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Affordable Laminate Wood Flooring
Hardwood Vs Laminate Wood Flooring - What You Should Know!
I cannot deny that wood floors are lovely to look at, warm and inviting, but the same effect can be obtained with laminate wood for a lot less money and headaches! And perhaps laminate wood could be the better choice. Not merely does it look like "wood", under most situations it will out-perform real hardwoods...

Since the very beginning of laminate wood floors, improvements have already been a continuing endeavor with manufacturers, like Alloc, Mannington and Dupont, to make this flooring material a "perfect" product. The "wear" (top) layer is constructed of aluminum oxide, a shield about as strong as steel and penetrating it is near impossible.

With hardwood flooring very little has changed since the 70s to boost it's tolerance of normal living conditions. Apart from developing a new type of finish to give it more protection, there's not much that can be done to change its profile. It really is what it is, a lovely, natural product...

But lets be honest, there are a few areas where any sort of wood flooring products is not the best choice. You can find risk involved if you are using wood in a kitchen or bathroom. If the flooring is porous, like hardwoods, it is just a fort for harboring bacteria and germs.


Waterproof or Not?

When I hear the word "waterproof" I think "unaffected by moisture", not? Well that isn't the case with either hardwoods or laminate wood. Flooring manufacturers marketing their wood flooring materials as "waterproof" is really a selling point, and why not they are in the business to "sell", but the truth is wood and water/moisture do not mix.

The thing with hardwoods or laminate wood is neither one is totally waterproof... Too much exposure to moisture and hardwoods will expand, so when it dries it contracts. This sort of action will cause all kinds of issues with finished hardwood floors.

Laminate wood tolerates moisture superior to hardwoods. The HPL (high-pressure laminate) is designed with sealed waxed edges, this is in addition to the Aluminum Oxide surface coating, that increases water resistance. But if exposed too much time to moisture/water it'll buckle.

But between your two, laminate wood tolerates moisture and bacteria far better than hardwoods.

The Affect From Impacts

As hard and durable as hardwoods is, they are easily dinged from impacts! Hard to trust, but true! Drop a sharp edged object or heavy pan on the hardwood floor and it'll leave a mark..

Do a similar thing with laminate wood also it won't faze the flooring at all... The Aluminum Oxide surface coating on laminate can be in comparison to steel. Hard as a rock!

Scratching The Wood

Hardwood floors scratch quickly. finished wood flooring need to be very careful when moving furniture, or anything of considerable weight or with a rough bottom, not to drag it but to lift it, if you don't have floor guards on the bottom of whatever object you would like to move. Outside grit will scratch the wood, too, so it is very important to keep it embroiled and use entry way area rugs to avoid bringing outside grit inside.

Laminate wood will scratch, however, not so easily, so when with hardwood floors, putting rugs before outside entry ways is a smart solution to protect your flooring. My laminate wood kitchen floor is 7 yrs . old and there is not one scratch onto it. Once again the surface finish is what provides such good protection.

Staining

Hardwoods are porous and could absorb a stain as an ink blotter or even cleaned up quickly, even with a good finish on the wood you need to be very careful not to let something similar to wine or blueberries just sit, they need to be wiped up quickly to avoid staining.

Laminate wood isn't porous but will stain, too, but the stains can usually be removed with a small amount of acetone or denatured alcohol and a clean, preferable white, cloth. When staining occurs on this type of flooring it is the protective surface finish that's stained

Maintenance

Hardwood floors are easy enough to sweep or dust and so is mopping, nonetheless it requires cleaning products made for hardwood floors. Eventually, hardwood floors will require refinishing as well as sanding and refinishing, but could be sanded may times over. Maintenance can be fairly costly if the floor requires a new finish. If it's necessary to replace the flooring it can be done board by board without replacing the complete floor..

Laminate wood floors don't require much in the care and maintenance department. Just sweep often and light mop when needed. No special products are necessary. Swiffer products are ideal for laminate floors. One more thing with laminate wood is you can replace single planks without replacing the whole floor.

Read More: https://www.hardwoodfloornorthdenver.com/installation