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How To Choose Laminate Flooring For Your Home
By Mark Freeman, Fri Dec 9th
Laminate flooring is relatively new to us in the U.S. Laminateflooring has been used for years in homes and businesses inEurope. Laminate flooring is a hard flooring surface which isactually layered during manufacture. A laminate floor consistsof a top wear layer, which is generally aluminum oxide, which isvery long lasting, a print layer which is the pattern of yourchoice (hardwood or ceramic), an inner core, and a backing,which are fused together. The choices available in laminateflooring today are astounding. Laminate floors can be made toresemble almost any other type of floor surface, with the mostpopular being hardwood and ceramic tile. Many manufacturers today offer laminate hardwood flooring, whichis hard to tell from the real thing. However, care is wherelaminate flooring is king. Laminates are extremely durable,however care must be taken not to let them get over wet as somepaper backings are not as durable as others. Some manufacturerswill not cover laminate flooring that is installed in abathroom. Laminate floors are what installers consider "floatingflooring". Unlike vinyl or linoleum laminate floors are notattached to the sub floor. Laminate floors come as tongue andgroove plants which are fastened to each other with adhesive.Depending on the under layer of flooring some laminate floorscan be installed right over existing floors of wood, vinyl,linoleum or tile.
Laminate flooring cannot be installed overcarpeting. Most major floor manufacturers today carry laminate flooring,such as Armstrong, Pergo, Mohawk, Mannington and Bruce. As with choosing any flooring for your home there are generalconsiderations; what is your interior scheme? Do you want alight floor or dark floor? Light hardwood flooring is generallyused in more relaxed and country atmospheres, where dark coloredhardwood flooring is used in more formal homes. Patternedflooring that has grains or other types of shading will not showdirt as quickly as solid flooring will. Dark floors will make aroom look smaller, light flooring will make a room look larger. Laminate floors are very easy care. As always you will want toread the manufacturers instructions. Generally they only need avacuum and slightly damp mopping. Do not over apply water whichcan seep through the cracks in the floor and behind baseboardsand cause damage. Laminate flooring does not need any wax orfloor finish applied to it.
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