite its reputation as being fragile.
I am currently looking at putting laminate flooring over top of my vinyl flooring in my kitchen. I went to Lowes and they told me it was not good to put it in the kitchen due to it not being able to withstand water. I have read up, and there seems to be no real answer on this. Do you know if this is true?
It can be done, you just have to be digilent about cleaning up water messes quickly. There are vinyl or linoleum flooring choices that are designed to look like wood that have a very realistic wood ‘look’. A friend of mine has flooring like this and it really does look like a wood floor – even has grain.
I am buying a house that has pergo flooring in the living room. I would prefer carpet there, but I am wondering if I can carefully remove the pergo and reuse it in the dining room? Do you know if this is possible? Thanks, Andrea
I’ve never known anybody who has tried to do that. I doubt that it would work, but I suppose it’s worth a shot if you can get it up intact.
I have medium yellow oak cabinets in my kitchen and similar color hardwood flooring in my hallway and dinning room, that have openings into my kitchen. I am considering wood hand scraped laminate flooring in my kitchen. I’m not trying to match the hardwood flooring because that is next to impossible. My kitchen flooring will also go into my sunken living room that opens into my hallway. What color wood laminate should I choose for my kitchen floor? Should it be lighter or darker than the hardwood flooring? I want a color that hides the dirt in the kitchen and I want a color in my living room floor that is not to dark. These two floors have to flow together. I just haven’t found anything that would work. When the laminate has too much yellow in it, it makes my hardwood look greenish. I have a sample of amber oak right now but it is reddish and darker than my hardwoods. Lighter or darker,I’m just not sure. Any help is appreciated.
Thank you, Valerie
Hi Valerie,
It really doesn’t matter if you go lighter or darker as it’s a personal preference. It’s just going to boil down to which ever choice you like the best. Luckily, there are no ‘rules’ to follow. ;~)
Hi Flooring Lady, Thank you for your thoughts about going lighter or darker on my kitchen and living room floor, with lighter hardwoods nearby. I decided not to go with a wood look laminate in my kitchen but have chosen Congoleums Duraceramic flooring with a dark to light wood burl look that is hard wearing. The reviews about it are outstanding! I’m glad that their are no rules about darker or lighter adjacent room flooring too! Thanks again!
Valerie
You’re very welcome Valerie! Thanks for posting back. ;~)
This comment is for Jerry: We have been installing laminate flooring in our house.In the first room, we put down a moisture barrier and used the laminate with the attached underlay. Room had an echo, and sounded like plastic when walking across it.We recently put the same laminate in the kitchen over the existing square vinyl tiles. We love it! The tiles act as added cushion, thereby cutting out the “echo” and adding a firmness to the sound of the floor! You can definitely tell the difference in the two rooms. As far as the water thing, we are just being more careful to clean up spills! Hope this has helped you.
I love the laminate floors we have installed, but they really aren’t as shiny as I would have liked. I was wondering if it was possible to seal a laminate floor? If so, what product to I use?
Hi Pat,
It depends on what kind of flooring you have. Much of it these days have an aluminimum oxide finish (factory done of course). Your regular ol’ polyurethanes aren’t going to work with the factory finish. Best thing to do is to call the manufacturer to see what can be used.
I would like to install laminate floors in my entry hall, great room, dining room, and kitchen. I currently have a small section of laminate by the front door and the echo is terrible. Is there any way to pick a laminate floor that will not have an echo?
Hi Audrey,
Did you install anything under the laminate? Many people use cork tiles first to muffle sound.
How to find out which of the laminates are manufactured with high VOC ingredients and which are safer ones? Could you please recommend a brand that is safe to use in bedrooms?
Thanks.
What is your opinion about installing laminate floor in the kitchen. I spend a lot of time in my kitchen and is concern about water spills.
Thank you for your response.
i installed a new aluminun oxide real hardwood floor 1 and a half years ago.now i have several pieces of finish coming up is there a way to replace in the middle of floor,or do i have to peplace the whole floor. floor still under warranty. they said they would put in a claim but u know how that is . help
Hi Santosh,
I don’t make it a practice to recommend one manufacturer over another simply because flooring products change so quickly. Most are low VOC now though – it’s very easy to find manufacturer’s websites too and look at the products they offer. I have noticed that most flooring manufacturers (whether it be laminates or even carpeting) have something on their homepage about being more environmentally friendly and go into detail as to why their products are so much better now! ;~)
Hello B. Brown,
Yes, this can work in a kitchen, though you do have to be diligent about cleaning up spills – but then again, you should be doing that with any type of flooring. Keep in mind too, that some manufacturers do not consider laminate a good choice for the kitchen.
Dear help,
It’s difficult to say – it depends on how big of an area it is, how many areas, etc. You can find detailed instructions on the internet by doing a search thru google.com. There are different methods for different situations. Hmmm….. sounds like a good subject for a series of articles at this site, doesn’t it?
So long as you haven’t done anything to void the flooring’s warranty, I believe that you’ll be pleasantly suprised by the inspector’s verdict.
I have a hair salon that has Laminate flooring now its a light color and hides all the scratches and stuff but i’m wanting a darker flooring now. Do you think that dark laminate won’t hide that stuff? Also what do you think about vinyl plank flooring?
Thanks so much