Buy Laminate Flooring

My name is Marc Jenkins, and for the last 7 years I have spent hundreds of work hours installing laminate flooring. When I first started installing this (at that time rather new) kind of wooden flooring at the homes of my customers I was rather skeptic, and to be honest I didn't expect that one day I would be convincing my customers to use this kind of floor cover. However during the time, as my experience grew I realized that this is one of the best priced quality ways to cover your house floors. Before I started with laminate, I used to be in flooring business for already 27 years and had a pretty respectable experience. And when I realized what are the advantages of laminate flooring I realized that I want to dedicate myself to this type of flooring as much as possible in the next period. I am sure that I'll be able to convince your trough this site, that laminates and laminate floors are one of the best choices when you decorate your house, if not the best, and I'll also try to put up some tips, experiences and suggestions on how and where to buy your laminate floor.

This type of flooring (laminate flooring) is composed of three layers and was basically introduced in US in 1996, but the fact that some people don't know is that is was very successfully sold in Europe for the past 20 years, especially in Germany. Also, if you never heard of laminate flooring, there is a good chance that you've heard of Pergo - which is actually the same thing. Basically it's the name of the company that created this type of flooring first, and basically the first brand offered in US. That's why that name became synonym for laminate flooring.

The increasing cost of hardwood is resulting in a major shift in how consumers look at flooring. Prices of hardwood flooring can reach $30 to $100 per square foot, so covering one large room of 200 square feet with solid hardwood can go $20,000 and beyond. Installation is a big part of flooring costs and it can be painfully high in particular with unfinished hardwood floors. A good solution was needed and engineered hardwood flooring and hardwood laminate flooring is fitting the bill nicely.

Hardwood laminate flooring uses a manufacturing process that sandwiches a composite fiberboard material in between two sheets of melamine. One melamine layer is the upper layer and may contain a thin sheet (7 to 10 mm) of real hardwood. This gives the completed board the appearance of a real hardwood plank or strip.

Completely laminate flooring may use an embossing technique that provides a real texture akin to real wood grain. It may be hard to distinguish between real hardwood and laminate flooring when it is fully installed.

Major brands selling hardwood laminate flooring are: Bruce Flooring and Shaw Engineered Flooring.

Tip Of The Day: Laminate Floor Installation

Laminate flooring comes in individual boards with tongue-and-groove edges, roughly eight inches by four feet long. Matching trim and molding is available.

Laminate is installed as a “floating floor.” A layer of foam is placed under the flooring and the individual “boards” are glued at the tongue and groove joint. The individual pieces of laminate flooring are not glued or nailed down to the sub floor.

With regard to sub flooring, there’s lots of flexibility. Laminate can be installed over concrete, plywood, or OSB sub flooring. And while other forms of flooring may not be suited for some types of existing floor, laminate can be applied directly over ceramic tile, vinyl, and parquet floors. Laminate’s 1/3-inch thickness is also an asset when dealing with transitions (vs. a typical 3/4-inch, Swedish-finish wood floor). Remember, any time you install a floor, it should be at the same height as adjoining floors.

Installing laminate is easy for some and difficult for others. If you’re a skilled handy person, someone who can hang a door and do simple carpentry, you can probably do the job. However, professionals can install 90% of all laminate floor jobs in a day or less, while it can probably... Full Laminate Floor Installation article...

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