Laminate Hardwood Flooring

The Versatility of Laminate Hardwood Flooring

Laminate hardwood flooring is very versatile flooring meaning you have the look of beautiful hardwood flooring without the expensive price tag. Although laminate flooring does appear to be hardwood, it’s actually not made of solid wood. It’s called engineered hardwood because it’s made in a process where several materials are bonded together under extremely high pressure. It’s easy to lay and care for and when you step on it, it’s feels like you’re floating. This is why laminate hardwood flooring is also called a floating floor.

You can learn how to lay laminate flooring very quickly. Once you see how the first few planks fit together, you can easily complete the rest of the job on your own. You can install laminate hardwood flooring on just about any room of your home. However, it’s not recommended for the bathrooms, or any other room where there could be a lot of moisture. The extra water could damage the laminate hardwood flooring and you would have to go to the effort and expense of replacing the damages planks.

In contrast to solid hardwood, laminate hardwood flooring is about half the cost. It’s easy to install and there is no finish or refinish to worry about. Installing laminate flooring doesn’t require any nails; you may choose to glue it to the sub floor. Another advantage of laminate hardwood flooring is that you can lay it down on almost any type of surface, except, of course, carpet. It’s suitable for installing on top of concrete, wood or vinyl. All you have to do is to make sure the floor underneath is level before you start to lay the planks.

To prep the surface you have to make sure it’s free of any dust or small pieces of dirt that might work their way up through the laminate hardwood flooring. You also have to make sure the sub floor is soundproof and that it’s level. Often people who installed laminate hardwood flooring complain that there are squeaks when they walk on it. This isn’t the fault of the laminate flooring, but because the floor under it was not properly leveled before they started to lay the planks.

You do have to take extra care when you install laminate hardwood flooring over Radiant Heating. You have to read both the instructions for how to lay laminate flooring and the instructions regarding the radiant heat before you start.