Services
Laminate flooring
How is laminate different from LVT or engineered hardwood, and when does it make sense?
Laminate is a photograph of wood printed onto a paper layer, fused to a high-density fiberboard (HDF) core, and sealed with a wear surface. It is not wood. LVT is vinyl. Engineered hardwood is real hardwood veneer over a plywood core. Of the three, only engineered hardwood is actually wood. Laminate belongs in dry, high-traffic spaces where budget is the constraint — rentals, offices, retail. It does not belong in bathrooms or anywhere the floor gets wet.
- Core
- High-density fiberboard (HDF)
- Wear surface
- AC3 residential minimum, AC4 for high traffic
- Method
- Floating click-lock over vapor-barrier underlayment
- Best fit
- Dry, high-traffic spaces — rentals, offices, retail
The honest positioning: laminate is the cheapest of the three floor-look-alike products. A homeowner who wants the look of hardwood but has neither the budget nor the maintenance appetite is a legitimate laminate candidate. So is a landlord fitting out a rental where the tenants will be hard on the floor.
Where laminate fails: water. The HDF core swells irreversibly the moment it wets. Bathrooms, laundry rooms, mudrooms, kitchens with active dishwashers — LVT is the answer for those, not laminate. Water-resistant laminates buy time against splashes; they do not survive standing water.
The AC (Abrasion Class) rating on the box is the number that matters. AC3 is residential-moderate, AC4 is residential-heavy or light commercial, AC5 is heavy commercial. Anything below AC3 is not worth the labor to install.
Laminate is floated with click-lock joints, always. Do not glue laminate; the HDF core does not tolerate the movement it needs to expand and contract. Underlayment with proper vapor barrier is non-optional over concrete. We install to manufacturer spec because a laminate warranty voids the moment the install departs from it.
Where we do this work
Laminate flooring is available throughout New York County (Manhattan), Kings County (Brooklyn), Queens County, Bronx County, Richmond County (Staten Island), Westchester County, Hudson County, Essex County, Union County, Bergen County, Passaic County, Monmouth County, Middlesex County, from the showroom at 1809 NJ-35, Oakhurst, NJ.