Laminate Wood Flooring-Great Choice of Flooring

18 August 2010- Laminate wood flooring was invented by the Swedish Company Pergo in 1977. The first laminate wood floor was exported by Pergo to Europe in 1984 and to US in 1994. But it is the Unilin that invented glueless wood laminate floor in 1997. Here they make use of locking system and its variant. You will find their product under the name of Uniclic and this technique has also been adopted by Pergo.

Laminate wood floor is a good alternative to the costly hardwood flooring, ceramic or stone flooring. But you must not further compromise on the quality of the floor as it will then cost you more because of aftermath cost involved. For this reason try to install the top most quality of laminate wood flooring.

Laminate wood floor is given the top coating of melamine resin that makes it tough, scratch resistant and provides protection to the design. The flooring made from the thicker planks will be more rigid and has better locking system.

What is Laminate Wood Flooring?

Laminate wood floor is a synthetic flooring that is made in the form of layers from different types of wood. Each layer is fused together with the process of lamination. Beneath laminate wood flooring there is a layer of protective coating to protect the floor. In most of the laminate floor melamine resin is used as a inner core layer. All wood laminate flooring is not of same quality and durability.

While installing laminate wood flooring make sure that sub floor has been evened properly otherwise it will be difficult to lock the planks. Although the unevenness is hard to recognize with naked eyes but when it comes to installing laminate wood flooring it will be highly difficult to install that. Wood laminate flooring floats over the surface of subfloor or the floor under it. In this type of flooring wood planks are secured to each other but these are not fastened to the subfloor. Therefor avoid to install it over the carpet, bathroom and any other floating floor. Learn More about Types of Wood Flooring and Tips to Choose Wood Floor

Wood Laminate Flooring Layers

There are basically four layers in this kind of floor. These are

• Wear Layer
• Photographic Image Layer
• Inner Core Layer
• Backing Layer

Wear layer is the top transparent layer that protects the floor and the design. Melamine with aluminum oxide particles is used to make the wear layer more durable. In photographic image layer either hardwood planks, stone, ceramic or other material is used. Fiberboard is used to make the inner core layer. Here the locking of planks is done through tongue and groove edges. Stability to the inner core layer is provided by the backing layer. It also helps the planks from moisture and warping. Inner core layer as well as backing layers are treated with water resistant sealers.

High Pressure Laminates (HPL) and Direct Pressure Laminates (DPL)

Wood laminate floor is constructed either in High Pressure Laminates (HPL) or Direct Pressure Laminates (DPL). To construct laminate floor in High Pressure Laminates 2 processes are involved to fuse and glue the components together. Where as in Direct Pressure Laminates everything is done in one process. HPL is more costly than DPL and suitable for both commercial as well as residential use. Where as DPL is not recommended for the commercial application.

High End Laminate and Low End Laminate Flooring

Then there are High End Laminate floors and Low End Laminate wood floors. The high end laminate floors have better color, finish, design with more realistic quality. Also it has better interlocking system. Where a low end laminate floor will have less moisture absorbing capacity. Because of this an apparent swelling may occur leading to the laminate wood flooring damage.

Where to Install Laminate Wood Floor?

You can install the wood laminate floor wherever your home has high traffic area. Wood laminate flooring is high stain resistant and gets very less scratches. Laminate flooring is floating type so can be installed on any type of existing floor. But it is not recommended to install it in bathroom, high moisture rich area and at slippery floor. But float type flooring diminishes the cost of removing existing floor.