Vinyl plank flooring
For kitchens, bathrooms and anywhere water rules out laminate.
Laminate flooring
Laminate flooring across New York City
We fit laminate floors across all five boroughs, in homes and in rentals where hard wearing matters most. It goes down fast and it takes a beating.
What laminate is
Laminate is a dense fibreboard core with a printed decorative layer and a clear wear layer on top. The surface is a photograph of wood rather than wood, and the wear layer is what makes it hard to scratch.
That construction is its strength and its limit. It resists scratches and dents better than most real wood, and it cannot be sanded, because there is nothing underneath the print to sand back to.
Modern laminate has improved a great deal in how it looks. The tell is usually repetition, so the boards are laid to break up any recurring pattern.
Laminate, wood, or vinyl plank
Three different answers to three different rooms.
Laminate
Hardest wearing surface for the money, and the fastest to fit. Suits living rooms, bedrooms, hallways and rentals. Handles furniture, pets and traffic well.
Real wood
Costs more and can be refinished repeatedly, so it lasts decades and can change colour later. Suits a home you are staying in and rooms where the floor is part of the look.
Vinyl plank
The water answer. Kitchens, bathrooms, basements and below grade, where laminate's fibreboard core would swell if water sat on it.
The most common mistake is laminate in a bathroom or a basement. It is not a quality problem, it is the wrong material for standing water, and vinyl plank does that job properly.
Tell us the rooms and we will tell you which of the three actually suits them.
Call (929) 207-0334What goes underneath
Laminate floats rather than being fixed down, so the base under it does more work than people expect.
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Underlay
It cushions the floor, evens out small imperfections and takes the hollow sound out. Underlay is the single biggest difference between a laminate floor that feels cheap and one that does not, and it is the wrong place to save money.
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02
Flatness
A floating floor bridges dips, and the joints take the stress. Anything beyond a small tolerance gets levelled first, or the clicked joints will eventually separate.
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03
Moisture from below
Over concrete a moisture barrier goes down first. Slabs give off more moisture than people expect, and a fibreboard core does not forgive it.
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04
Expansion gaps
A floating floor has to be able to move. A perimeter gap stays and is covered by beading or skirting. Fitting tight to the wall is what makes a floor lift in the middle later.
What it costs and how long it takes
Floor area, the board you choose, what the subfloor needs first, how many rooms and doorways, and whether an old floor has to come up.
It is the quickest of the wood-look floors to fit, which is part of what makes it economical. A straightforward room goes down in a day, and there is no curing time at the end because there is no finish to dry.
Full detail of what moves the number is on the costs page.
Related
The pages people read next.
Hardwood floor installation
If real wood is worth the difference in your rooms.
What floor work costs
What moves the number across every kind of floor.
Talk about a laminate floor
Tell us the rooms, the rough area and what is down now. We will tell you what it takes and whether laminate is the right call.