Differences between laminate flooring and engineered wood flooring


Posted April 3, 2012 by alisongenser

Laminate flooring and engineered wood flooring are two types of floors that have in common only the woody look.

 
When you want to renovate your house or build your house you have to consider of the type of flooring you want to install. After you finish renovating or building your house you may not have enough money to invest in the finishing touches, but the type of flooring is very important in a house, so you have to think well on a budget for your flooring and choose the right type of floorings for your house. Engineered wood flooring is appropriate for some rooms and laminate flooring for other rooms.

Engineered wood flooring is a product made actually from real wood, not from solid wood, but a composite wood material. Layers of wood are compressed and processed for the manufacturing of engineered wood flooring. Manufacturers use from 3 to 10 layers of wood to construct engineered wood flooring. The layers, called “ply”, are oriented in different directions and than they are glued together under high pressure. It results a strong and stable wood floor.

Laminate flooring is constructed in two ways. You can choose between direct pressure laminate flooring and high pressure laminate flooring. The difference between these two types of laminate flooring is the process of actually attaching the materials to a core. If you choose a direct pressure laminate flooring you have to know that the layers are simply fused all together directly on the core and than for the woody look the surface is impregnated with melamine resins. In the high pressure laminate flooring manufacturers glue all the layers to the core and then bounded everything under high pressure.

Both engineered wood flooring and laminate flooring are resistant flooring, durable and solid. A big difference between two floorings is the level of moisture in the room they support. While laminate flooring can be installed in rooms like basements with high moisture levels, the engineered wood flooring cannot be installed in such rooms because it is made entirely from wood and moisture can devastate your engineered wood flooring. Both flooring can be installed quite easily, but you have to be careful where you install them because engineered wood flooring can shrink because of the humidity in the room.

Engineered wood flooring can be directly installed over wood floors as well as over concrete. If you want to install engineered wood flooring directly over wood floors you can use staple nails or adhesive to glue down your flooring or as an interlocking floating floor. The easiest way to install your wood flooring is interlocking floating floor because you do not need any specialized tools. When you have to install engineered wood flooring over concrete you have to determine the level of concrete slab vapor emissions.

When it comes to laminate flooring installation, you have to know that every manufacturer has
its own installation procedure. Installation procedures that are common with every manufacturer’s installation procedures are quite easy. You need a sanded OSB on which you can fix your laminate planks. You can’t install your laminate flooring as soon as you bring them home. Laminate flooring needs 2-3 days acclimatization in the room you want to install them or you will have a problem fixing them together. You need also glue to attach them to the OSB.

There can be a few differences between the engineering wood flooring and laminate flooring but you have to keep in mind that both are quality flooring, with different ways of installation and different rooms where they can be installed. These types of flooring are common among people who renovate or build a house. Engineering wood flooring is cheaper than solid hardwood flooring and also durable in time.
Layers of wood are compressed and processed for the manufacturing of engineered wood flooring http://ehardwoodflooring.com/laminate-flooring.html . When it comes to laminate flooring http://ehardwoodflooring.com/engineered-wood-flooring.html installation, you have to know that every manufacturer has its own installation procedure.
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Issued By alis
Country United Kingdom
Categories Home
Tags laminate flooring , engineered wood flooring
Last Updated April 3, 2012