Pros, Cons, and Costs: Laminate Flooring

Few products in the home improvement world have made a bigger splash than laminate flooring. It’s marketed as a tough, cost effective, and easy to install flooring material, but does it live up to the high expectations?

Laminate Flooring Pros

Laminate flooring is resistant to impacts, stains, and won’t fade when exposed to sunlight like marmoleum is prone to do. No flooring material is easier to install than laminate flooring. A lot of that is due to the fact that laminate forms a floating floor, meaning it doesn’t have to be nailed, stapled, or glued to a subfloor. The other reason laminate is so easy to install has do with how the planks attach together with snap together flooring planks that now account for the majority of laminate flooring on the market.

Laminate Flooring Looks

No one can deny the good looks of laminate flooring. In part, that’s due to the high resolution images that are presently used to create the many looks of laminate flooring from wood to ceramic tile, though the textures now used with laminate flooring make it feel as authentic as it looks. Laminate flooring can also be installed over just about any substrate, including concrete, wood, plywood, OSB, and previously installed vinyl flooring. And since it doesn’t expand and contract like real wood does, it’s good flooring for use in areas where hardwood flooring isn’t an option, such as in below grade installations.

Laminate Flooring Cons

Contrary to what some would have you believe, laminate flooring isn’t a perfect building material. It does have some downsides that homeowners are smart to take into account before choosing to install it. At its core, laminate is made from a composite material called high density fiberboard (HDF), which is more susceptible to water damage than natural wood. Once HDF is exposed directly to standing water, it breaks down and expands.

Laminate Flooring and Water Damage

Once water damage happens, a laminate floor is compromised and will have to be replaced. That limits the areas where laminate can be installed, ruling out places like bathrooms where regular exposure to water is commonplace. Wood flooring can be refinished many times, and is essentially good as new each time. Surprisingly, refinishing hardwood costs about half as much as installing a new laminate floor. Laminate, on the other hand, is much harder to repair, even when it comes to simple patch jobs.

Laminate Flooring Costs

• Perhaps the biggest advantage of installing laminate flooring is the cost. Laminate flooring runs about 1/2 to 2/3 the cost of wood.
• In dollars and cents, expect to pay between $1 and $5 a square foot for materials and another $1.50 to $3 per square foot for labor if you choose laminate flooring for your home.
• Any way you cut it, however, laminate flooring comes with a huge upside at very reasonable costs quite a bit below a typical hardwood flooring installation.

DIY Laminate Flooring

While laminate is commonly advertised as DIY friendly, it still takes some skill to install it correctly. The initial and final phases of installing laminate flooring are the most critical, and difficult, aspects of achieving a professional grade, quality installation. If you are not familiar with laminate flooring installation, the best idea may be to find a contractor, especially one who specializes in laminate.

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