Is Laminate flooring a good choice for your kitchen?
The quick, easy and sometimes less expensive way to improve your kitchen floor is by using laminate. Sometimes known as click laminate flooring, Laminate is fast becoming a popular choice for many spaces including kitchens. Although click laminate in the past was not widely accepted in the kitchen, today laminate flooring products are advanced enough to now be acknowledged as a kitchen flooring contender.
How much do laminate kitchen floors Cost?
Cost depends entirely on quality. Some laminate flooring is much better than others giving consumers a wide range of prices to choose from. Planks starting at $1 are certainly not recommended for the kitchen. Do not be afraid to dig deep into your pockets for a quality laminate flooring product as moisture and laminate do not mix and a poor quality laminate will surely not stand up to the test.
Color & Design opportunities with laminate flooring
Laminate flooring can replicate almost any material today, so you are no longer confined to choosing a hardwood appearance. Thanks to computer technology laminate flooring is available in several sizes and colors and can also represent the likes of ceramic tiles and exotic wood.
The Durability of Laminate Kitchen Floors
Laminate flooring is well known for its durability.
- Scratch Resistance – Excellent. Laminate flooring is built to be extremely scratch resistant however it can scratch. Use caution when moving heavy objects on laminate floors.
- Strength – Laminate floors tend to live 15 years and resist wear making it an excellent product in high traffic areas. This product is also stain resistant and will not fade when exposed to UV rays.
- Fire resistance – Most laminate floors use a fire retardant. Consult with the flooring manufacturer to see a fire resistance rating.
- Water resistance – Laminate flooring does not react well to water. Any moisture can seriously harm a laminate floor. Again the quality of product used is vital regarding the level of water resistance.
- Maintenance – Dry mopping, vacuuming, and regular sweeping is all a laminate floor requires. Laminate can be difficult to repair.
Construction & Installation of Laminate Flooring
Laminate flooring is known for being very user friendly making it an excellent choice for those who enjoy to do it themselves. If you have not installed a floor before and have never used the tools required it can still be quite tricky and frustrating. We always recommend you find a professional laminate flooring installer
Laminate flooring is constructed in three ways:
Glued-down – Much trickier as glue is required between planks
Glue less – Where no adhesive is necessary
Pre-glued – Where adhesive is applied to plank edges at the factory. When installing these floors, a damp cloth is required to moisten the adhesive so planks can be secured to one another.
All of these products are floating floors. This is another reason why laminate is a popular choice as these floors are never fastened to a sub-floor. Therefore these floors can be laid over plywood, concrete, and even existing flooring depending on the material.
Laminate Flooring, the Environment & Your Health
Laminate floors do not harbor dust and dirt therefore improving indoor air quality. However some laminate floors are made with formaldehyde and adhesives which can lead to hazardous VOC emissions within the home. It is recommended that you first check with the manufacturer to ensure low VOC emissions are in your product.
Laminate flooring is an environmentally conscious product made from saw dust, wood chips and other wood residues collected from various factories. These materials are milled together, dried and pressed and eventually made into laminate floor panels.
A good quality laminate floor could even be recycled and passed on to another home or charitable organization after use! New laminate floors are being made without glues and adhesives making them much easier to install and eventually replace to be reused!
