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Looking for those incredibly cheap laminate floors at $0.89, $0.79, even $0.59 per square foot? Before you make a costly mistake, please read this page!

No other product seems to cause as much confusion as Laminate flooring. Perhaps this is because Laminate varies so widely in price and quality. To begin with, all Laminate flooring is constructed essentially the same way. To paint a basic picture, it consists of a core, usually high density fiberboard (HDF). On top of that is a thin layer of the decorative surface -- wood grain or stone look -- made of a resin based on melamine. Think of the decorative layer like a photograph of a piece of wood. The decorative layer is, in turn, covered with a clear plastic wear layer to protect the entire plank.

Laminate contains no “real wood.” Laminate is a flooring material that is made to look like wood, but is not wood. If you see an ad that says “Laminate Wood Flooring,” be a little suspicious. True laminate contains no solid wood. Keep in mind, only wood is wood.  

As we stated earlier, Laminates range widely in price and it is often very confusing to try to figure out if you’re getting a bargain or being ripped off. Here’s a few ways to judge the value:

• Wear Rating: There is an international rating system for rating the quality of the wear layer. It measures how well the laminate reacts to scratching, denting and burn resistance. The rating system’s lowest score starts at AC1 and the highest is AC6. If the Laminate you are considering does not have an AC rating, steer clear of it! Most Laminates sold for residential use are rated AC3 or AC4. Either should perform adequately for many years in an average home. Check the warranty. AC3 rated products typically should be at least a 20 year warranty. Commercial applications demand a higher AC rating because they experience far more usage. However, commercial warranties are usually shorter than residential warranties, even for the exact same material.
• Thickness: Overall thickness is important. The thickness of the laminate is measured in millimeters. Laminate should be at least 7 mm thick on the low end. Better quality materials range from 8mm to over 14 mm. (6mm is about ¼”.) The thicker the material, the better it will be able to resist denting. However, the thicker materials are less flexible and may require more floor preparation to make the sub-floor flat enough to avoid hollow spots.
• Core Material: The most common core material for Laminate is HDF (High Density Fiberboard). However, cheap laminates often skimp on the core material and sometimes use MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). MDF, being less dense than HDF compromises the overall structure in several ways. MDF has a rougher surface, so the photographic layer does not adhere as strongly as it will to an HDF core. We have seen cheap laminates actually peal apart. Also, the softer MDF cores are far less resistant to denting.
• Patterns: When installing wood, each plank is unique. However, with laminates, since the “wood” is actually a photograph, there are only a limited number of different photographs. The better the quality of the laminate, the larger the number of different photographs it comes with. Cheap Laminates may come with only 4 or 5 different images while high quality Laminates may come with as many as 30. This is important because when your floor is installed, you don’t want to see a group of boards with the exact same pattern right next to each other. It makes the floor look, well, like Laminate. With a cheap laminate when there are only a few patterns, this is just about impossible to do. Better quality laminates with more images, and coupled with a competent installer who mixes up the patterns, always look much better.
• Texture: Less expensive laminates usually have a smooth finish. This smooth finish often makes the finished floor look plastic-like. Better quality materials have a rougher, more wood-like finish and result in a far nicer looking finished floor. Recently, a number of manufacturers have brought “distressed” laminates to market. These products are made to resemble and capitalize on the trend in wood flooring towards hand-scraped planking. If the distressing is done well by the manufacturer, the result is a remarkably realistic wood-like floor.

There are, of course, many other factors that go into determining whether a particular laminate is well made or not, as well as which product will work best for your particular situation. At Kittle’s Flooring, where we specialize only in wood and laminate flooring, we have the expertise, knowledge and experience to help you safely navigate this often misunderstood and misrepresented flooring material. We view our job as helping you find the best value, not the cheapest price.