Buying laminate flooring: Everything you need to know

When it comes to buying a new floor for your home, it’s safe to say you have quite a few flooring materials to choose from. Be it traditional wood planks or extravagant marble tiles, there’s a whole plethora of designs and styles out there that might be the perfect finishing touch for your desired home aesthetic.

However, if you’re on a smaller budget, then you might not be able to afford such high-end flooring alternatives – and that’s where laminate flooring comes in!

Far more affordable than standard wooden and stone flooring, and coming with plenty of fantastic benefits, laminate flooring has quickly become a flooring favourite amongst DIYers and professional floor layers alike!

But what is laminate flooring, and why is it proving to be the go-to material option for many homeowners?

Well, if you’re curious to learn more about this fashionable flooring option, the different types of laminate flooring available, and its various pros and cons, take a look at our in-depth laminate buying guide below for all the information you need!

What is laminate flooring?

As you may have already guessed from the name, laminate flooring is an artificial flooring alternative made from largely synthetic materials, manufactured in such a way as to provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional wood planks and stone tiles.

But rather than being a bland combination of wood fibres and resins shaped to resemble a board, laminate flooring is intentionally designed to mimic wood or stone, giving you a stylish flooring option that closely resembles the real thing, but at a much lower price.

What is laminate flooring made of?

Despite its wholly synthetic nature, laminate flooring is not simply made of disposable plastic. In fact, laminate flooring is one of the most eco-friendly synthetic flooring options you can buy.

Formed from a careful blend of wood fibres and resins, laminate is pressed together to create a sturdy material known as High-Density Fibreboard (HDF), which itself is made from several key layers:

• The wear layer – The topmost layer of your laminate, this thick resin coat provides laminate with its water and scratch-resistant properties.
• The core layer – The centre of a laminate plank, the core layer minimises the impact of dents and provides sound-dampening to reduce the noise of footsteps.
• The backing layer – The bottom layer of your laminate plank, this sturdy sheet provides moisture protection, insulation, and structure to your planks to prevent warping.
• The photo layer – Sat just below the wear layer, the photo layer consists of an HD image of the material the laminate is trying to mimic in order to provide the wood or stone effect you’re after.

What are the different types of laminate flooring?

When it comes to the types of laminate available, there are so many variations out there that you may feel a little overwhelmed. From finishes and textures to colours and effects, there’s a lot that goes into laminate type and design.

So, to keep things simple, we’re going to touch on the basic types of laminate here before going into greater detail on finishes and effects later on. With that in mind, below are the most common types of laminate designs you’ll find:

• Single plank – laminate designed to look like a single wood plank.
• Double plank – laminate designed to look like two wood planks.
• Multi-plank – laminate designed to look like several smaller wood planks.
• Herringbone plank – laminate designed to recreate a herringbone plank pattern.
• Narrow plank – narrow plank laminate for a streamlined look.
• Wide plank – wide plank laminate for fewer joints and a smoother finish.
• Tile plank – laminate designed to look like floor tiles.

Laminate flooring: Pros and cons

So, having walked through the basics of what laminate flooring is, what are some of the pros and cons this flooring type can offer that makes it a better pick than more traditional flooring options?

We’ve outlined the most important laminate flooring pros and cons below:

Laminate flooring pros

Starting with the good, laminate flooring is a great option for all the following reasons:

• Durability – thanks to modern manufacturing methods, laminate flooring is incredibly durable, making it ideal for high-traffic foot zones and messy rooms.
• Water-resistant – while not waterproof, the protective resin layer used to give laminate its wear layer is water-resistant, preventing staining and mould from becoming ingrained in your floor.
• Scratch-resistant – similarly to providing water resistance, the wear layer of laminate is also scratch-resistant, minimising the likelihood that your floor will be damaged by moving furniture or dropped items.
• Low-maintenance – due to its resistant nature, laminate is incredibly low-maintenance, and cleaning laminate floors often requires little more than a sweep and damp mop.
• Easy installation – while not the case for all laminates, many recent laminate tile designs are built with a simple click-and-lock installation method, making it easy for homeowners to install laminate flooring themselves.
• Eco-friendly – as we’ve already mentioned, despite being synthetic in nature, the majority of laminate flooring is bio-degradable, making it a fantastic eco-friendly flooring option for the environmentally-conscious homeowner.
• Affordability – lastly, thanks to its manufacturing process and low-cost materials, laminate has proven to be a relatively affordable flooring option for those with a tighter renovation budget.

Laminate flooring cons

Despite all of its upsides, laminate flooring does still come with several key downsides you should be aware of before making your purchase:

• Non-refurbishable – although laminate is resistant to scratches and dents, should your planks be damaged, they will need replacing, as laminate cannot be sanded or filled in to eliminate imperfections.
• Non-waterproof – again, while laminate is water-resistant, this does not equate to being waterproof, meaning your laminate can stain or bubble from moisture if exposed to high levels of moisture for a prolonged period.
• Noisy – even if you use thicker laminate planks for enhanced levels of noise reduction, laminate’s rigid nature still makes it a noisy surface to walk on.
• Imitation – laminate flooring has many great benefits, but at the end of the day, it can’t compete with actual wood and stone flooring on a physical and textural level. If you want the real thing, then you’re best-avoiding laminate.
• Shorter lifespan – well cared for laminate can last for well over a decade, but after 15 years or so, it tends to start breaking down, giving it a much shorter lifespan when compared to wood and stone floors.

What are the different types of laminate flooring finishes

Earlier in our guide, we looked at what the different types of laminate available to buyers were, and now it’s time to consider laminate finishes specifically. From the texture of your planks to the effects you choose, below are some of the standard laminate floor finishes you might be interested in:

• Plank finishes – while all laminate floor planks come with a wear layer to protect them from damage, this wear layer can be styled to have either a smooth or a textured wood finish. Smoother finishes are a more cost-effective option, however, a textured finish will get your floor closer to that real wood feel.
• Plank effects – primarily relating to the photo layer of your laminate, there are countless laminate finishes out there to choose from, with oak, walnut, and granite being just a few of the more popular choices and coming in both light laminate and dark laminate options.
• Plank edges – although standard laminate planks tend to come with smoother finishes, it is possible to find laminate planks with bevelled edges to provide better definition between planks.

What to consider when buying a laminate floor

Last, but not least, it’s worth touching on exactly what you should consider when buying laminate planks for your home. Besides the style and size of the plank you want to buy, we recommend accounting for all of the following before making your purchase:

What room you want to install your laminate in

First things first, you’ll want to consider which room in your home you plan to install your laminate floor in. After all, you’ll need to buy a much heavier-duty laminate for a kitchen space or hallway compared to an office.

On top of this, if you’re planning to put laminate in a high-moisture room like your bathroom, then you need to make sure that you purchase a laminate with strong water-resistant properties, so always check the properties of any laminate you’re interested in to ensure it meets your required criteria.

Your laminate’s AC rating

One number you may have seen while browsing various laminates is something known as an AC rating. The AC rating of laminate refers to both how durable it is and what level of grip the planks provide underfoot.

Going from an AC1 to an AC5, lower AC-rated planks are typically better suited for low-traffic environments like your bedroom or office. On the other hand, a higher AC is essential for areas like hallways and bathrooms, where foot traffic is high and floors tend to get wet.

Your laminate’s thickness

An often forgotten aspect of laminate when compared to AC ratings and wood effects, picking the right thickness for your laminate is no less important than any other area. This is because thicker laminate provides a much closer imitation of real wood than thinner laminate.

Many people gravitate towards thinner laminate for its cheaper nature, but if you want a laminate floor that is as close to wood or stone as you can get (and one with greater levels of noise reduction), then it’s worth paying a little more for thicker laminate planks.

Your budget

At the end of the day, while you might be considering investing in the most expensive laminate possible to take advantage of as many benefits as laminate can provide, your own personal budget is going to determine the type of laminate you can afford.

Of course, this is by no means a bad thing, and there are plenty of high-quality laminate products out there that can provide fantastic flooring at an affordable price. Just remember that, even if you have a larger budget, the cost of installing laminate will vary based on the product you choose and the volume of floor you need to cover.

Find your ideal laminate flooring in our collection

With all the essential points covered; you should hopefully now have a much better idea of what you need to consider when buying laminate flooring. Remember, all laminate planks offer different pros and cons, so be sure to carefully weigh your favourites before making your decision.

Naturally, if you’re ready to start browsing for your new laminate flooring today, then look no further than the Flooring King range. With laminate on offer from all the top flooring brands, you’re sure to find a suitable option for your budget in our collection!

Get in touch today to find out more about our selection from our flooring experts, and don’t forget to visit our flooring blog for more buying guides and in-depth articles like this one.