Laminate Flooring Review

Laminate flooring began in Europe back in the late 1970's and arrived in the USA in 1994. Since then laminate flooring has become a popular choice for many homeowners in the USA as an alternative for hardwood, tile or vinyl floor coverings.

Although these floors are not real wood or tile laminate flooring manufactures have been able to create extremely realistic patterns that truly look like the real natural flooring materials. This is achieved through an advanced photographic decorative layer combined with an embossed top wear layer. The top wear layer also protects the decorative photo layer from becoming damaged during normal household use.

Some people may think to compare laminate flooring to laminate countertops but in reality laminate flooring is much more durable than laminate countertops. That is because of the melamine resins embedded in the wear layer makes the wear surface extremely resistant to scratches, gouging, burns, and staining. Also, the overall plank thickness is much great than used in countertops. This makes laminate flooring a good hard surface option for high traffic areas in a home.

If you love the look of a real hardwood floor but want something that is easier to maintain or is going in areas where wood flooring is not recommended take a look at the latest wood designs in laminate flooring. The same holds true for tile. Not all rooms may meet the standards for installing real tile or stone where as a laminate floor in a tile or stone design will be suitable and achieve the same overall appearance.

Today, you can find extremely inexpensive laminate floors both online and the big box chain stores. Although these floors have a great price point they lack many of the aesthetic and built-in performance features that you will find in the better grade laminate floors. For example: you won't find the realism, the wide variety of style and colors, the superior locking systems, better core construction and tougher wear layers in the low end laminates. So be sure you are comparing apples to apples when shopping for laminate flooring.