Laminate Flooring history and
basic information
Laminate flooring has been a popular option in Europe
for over 20 years. It is now becoming one of the hottest new
flooring products here in the United States. Due to its ability
to be installed and lay over the top of existing substrate,
this has made it great in Europe for its older buildings.
Other than the variances in how much glue is used, most brands
of laminate flooring joints are glued together with specially
formulated, water resistant glue. This glue is placed between
the grooves and the tongue of every plank or square.
Pergo flooring requires a lot of glue, you need enough
to completely fill the entire groove, and the excess squeezes
out when the groove and tongue are interlocked. Pergo has
an unique Percore that is designed to soak up the glue. Pickering
flooring only requires a 1/16" bead of glue on a specified
location of the groove. With Formica, a 1/8" bead of glue
is used on two specific locations located on the tongue/groove
of the plank or square. Although in different ways, all accomplish
the same thing. ALLOC is a glueless interlocking system that
is patented.
Four main components are bonded together with laminate flooring.
A resin based melamine/aluminum oxide is a wear resistant
decorative surface, this material is bonded to a moisture
resistant wood composition based core. Bonded to the underside
of the core is a balancing backing. Aluminum Oxide is a clear
cap sheet for the top which provides stain resistance and
protection.
Laminate flooring has become an ideal floor covering
by using the counter top technology, and adding considerable
more resin to the wear layer. Some manufacturers of laminate
floors boast that their flooring is now 10 to 20 times harder
than the laminate counter tops. With the resin filled wear
layer so dense, it becomes extremely difficult to stain, burn,
or scratch.
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