Laminate Flooring Guide
An affordable alternative to wood, tile or stone, laminate floors give you the look you want — at a much lower price point. They’re easy to maintain, saving you complicated upkeep. They’re also easy to install, with a click-lock design that saves you headaches. Laminate floors are known for their resilience against scratches and water. They’re made to be durable! And because they’re safe for damp or wet areas, they’re a great way to get the look of wood in a space where you traditionally might not be able to, such as a bathroom, mud room or basement. Plus, laminate comes in so many styles and shades that you’re sure to find one that suits your space.
Laminate Layers
Laminate flooring is a synthetic product made of several layers that consists of four components:
Wear Layer
The wear layer helps resist scratches from daily wear, creates an easy-to-clean surface and maintains a fade- and stain-resistant appearance.
Design Layer
The design layer offers real visuals and patterns of natural wood, stone or ceramic.
Core Layer
The core layer is the structure of the laminate, made of high-density fiber board that gives stability and dent-resistance.
Backing Layer
The backing layer is for stability and prevents bowing or collapsing.
Shop by Colour
Laminate Textures
Smooth – Comes in a variety of glosses ranging from high to low, giving it a varnish appearance that is normally used on hardwood.
Embossed – Mimics the surface grain pattern of real wood, giving it realistic look and feel.
Handscraped – Mimics distressed natural wood, giving it an antique appearance.
Laminate Styles
Wood – Available in every wood colour and texture, giving them the look and feel of the natural wood. This is the most popular choice for homes.
Tile – Available in a variety of effects such as, slate, ceramic tile, bamboo and stone giving them the look and feel of the natural materials.
Thickness & Width
Thickness
Laminate flooring ranges from 7mm-12mm thickness. Thicker laminate floors are great to reduce noise, and better hide uneven subfloors. Note, that when browsing laminate floors the thickness of the product is including the core and attached pad.
Width
Laminate flooring comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, long board, extra wide plank, or square tiles. Each size range will suit a different area of your home.
AC Rating
The Abrasion Criteria (AC) rating is a term used to indicate durability and wear resistance level of laminate flooring scale from 1 to 5. The higher the AC rating, the higher the durability.
AC1 – Light foot traffic, residential (bedrooms, guest rooms).
AC2 – Moderate foot traffic, residential (living room, dining room).
AC3 – Moderate foot traffic, residential (any), light commerical (hotel rooms, offices).
AC4 – Heavy foot traffic residential (any), moderate commerical (cafe, salons).
AC5 – Heavy foot traffic residential (any) and commerical (department stores, showrooms).
Laminate Benefits
Easy maintenance: Sweep or vacuum and an occasional cleaning with a laminate or wood floor cleaner.
Durability: Multiple layers makes laminate resistant to damage from scratches and wear.
Style: Available in a variety of colours and styles, ranging from real wood to ceramic, slate, and stone.
Heating: Laminate floor boards can be installed over radiant heating systems.
Laminate Terms
Above Grade – Any level of the home located above the ground.
Below Grade – A level of the home located below the ground (basements).
On Grade – The ground floor of the home.
Beveled Edge – The slightly sloped edges and ends of a laminate plank. The more beveled the edge or end is, the more apparent the grooves will be between the boards
Click Lock – Created for easy floating installation. The edges and ends of the planks have a curved tongue and grooves which, when fitted together create a strong hold and tight seam.
Floating Installation – When the laminate floor is not attached to the subfloor, but the planks are attached to each other and held down by the weight of the flooring.
Multi-Purpose Molding – A transition piece which can be formed into more than one style, contingent upon how you have to utilize it.
Overlap Reducer – A transition piece to be used in conjunction with floating laminate. The cover reducer will cover the overlay ground surface and step by step incline down to meet the front edge of vinyl, tile or floor covering. The part that covers the overlay conceals the fundamental extension hole. The cover reducer ought to be connected to the subfloor and never to the genuine overlay flooring.
Overlap Stairnose – For use with a floating laminate floor, the cover stairnose goes about as the completed adjusted piece of a stage. The cover stairnose will cover the overlay floor, covering the fundamental extension hole. The cover stairnose ought to be appended to the subfloor and never to the real laminate flooring.
Quarter Round – Utilized in conjunction with a wall base, or alone. A quarter round is utilized to conceal the vital development hole around the mass of the room. Appended to the wall, not to the laminate flooring.
Square Edge – A 90 degree cornered edge and end of a cover board. At the point when square edge cover boards are introduced together, it makes a consummately smooth surface, without any slopes. Square edges and finishes are normal in laminate flooring, particularly in 2-strip and 3-strip plans.
T-Molding – A piece molded like a T to easily progress starting with one hard surface then onto the next that is of equivalent stature.
Strip – A laminate floor can be either 1-strip, 2-strip or 3-strip. Like the structure of longstrip hardwood flooring, the particular number of strips is appeared only one cover board. This plan makes a laminate floor install quick.
Subfloor – Level on which the new laminate flooring with be joined or glided over. There are a few different kinds of subfloors. Most laminate flooring can go over other floor types as well, for example, vinyl and tile. Check with the manufacturer of your flooring for explicit subfloor prerequisites.
Attached Underlayment – Some laminate planks have an underlayment already attached to the underside of the board, so you don’t have to roll a different underlayment when installing floating laminate floors.
Underlayment – A hard or delicate boundary between the subfloor and the new laminate flooring.
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