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Laminate flooring for the house

Common information on laminate flooring – its definition, layers structure and strength and moisture resistance characteristics.

What layers is the laminate?Laminate definition. People often wonder how to define laminate flooring in a proper way. Laminate is multilayered floor covering, simulating a massive wooden board. The laminate flooring definition becomes even more clear, if you take into account the fact that the word “laminated” actually means “multilayered”.

If you take a cross section of the board, the following layers can be seen:

  1. The lowest layer is a stabilizing one, because it increases the rigidity and protects the board from damage, not letting it deform.
  2. The middle layer is sometimes called the “carrier”. It is the main part of the structure. Its quality depends on thermal and sound insulation properties of the flooring, and on its ability to hold water as well. The distinctive feature of it is that it is located at the lock to connect to other boards.
  3. What load are different classes of laminate?Under the top there is a decorative paper layer. It determines the look like the flooring – timber-, parquet-, stone- or ceramic-like tiles.
  4. The top layer is called the “guard”. The name is saying for itself – it does not let the flooring abrade quickly, and it also deteriorate the flooring from the blows. This coating usually include acrylic-based resin or melamine. The thicker it is, the higher the quality of the laminate flooring. It determines its wear resistance.

The main characteristics of laminate flooring:

  • abrasion resistance;
  • an ability to carry heavy loads and heavy blows;
  • The substrate under the laminateresistance to temperature increasing (this coating does not deteriorate when it’s in contact with hot objects, such as a lit cigarette, for example);
  • resistance to delamination;
  • slip protection;
  • color fastness;
  • preventing from stains appearing because of the contact with chemicals used in our everyday life (for example, washing liquids);
  • antistatic properties;
  • the level of formaldehyde emission;
  • speed and quantity of swelling when it’s wet.

The strength and moisture resistance of the laminateDifferent color types of laminate

What do strength and moisture resistance of the laminate flooring depend on? The thickness of the laminate board determines its quality. The denser the board is, the less tendency to get wet the laminate flooring has, the longer and the stronger it serves, preventing the appearance of gaps between the boards. It is also important how precisely the board is manufactured – whether it has deviations from the proper geometry. The laying of the properly produces laminate boards will not be difficult.

We hope this article helped you to get proper information on laminate flooring and its main characteristics.

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