Laminate Flooring Buying Tips

 Laminate Flooring Buying Tips

Laminate flooring is one of the most popular types of flooring used in both homes and commercial properties today. Many people decide that laminate is the perfect choice of flooring for them, but often jump straight into the purchase without realising the different options that they have.

There are a number of questions you need to ask yourself when making a purchase of laminate flooring to help make the decision of what would be best for your home, family or property, including how much you have to spend, how much you need and what kind of flooring would work well for you.

Here are our five top pieces of advice that you need remember when you’re buying Laminate flooring

Thickness and top layer

Level of wear & tear

Did you know that there are five different levels of durability for laminate flooring? Most people don’t know that they should consider this. The scale for the durability of your floor is called the AC rating.

For rooms with very little foot traffic such as bedrooms and guest rooms, and AC2 or AC3 flooring throughout should be suitable and you will find most 8mm laminate flooring will do the job just fine. For areas with higher foot traffic that are subject to more wear and tear, such as hallways and communial lounges AC4 is what you should be looking at. Most AC4 rated flooring are more suited to heavy traffic where people are likely to be wearing shoes indoors on a daily basis and for these areas you should try and go for 12mm laminate flooring that provides thicker and more resilient floor. AC5 is perfect for heavy commercial use in busy places such as shops and other retail premises and AC5 is what you need to look out for which you can find in a lot of 12mm and 15mm flooring.

The Flooring style

Flooring style

It’s important to take note of where you plan to install your laminate flooring, what existing furniture this space has and what the colour scheme or theme of the room will be. This will help make the decision on what flooring style or colour is best for you.

For example, a large open plan kitchen might work best with a light-coloured laminate with wide planks. A cosy living area however might benefit from narrow boards in a darker wood effect.

It’s always worth getting a sample of the different laminates before purchasing and laying them on the floor of the room. Often the tone of the laminate might appear slightly different under a certain light or against another colour.

The Budget

Budget

Next up, you need to decide what your budget for laminate flooring is. Prices can vary a lot depending on the style and the durability, but it’s generally recommended to spend the most you can to get the best quality for your budget. Flooring is something you’re going to see every single day and will usually get a lot of wear, so spending that little amount extra can make all the difference in the long run.

Square foot area

Square foot

Whether you’re fitting out a whole house, a large commercial property or just a single room, knowing what the square footage is in advance is of utmost importance. This will allow you to estimate an overall cost and will help you to figure out how much you need to buy.

It’s recommended to round off to the extra pack or to purchase an additional 10% of materials for wiggle room. Mistakes do happen and are common in laying flooring, for example, a plank or two may get damaged or you may have underestimated an awkward space. It may even be that the shade of one plank doesn’t work well next to one that’s already been laid. In this case, having the additional pieces will make sure that you’re not scrambling to buy more with a half-finished room. Even if you end up with extra pieces of laminate flooring at the end of your project, it’s useful to keep these as spares in case of accidents in future – spillages, breakages and unavoidable damage. There’s always the risk that your flooring may be discontinued in years to come, so having back up planks will ensure you’re prepared just in case.

Ease of Installation

Installation

Before buying, make the decision on how you plan to install your laminate flooring: Are you are you going to do it yourself or hire someone else to do it? If you have little to no experience with installing flooring, it can still be done but you might not want to buy anything with narrow planks or tricky patterns that may need matching. To make your installation a lot easier make sure you buy one that has click system edges which makes joing the planks easy to fix into place. To help you with doing it yourself read our comprehensive installation guide that will explain how to lay laminate flooring and walk you through every step to acheive the perfect finish.

Whether you install the flooring yourself or get a professional to do it can make a big difference in what kind of flooring you buy.