So, be honest: how often do you walk in to someone’s home that just got a laminate floor installed, stop, and say “Oh my god what is that!?”. Okay, so no one does that, but I bet you’re wondering now! Not many people think about flooring and laminate floors aren’t exactly new, so most really don’t give a lot of thought as to what they’re made of. However, there are always those of us that are curious so, if you are one of them, keep reading.
What’s The Difference Between Laminate Floor And Pergo?
Contrary to popular belief, there is no difference between Pergo and laminate flooring. Pergo is merely a brand name of laminate floors, and although it does speak for the company that it has made itself into a household name, there are other options. Pergo is to laminate floors as Coca-Cola (or Pepsi, depending on your location) is to soda. When someone says that they “got Pergo installed”, they’re saying that they had laminate flooring put in, regardless of if they realize it or not.
Laminate Floors Are Not Real Hard Wood
Yet, in a way, they are. No, laminate floors are not wooden floors in the traditional sense, and sometimes it’s easy to tell the difference, although sometimes it can be really difficult. At the bottom of a laminate flooring installation is a wood chip composite base, so there is wood involved, but that doesn’t tell you much, does it? When you can’t tell the difference between laminate or real wood, you can always knock on the floor. A real wooden floor will make a thud or thunk sound, while laminate floors will sort of tick, similar to the sound you would get if you thumped anything else plastic.
Laminate Floors Are Designed To Mimic Wood
Practically speaking, the laminate floor is nothing but a picture of real wood pasted on to something that is a lot tougher than your typical hard wood floor. Laminated flooring will remain unscathed through events that usually make hardwood floor owners go in to fits. Scratches, scuffs, and scrapes are certainly possible, but are a lot less likely or common, and much easier to fix when they do happen. In those homes that get a lot of pet or kid traffic, authentic wooden floors have become rather cumbersome and outdated in comparison, not to mention stressful.
Laminate Floors And Your Office Laminator
Yes, they are both derivatives of the same process, called lamination. Most people think that lamination is basically the act of putting some paper in some plastic, but that’s a very watered down definition. If you were to put plastic around your cell phone and either glue the plastic or seal it with heat, you would have laminated your cell phone, which would be either ridiculous or hilarious, depending on the circumstances. In the case of laminate floors, the plastic surrounds and protects a photograph of wood which then sits, amusingly enough, on a base of wood chips. The result is almost all of the benefits of hard wood floors with few of the drawbacks.
To get more information about laminate floors, visit Laminate Floor Facts.
Tags: DIY, flooring, guide, home and family, how to, Information, online shopping, product review, save money, shopping
