About Laminate Floors

Just like many other types of hard surface floor covering, laminate flooring has undergone major advances over the last 30 years. When laminate flooring was first introduced by the Pergo Company back in the 1980's, it was considered a cheap alternative to wood floors, but it never had a realistic hardwood look or feel. With new technological advances in the laminate flooring industry, companies are now able to produce high end laminate products that have a finer appearance than many REAL hardwood products. Not to mention, laminate is much more durable than real wood, requires much less maintenance,  and in most cases costs less than hardwood flooring. 



Now days, In Michigan, more people are buying high quality laminates over traditional hardwood floors.  Laminate flooring has never been better than it is today and hardwood has never been worse.  In fact most of the super high quality hardwood that was used in many of the older homes that were built prior to 1970 is simply no longer available.  The lumber used in many of those floor types came from trees deep in a northern American forest that often went through brutally cold winters and may have been over 200 years old.  Today, cheap lumber is mass produced faster than you can imagine in South America or even imported from China at a very low cost and quality.  Since this unseasoned wood grows in warm climates and is often just a few years old when milled, it simply does not perform nearly as well and is not as hard as the wood that was on the floor of our grandparents houses 30 years ago.  Because of the softer wood being used, natural wood floors often need to be sanded down and refinished every 4-5 years making hardwood floors a very costly investment that will require more maintenance and TLC than any other type of flooring out there.  Once a natural hardwood floor gets a scratch or dent in it, you are stuck with that forever or until you sand the whole floor down and re coat it with new urethane. With the rising costs of natural hardwood flooring and the amount of maintenance involved in maintaining them, smart homeowners are looking to find ways of achieving maximum long lasting beauty at a price that does not break the bank.  

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High quality laminates will look and feel just like hardwood floors but are engineered to be able to withstand many of the things that routinely destroy most hardwood floors.  Here in Michigan and many other parts of the Mid-west, we have drastic changes throughout the year in climate temperatures and humidity.  Thus being the number one reason for failure of bamboo floors and many other types of hardwood flooring.  Humidity causes wood to expand and contract sometimes causing gaps and splinters in the wood and even the formation of humps and dips over the years.



Hardwood floors scratch easily where as the upper quality laminate floors are extremely scratch resistant.  A higher end laminate floor will have a high compression ratio meaning the materials compressed into the core of the product and at an extremely high density making it much harder and stable than even the hardest of hardwood floor species.  On the surface of a high quality laminate floor will be a layer or multiple layers of Aluminum Oxide which is the hardest shell made for any type of flooring known to mankind.  Aluminum Oxide finishes are baked on at extreme temperatures and although not completely indestructible  make some of today's high quality laminates the hardest floor to scratch.



Aluminum Oxide coated laminate floors are also for the most part kid-proof.  Since almost nothing sticks to Aluminum Oxide nor stains it, high quality laminates are will look better for a much longer period of time under heavy traffic and abuse than any hardwood floor out there.  Large pets with long nails scratch hardwood floors.  High heel shoes and chair legs sliding across traditional hardwood floors will often scratch, dent, or just plain destroy the finish of hardwood flooring.  Normal accidents and spills will often warp natural hard wood floors.  All in all, laminate is a much smarter way to go in most of today's active households. 

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All together, a good quality laminate is much more durable and way more cost effective than any type of hardwood.  Not to mention, laminate floors are virtually maintenance free!  You NEVER have to sand and refinish a laminate floor like you may have to every 3-5 years with natural hardwood.  Laminate floors are not photo sensitive to sunlight like hardwood floors so they will never fade or discolor by your kitchen windows like hardwood will.

 

The Carpet Guys ONLY carry the higher quality laminates that will look better and last longer than hardwood floors.