There are a variety of laminate floors options available so you need to find the right one that matches with your qualifications. Laminate floors are of the most wanted floors out there because they are extremely durable and last for a long time with exotic different designs and less maintenance. With proper choosing and installation you will have the best flooring experience. However if your laminate flooring is not properly installed, moisture will accumulate between the planks and cause it to swell. So make sure you read the full guide we provide to understand how to properly maintain your laminate floors.

There are certain things you must know in making a proper buying decision when buying laminate flooring:

1- Durable Floor

It is a floor that can lasts for a lot of years and get a lot of value out of it and it will enhance the quality of life. You are probably buying laminate flooring because you like the fact that it is a durable floor. There are different AC Ratings from AC1 – AC4, for example if using laminate floors for a residential application you must have a durability of AC3.

• AC1 – is used for low traffic areas such as a bedroom or inside a closet, the guest’s room.
• AC2 – it can be used for normal uses like the living and dining room.
• AC3 – can be used at home anywhere and can be used commercially like in hotel rooms or small offices
• AC4 – All residential and commercial areas regardless of their size and traffic like cafes.

So technically the lower the rating the less the durability, make sure you match the AC Rating with the purpose of use.

2- Thickness

There are a lot of different thickness for the flooring. The standards thicknesses for laminate floors are 8mm, 10mm and 12mm.

The reason this is important the thicker the floor the more natural the sound and more durable it is, making it similar to hardwood floor. It is heavier and stronger underfoot. The thinner the product the noisier it would sound, and last for less time. Generally a thicker floor also tends to be more durable than a thinner floor.

• The thicker the laminate flooring the easier it is to install it.
• Less sound is produced with thick laminate floors
• Better impact resistance.

There are many different ways to determine the thickness one way is to check the impact of a falling object on the laminate floor, the thicker the plank the more resistant the floor would be to the fall.

3- Designs and colors

A wide variety of tree-species patterns and designs are available out there for purchase. You need to make sure you are making the right choices when choosing the right laminate floors for you room. Make sure that the design and pattern matches with the design of the room, for example: contemporary, modern, cozy and so on.

Laminate Flooring Composition

Understanding what your laminate flooring is made of is extremely important so that you can understand what features you want and what extra you are looking for.

Here is an overview of the laminate flooring construction:

1- Wear layer The wear layer is the top layer on the surface, so it is definitely the hardest layer. It is made out of plastic resins or aluminum oxide. This layer is used to protect the laminate flooring from stains, wear, and fading. 2- Decoration layer This is the layer of the laminate floor that gives the floor its surface appearance. It is usually an image that is printed on the layer giving the woody cozy appearance. 3- Core Layer The core layer’s description comes from its name, it is the central core of the plank made of dense fiberboard and compact wood fibers to support the weight and the foot traffic. The core layer determines the durability, the better the core layer the better the durability. (Using HDF is better than MDF because it’s more durable.) 4- Stabilizing Layer The stabilizing layer is the bottom layer of the flooring, just like the wear layer it’s made from plastic resins. It provides protection between the subfloor and the core board which gives stability on both sides so that the plank doesn’t move.

Choosing laminate floors from a variety of designs:

There are a variety of designs for laminate floors as mentioned before. Here are a few designs to consider:

	Classic Pine The most traditional and common type of laminate flooring design available in the market. It provides the classic pine color that matches with almost anything! If you want the traditional common look you can go for this option
	Dark Bamboo Dark bamboo allows you to have a distinctive, bright and comforting atmosphere. It provides an unusual unique look that will allow your home to shine with the elegance it gives. Bamboo offers a variety of different features and colors similar to hardwood that makes it look completely natural. People often mistake bamboo with the green common bamboo but there is a variety of bamboo options that provide a brown and yellow-ish colors with unusual brown shades. If you are looking for luxury and elegance you can benefit from the bamboo laminate floors
	Classic Maple Classic maple laminate floors are becoming more and more popular with many different characteristics that make it beneficial. Maple is a high quality type of tree and so it can be used for luxury but also is very durable. Many prefer the light brown color it gives since it provides warmth and comfort to the room. Especially if you use the correct lighting along with this flooring.
	Classic Oak Just like any other classic, classic oak will provide you with the classical comforting look that you want but with more luxury. Classic oak is strong and simple and is on high demand, so it’s a great choice if you want a durable floor but also a simple look. Oak laminate floors are guaranteed to stay beautiful for as long as you can imagine, now that is a feature to increase your budget for.

Choosing your laminate floors based on the area of installation

1-Installing Laminate floors in a bedroom

Since laminate floors are of high quality and durability with affordable prices they are being used frequently in bedrooms to provide the luxury cozy look.

Laminate floors have an advantage over other floorings is that they’re extremely easy to clean, they are resistant to stains, dust and dirt, and bacteria/allergens. You only need to make sure that you regularly clean the flooring to make it last for a long time; this is done by protecting the wear layer. You can simply sweep the flooring to get rid of any dirt in the room or use cleaning detergents. Be careful not to scratch the flooring during the laminate installation and cleaning, and make sure that you don’t expose your laminate flooring in your room to sunlight for a long time. At the end of the day, your bedroom is your place of relaxation and your own personal space so you need to make sure that you are provided with the right designs to provide you with the best atmosphere. Laminate floorings are available in a variety of designs and colors to match all the different styles you want to go for ranging from natural wood to synthetic man made modern looks.

2- Installing laminate floors in bathrooms

As mentioned laminate floors are available abundantly, affordable and easy to install and clean, that’s why they’re being used everywhere. You can use laminate floors in your bathroom but you need to be extremely careful and take into consideration the following notes:

• It’s preferred to install laminate floors in bathrooms where there is only a toilet and a sink, not a tub or shower, which includes the guest’s bathrooms or public bathrooms in fancy places.
• Only a few available waterproof laminate floors are available so you need to understand that if you want to install laminate floors in your bathroom you need to increase your budget for those waterproof laminate floors.
• Make sure that the humidity and steam levels are kept within constant levels in a bathroom where laminate floors are installed
• You can install laminate floors in private bathrooms but make sure that the bathrooms are not receiving heavy traffic and the users are extremely careful when spilling water.
• With the humidity and steam the laminate floor planks will expand that is why when installing you need to leave a small gap and add a silicon waterproof material between the gaps.

Now if you decided to choose the high quality water-proof laminate floors you will definitely benefit from it. Firstly because they are extremely easy to install and maintain for a long time. Secondly because the wear layer will protect the flooring from stains and scratches. If you couldn’t afford those types of laminate floors but wanted to make sure that your bathroom laminate floors last for a long time you can use alternatives like installing flooring additives around water machines like the sink. So as a solution you can:

• 1- Add rugs or carpets on your laminate floors, but make sure that the water doesn’t drain from the carpet to the flooring.
• 2- Use exhaust fans to make sure all the steam and humidity is gone and doesn’t affect the laminate floor.

3- Installing laminate floors in kitchens

Kitchens are extremely similar to bathrooms when it comes to the choice of the flooring. They are also places that have high water spillage, high humidity and steam. Not only that, but there are plenty of appliances that might cause damage to the flooring. It’s not going to be a huge problem you can take a lot of precautions against all the problems that you might face. Starting with water, you can protect you laminate floor’s core from the water because it’s the only thing affected, a full drained surface doesn’t matter, it’s just important that the water doesn’t reach the core of the laminate floor. The kitchen is the place where most spills occur, there are pros and cons to this. Most laminate floors are stain resistant and so you don’t really need to do much since they are extremely easy to clean. On the other hand if you were stuck with the most annoying spill or mark that you need to get rid of, you need to be careful when cleaning it because you can easily scratch the laminate floor and ruin its appearance.

As mentioned above there are AC ratings for durability, in such cases you must go for the most durable laminate floors.