Solid hardwood has been around since the first broad-leafed tree sprouted from the earth – but laminate flooring has only been sold in the consumer flooring market since the 1980s. Laminate countertops and cabinets entered the market well before laminate flooring. However, it took engineers some time to figure out how to make laminate strong enough for floors. Eventually, an increase in heat and pressure during production, and the addition of reinforced layers did the trick. Easy click-and-lock tongue-and-groove floor laminates were born.
Laminate flooring is made up of layers. Most flooring choices labeled laminate flooring come finished with a protective seal and are ready for the weight of walking soon after installation. Marketers and manufacturers like to divide laminate flooring into two categories: wood laminates and plastic laminates. However, flooring industry associations prefer to categorize a wood-on-wood layered floor as an engineered floor, and the melamine on fiberboard product as laminate. If you are considering installing a laminate floor, make sure you research the product’s layers and warranties before you make any purchasing decision.
Products classified as “wood laminates” could be wood veneer (a thin sheet of wood about .06 millimeters thick) on top of plywood, or wood veneer on fiberboard. They’re usually sold in 3-ply or 5-ply strips or planks. Flooring sold as wood laminate flooring almost always comes with a tough polyurethane or acrylic finish and in easy-to-install tongue and groove pieces that can be glued or nailed down.
“Plastic laminates” differ because they come with a printed layer that mimics solid hardwood, rather than a layer of wood veneer. They are called plastic laminates because the top layer is infused with amminoplastic thermosetting resins – usually melamine. Plastic laminates have a top protective coating sealed over the décor paper. This can give you the look of exotic wood without the price. Those two layers are placed over a supportive baseboard, (typically fiberboard, but can be engineered hardwood), that has the edging for the “click and lock.” Under the supporting board is a stabilizing layer. This stabilizes the wood so it doesn’t slip and slide, and it protects your laminated floor from subfloor moisture.
Fiberboard, (technically, cellulosic fiber), can be made with natural wood chips blended with other man-made materials, or it can be a complete blend of synthetic materials. Fiberboard is sometimes made from cane. Engineered hardwood floors don’t have the fiber structure that fiberboard does. Fiberboard’s identifying feature is that it uses a “felting” process to bond the fibers. Engineered wood floors go through a layering process. But fiberboard, engineered hardwood, and laminate flooring all use heat and pressure during the fabrication process. Heat and pressure treatments have a direct influence on the quality of the flooring product. Therefore, it’s beneficial to take notice of a floor’s pressure treatment before making your final flooring choice.
High density fiberboard (HDF) and medium density fiberboard (MDF) are used in laminate flooring. Medium density fiberboard goes through a less extreme heating and pressure treatment than high density fiberboard, but the manufacturing process is the same. Because high density fiberboard goes through a more extreme heating and pressure treatment, it is a higher quality fiberboard and recommended for laminate flooring.
Pressure treatment is also given to the surface layer and stabilizing layer of laminate flooring. The surface and stabilizing layers can be HPL (High Pressure Laminate), CPL (Continuous Pressure Laminate), or DPL (Direct Pressed Laminate). High pressure and continuous pressure bonds the surface layer and/or the stabilizing layer on to its surface, but a direct pressed surface layer and/or stabilizing layer is pressed on to its surface. Laminate flooring fabricated with the direct-pressed method on the surface layer and stabilizing layer of the laminate flooring will produce a more stable floor that isn’t prone to bowing under pressure.
If you don’t want to bow under the pressure of having to choose a new laminate floor, choose your laminate wood flooring armed with information, and your buying decision will be no pressure at all.