Laminate Floors

Laminate Floors: If you love the look of real hardwood or stone but are concerned with the upkeep, look no further than laminate floors.

The top wear layer is incredibly durable and easy to care for. It is also impervious to most stains, spills, burns and extremely scratch-resistant, making it perfect for busy families and pet owners.

Although introduced to the US market a mere decade ago, laminate flooring has rapidly become one of the hottest selling floor products in the United States today. Its popularity can be much attributed to its ease of installation, affordable price, ability to withstand tough utilization and much more. It's no wonder that billions of square feet of it have been sold over the years to homeowners all over the country, and even more worldwide.

Flooring manufacturers have been quick to catch on to the laminate trend and many now produce laminated floor planks and tiles in a bewildering array of styles, colors, textures and in a variety of different install formats, such as gluedown, click lock and floating amongst others.

Some people are surprised to learn that the pattern they see on a laminate floor is not real wood, stone or ceramic. It is actually an image! Using a system that was pioneered some twenty years ago by the company called Pergo, photos are taken of attractive and characteristic sections of the material to be represented and are then applied to floor planks and tiles. So dominant was the originating company in early years that laminate flooring has become equally well known as 'Pergo flooring' despite the fact that numerous other manufacturers now produce it.

Naturally, using a depiction in place of the real thing is a boon to manufacturers in making production both quick and easy, which in turn helps to bring the finished laminate flooring product to the market at very affordable prices. That's not all, as it isn't real oak, teak, maple, stone, granite and the like, it means that less hardwood trees are being felled, and no hillsides quarried, to supply flooring manufacturers with raw materials. Many people don't give it a passing thought, but those that do buy laminate flooring instead of solid hardwood or stone floors are all helping in some way to save the environment from destruction. Now isn't that a just reason to want to rush out and buy a laminate floor? Of course, but first let's tell you some more great things about it.

Laminate floor tiles and planks are coated with a heavy duty, hardwearing aluminum oxide finish that protects the underlying pattern from being damaged. More importantly, this means that the floor is able to stand up to high foot traffic levels without wearing through, thus providing its owner with many years of use without the need to worry about costly maintenance. In this regard, laminate can be reliably considered as being 'maintenance free' flooring.