What Is Laminate Wood Flooring – Laminate flooring has come a long way since its introduction to American markets in the 1980s. The engineered product is designed to work with specific base and trim components.
Sold in planks that are usually about 3 feet long, 5 to 7 inches or so wide, and 7 to 12 millimeters thick, laminate flooring dimensions are usually in imperial and metric numbers.
What Is Laminate Wood Flooring
Consisting of four or five layers under pressure, laminate flooring is one of the most popular DIY flooring options. One way to make sure you’re buying a quality product is to check if it meets the ANSI-LF-01-2008 standard.
How To Install Laminate Flooring
Laminate can be laid in any room in the house. Some manufacturers allow the use of their products in the bathroom. It is important to follow the installation instructions to the letter, especially regarding sealing the edges to prevent water ingress. Although most laminates have a smooth, high-gloss surface, it is also available with a brushed texture.
Wood fibers are common, and you can also buy planks that mimic hand-scraped hardwood floors. There are several products on the market that are installed in similar ways, but differ in other ways from laminate.
Engineered wood floors come in a variety of configurations, but sometimes the main difference between them and laminate is that instead of a standard photocopy, a layer of wood veneer is used. Another product is luxury vinyl plank (LVP) flooring, which is softer underfoot than engineered wood and is made entirely of plastic. Like laminate, both are relatively thin and easily installed by DIYers.
Flooring materials such as hardwood, tile and stone compete with laminate. Traditional hardwood is 3/4 inch thick and is nailed one board at a time. Then sand and finish in place, more work for the pros.
How Do You Determine The Quality Of Laminate Flooring
Hardwood is also pre-finished, making it much more DIY-friendly. However, it is still typically 3/4 inch thick, which can be a problem when moving over existing stairs or fitting under a door. One of the advantages of any type of hardwood is that it can be sanded and cleaned after wear, giving the installation a very long life.
Ceramic tiles and stone are installed similarly, requiring a suitable substrate to prevent cracking and special installation tools. While this can be a DIY project, most homeowners should leave it to the professionals. Both stone and tiles are very durable and resistant to moisture. Depending on the type of grout used in the joints, stain can be a problem.
Finally, there are thinner, synthetic products such as vinyl and linoleum. Both are glued and available in wide rolls or in individual tiles. In most cases, the only special tool required is a notched trowel. You can make a sheet of vinyl or linoleum yourself if you find a wide enough material to create a room without seams. Sewing is a complicated process that is best left to the professionals. Vinyl and linoleum tiles are definitely suitable for DIY.
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Laminate flooring is designed to work as part of a system. The underlay is as important to the success of the installation as the floor itself.
Laminate Vs. Hardwood Flooring: Which Should You Choose?
All laminate floors require an underlay, which can range from ½ inch thick cork sheets to 6mm or 8mm thick felt or foam rolls. According to one manufacturer, Swiss Krono, “underlayment is not optional. If your laminate boards are not already attached, we recommend that you purchase rolls of underlayment to install your laminate flooring on.”
It has several purposes in construction. One of the most important is as a vapor retarder, preventing excess moisture from causing laminate problems such as swelling. Many subfloors have a built-in vapor barrier, but installing laminate in a basement requires an additional layer of 6 mil polyethylene as a vapor barrier under the subfloor.
It also corrects minor surface irregularities in the foundation under construction, which is important to ensure that the joints that seal the edges of the floor are properly supported and to limit the movement that can occur. May cause cracks. Laminate floors are designed to work best with specific substrates, so follow the manufacturer’s specifications.
Two other properties of the base are heat and sound insulation. Because it’s so thin, the underlayment doesn’t provide much insulating value, but it can be enough of a thermal break for the concrete to keep the basement floor warm. Reducing sound transmission is a good feature of the subfloor and is actually a major problem when coding multi-family housing. Look for an underlay that helps ensure a floor system with a Sound Transmission Class (STC) rating of 50 or higher.
Laminate Flooring Guide: What To Know Before You Install
The lining also provides impact resistance and shock absorption. The bottom layer makes the floor more comfortable and protects it from damage if something falls on it by giving it some impact.
Installing laminate flooring is an extremely popular DIY project because it is relatively easy to do and requires few tools. You can do the whole installation with a tape measure, a chalk line and one.
Knife for foundation and jigsaw for cutting. A miter saw and table saw or at least a circular saw will make the job much easier.
You can use a hammer and nail set for trimming, but a nailer is much easier. All these devices can be rented. Laminate flooring usually comes with good installation instructions, so it’s worth taking a few minutes to read them.
Laminate Flooring: What Makes It An Ideal Choice For Homes?
While early laminate flooring products were based on a combination of white glue and machined joints, today’s products are simply assembled. There is a bit of a learning curve, so it’s a good idea to practice putting a few pieces together to make sure you’ve got the hang of it before you start the actual installation.
The wood fiber core of laminate flooring expands with moisture and shrinks as it dries. To allow for this expansion and contraction, it is important that the floor starts and ends with a gap, but there is not too much space between it and the wall.
Manufacturers offer a wide variety of moldings and trims in finishes to match your floor. The most important are the various transitions, saddles and edges used where the laminate meets other surfaces such as tiles, carpets or stairs. There are also shoe skirting boards that can be nailed to your existing base skirting to cover the gaps at the edge of the floor.
However, you can use standard shoe moldings from the woodshed, painted to match your base. You’ll want to purchase these accessories along with the flooring so you have everything you need to get the job done.
Learn The Difference: Laminate Vs. Solid Hardwood Flooring
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With an ever-increasing selection of wood looks and colors, laminate is an excellent alternative to wood floors for home use. Laminate flooring used to be a simple piece of boring colors with little textural variation. Laminate flooring colors have since evolved into more variations and added modern colors.
So what has changed? Advances in technology have taken existing laminate colors to a new level. They now offer better gradients, realistic finishes and textures you can really feel, resulting in a rich color palette that’s wider but more precise in its aesthetics.
There are more! The color range of wood-look laminate parquet is more than just a wide selection of products. It’s a collection of tools that allow you to design your space not just with a certain look, but with a specific feel.
Laminate Vs. Vinyl Flooring: What’s The Difference?
Check out these 20 trendy laminate flooring colors and find one (or two or three) you can’t live without!
As the name suggests, Barn Oak is reminiscent of reclaimed barn wood, with its oak knots and cracks embedded in a rich brown color that mimics the light and dark colors found in real wood planks. Combined with a few pops of color in soft furnishings with light and dark decor, barn oak laminate flooring is the perfect color to create a warm space.
Deep, wide boards are timeless and comfortable. Introducing the Lamton Laminate Defiant Collection in Barn Oak SKU: 15271568
Canyon oak cannot be classified as white or light gray. Considered a neutral or neutral shade, this laminate color provides the best of both worlds. It brightens up any space and imitates the properties of real oak with its texture and color, which changes from board to board. Canyon Oak sets the tone for a cool, neutral base that allows for limitless design possibilities.
How To Install Laminate Floors
Modern laminate can imitate real wood very well. Introducing the Lamton Laminate Defiant Collection in Canyon Oa SKU: 15271567
Hand-scraped Odessa Gray visuals are paired with an ombre effect that moves from white to charcoal to highlight the wood grain patterns in each board.
