If you’re weighing the pros and cons of a laminate floor, we’ve got the “pros” all laid out for you here.
Looks Like the Real Thing: Laminate floors can look like real hardwood. Many homeowners prefer the wood look because it creates a feeling of warmth and comfort. But you can also find laminate floors that look like stone, slate and other natural materials.
Easy Installation: Laminate floors install quickly and easily. In fact, they’re a perfect DIY installation. With most manufacturer’s installation system, the flooring planks and strips just snap together. No glue. No complicated equipment. Laminate wood flooring can easily be installed very short while, without any hassle, dust or sand and extended time scales. Todays laminate wood flooring can be installed through a floating floor installation technique that involves the tongue-and-groove locking method to lay the floor. The flooring boards actually move as one unit during humidity or temperature changes. A laminate wood floor can be installed over an existing floor, sub-floor, or even concrete. Laminate floors are also a good option for a do-it-yourself installation by anybody with a little experience in construction or carpentry, unlike hardwood flooring which requires great skill and patience.
Allergy Friendly: Laminate floors are a good option for people with dust allergies. Typically, dust collects in carpet fibers and is hard to remove. With hard surface floors like laminate, dust is easy to sweep away or vacuum. It doesn’t stay on the surface.
Healthy Environment: Laminate flooring ensures a cleaner environment by not retaining dust, dirt and debris. And this is how it also prevents the growth of dust mites and infections. Laminate floors are also chosen for people suffering from allergies. If you don’t suffer from allergies, don’t think that laminate flooring has no health benefits to offer you. Allergies can develop over time through extended exposure to irritants, and laminate flooring can help to prevent that with its anti-static properties. This is another reason why laminate flooring is so wonderful for families with children and/or pets. Since little ones do enjoy playing on the floors and your pet basically lives there, the resistance to dust keeps all members of the family clean and safe.
Durability: Laminate floors are extremely durable and resist scratches, stains, and indentations better than most flooring types. Laminate floors are kid- and pet-friendly. Do you have toys with wheels? Building blocks that topple? Big dogs with a lot of energy? Not a problem for laminate because its a highly durable flooring surface. It is extremely compatible for high traffic areas and has become a preferred choice for homes with children and pets. Laminate wood floors feature a hard and tough wear layer, and provide better scratch and dent resistance than many other flooring materials. Though it is incredibly resilient, you should still take care to protect it from premature damage. Consider placing area rugs at entranceways or in areas prone to extremely high traffic.
- Laminate wood flooring offers increased stain resistance over other types of flooring. This is true when compared to hardwood floors.
- Laminate wood flooring boards come pre-finished with a stain-resistant wear coating applied on the surface. This is why stains can be painlessly cleaned up. and spills are easily wiped from laminate wood flooring surfaces.
- Laminate flooring is fade resistant. Unlike many other types of floors, a laminate wood floor is designed not to fade with repeated sun exposure
Easy Maintenance: Laminate floors are easy to clean. Just sweep or vacuum as needed and use a no-rinse laminate floor cleaner occasionally.
Affordable: Laminate floors are affordable. You get beauty and durability at a budget-friendly price. Speaking of price, laminate flooring offers a value-added proposition on a long term basis, retaining its shape, color and beauty over a period of 25 years or longer with little maintenance other than weekly cleaning. Now more than ever, laminate flooring is gaining popularity for this benefit alone. Laminate is a product for a tough economy that allows you to achieve a quality look without an expensive budget. If you simply can’t afford the real thing, laminate is an excellent alternative financially, and sometimes the additional benefits of durability and versatility make the product better than the material it was made to mimic. In recent years, laminate floors have come into their own. The economy has played a big part in laminate’s resurgence as a top flooring choice. In addition, the technology to make laminate look more like real materials has also contributed to its popularity. Check out all the laminate choices available at your local flooring store or home center.
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More to come….,
Linda Lockwood
Statewide Floor Covering Inspection Service
609-660-1717
Certified Laminate Flooring Inspector
New Jersey-New York- Eastern Pennsylvania
