• Best for Noise Reduction. Dream Home XD. 3.8. Our Rating.
• Best for Quick Installation. Empire Laminate Flooring. 3.5.
• Best for High-Traffic Areas. Shaw Premier Laminate. 4.7.
• Most Style Options. Mohawk Revwood. 4.2.
• Best for DIY Installation. Pergo Outlast Plus. 4.2.
• Most Water Resistant. Mannington Coordinations Laminate. 3.5.

Unlike natural flooring options like wood, stone or cork, laminate flooring is a synthetic material. It's made up of four different layers - wear, décor, core and backer - that are sealed together in the lamination process. It is intentionally designed to be durable as well as affordable.

LL Flooring (formerly Lumber Liquidators Flooring) is an American retailer of hard-surface flooring including hardwood flooring, laminate flooring, vinyl plank flooring, tile flooring, bamboo flooring and cork flooring, as well as flooring tools and accessories.

Laminate flooring is constructed from thin, pressed wood board with a repeating printed image of wood fused onto a fiberboard core. One thing to note about laminate flooring is that it is not made from plastic but from a collection of wood fibers with a top layer of resin acting as a “wear layer”.

Higher quality laminates have a pattern repeat as high as 1 in 20 boards to give the natural pattern effect of genuine timber. High quality laminate floor looks and feels just like the real thing.

Types of Laminate Flooring Textures, Finishes and Patterns

• Smooth laminate flooring has no texture and is designed to resemble the look of polished woods, marble or ceramic-style flooring.
• Embossed laminate flooring has a pressed pattern that lends a wood grain texture to the flooring.

Laminate Flooring: Pros and Cons

• Ease of maintenance.
• Highly durable depending especially with a high AC rating (AC5)
• It's an affordable alternative to solid or engineered wood.
• Installation is quick and easy.
• Available in an array of colours and styles.
• Lifespan on average of 15-25 years.

Laminate flooring is manufactured with a layered construction using numerous layers pressed together, creating a wood-look floor. The lamination process uses heat and high pressure to fuse the materials together, resulting in a solid piece of flooring.

company Perstorp Laminate floors were invented in 1977 by the Swedish company Perstorp. The idea was to use waste wood projects by subjecting them to high pressure, heat, and binding chemicals. The result: usable floor coverings that were actually quite beautiful.

The name change comes after the Lumber Liquidators stocks slipped earlier this year, prompting analysts to suggest the company would benefit from a rebrand in the wake of the 2015 “60 Minutes” news story about heightened formaldehyde levels in its laminate imports from China.

Laminate flooring is constructed from thin, pressed wood board with a repeating printed image of wood fused onto a fiberboard core. One thing to note about laminate flooring is that it is not made from plastic but from a collection of wood fibers with a top layer of resin acting as a “wear layer”.

Selecting the right AC rating for your project The highest AC rating for laminate flooring is AC6, but it is rarely available and only necessary for extremely high-wear public areas.

Laminate can weather high traffic with minimal damage, can offer UV resistance and can be waterproofed. It also does not scratch or discolor as easily as hardwood floors. Affordable and easy installation: Laminate floors are affordable compared to other flooring options and can easily be installed as a DIY project.

Popular Types of Decorative Laminates in India

• Matte-Finish Laminates. As the name implies, these laminates have a matte finish.
• Gloss-finish Laminates.
• Textured Laminates.
• Metallic Laminates.
• PVC-Finish Laminates.
• Acrylic-finish Laminates.
• Exterior Laminates.
• High-Pressure Laminates.

There are 2 main styles of laminate flooring: plastic laminate and engineered wood laminate. Read more about the differences between laminate and engineered wood. It's no surprise that the engineered wood laminate can be more expensive than its plastic counterpart.

The Pros and Cons of Laminate Flooring