The look of wood,
built to take
a beating.

Laminate gets you the look of wood for less than wood costs. It is built rather than milled: a dense core with a photographic layer on top and a clear wear layer over that. Done well, it is one of the hardest surfaces in the house to scratch. Done cheaply, it looks like what it is, which is why the sample wall matters more here than almost anywhere else.

What laminate actually is.

Every plank is layers pressed together. A balancing backer on the bottom keeps the board flat. A high density fiberboard core carries the strength and the locking profile that clicks the floor together. A decorative layer, which is a high resolution photograph of oak, hickory, walnut or stone, gives it the grain. On top sits a clear melamine wear layer, usually loaded with aluminum oxide, and that layer is the whole reason laminate does what it does. Many lines arrive with a pad attached to the back, which saves a step at install and quiets the floor underfoot.

AC ratings, the number to look for.

Laminate is graded on the Abrasion Class scale, AC1 through AC5, tested for wear, impact, staining and burns. The number is printed on the box and it is the most useful spec on the sample.

• AC1. Light residential. Closets and bedrooms only.
• AC2. General residential, for rooms with moderate traffic.
• AC3. Heavy residential and light commercial. The practical floor for a family home, and where we point most people.
• AC4. Heavy residential and general commercial. Kitchens, entries, hallways and houses with dogs.
• AC5. Heavy commercial, for floors that never get a day off.

Buying up one class costs a little more per square foot and it is usually the cheapest insurance in the room. If the floor is going into an office, a showroom or a school, start at AC4 and read our commercial flooring page.

Scratch resistance, and where it ends.

The aluminum oxide in that wear layer is harder than the finish on a site finished hardwood floor, which is why laminate shrugs off the things that mark real wood: claws, chair legs, grit tracked in from the driveway. It is the reason laminate keeps landing in houses with kids and animals.

There is a limit worth knowing before you buy. Laminate cannot be sanded and refinished. The wear layer is thin by design, so a deep gouge is not repairable the way a scratch in solid hardwood is. The fix is to replace the plank, which is why we tell customers to keep a spare box from the same run. Print cycles and colors change from lot to lot.

Getting the wood look right.

The difference between laminate that reads as wood and laminate that reads as a picture of wood comes down to a few details you can check with a sample in your hand.

• Embossed in register. The texture in the surface lines up with the grain in the print, so a knot you can see is a knot you can feel.
• Pattern repeat. More unique plank images means fewer twins landing side by side in the same room.
• Bevels. A pressed or painted micro bevel gives each board an edge and reads closer to a milled plank. Square edges read flatter and more continuous.
• Format. Wider and longer boards calm a room down. Narrow strips read traditional.
• Sheen. Lower gloss hides dust and reflection, and it is closer to how a wood floor looks after a few years anyway.

Take two or three samples home. Grain and undertone shift under evening light, and the showroom wall is not your hallway.

Water, and where laminate belongs.

The core is wood fiber, so water is the thing to plan around. Water resistant laminate uses a treated core and a sealed edge to handle spills that get wiped up in a reasonable amount of time. That covers a kitchen, an entry or a laundry room with a normal life going on around it. It does not cover standing water. A full bath, a basement that has taken on water before, or a slab with a moisture problem is a room for luxury vinyl plank or tile instead, and we will say so rather than sell you the wrong floor.

Read the warranty language with us at the counter. Water resistant and waterproof are not the same claim, and coverage usually depends on the floor going down with the right underlayment and a moisture barrier.

Budget, honestly.

Laminate is often chosen on price, so it is worth being straight about what drives that price. The material generally runs under hardwood, engineered hardwood and tile. The installed number also carries subfloor prep, underlayment, transitions and the trim that covers the expansion gap. Prep is the line that moves most, because a floating floor telegraphs every hump and dip underneath it.

The cheapest box on the wall is rarely the cheapest floor over ten years, and an AC3 or AC4 plank in the right room tends to outlive two rounds of bargain product. We also offer a 12 month 0% financing plan if it helps you buy the right one now.

Subfloor, underlayment and the install.

Laminate floats. It locks to itself rather than to the house, and it moves as one piece with the seasons. So the subfloor has to be flat, clean and dry, concrete needs a moisture barrier, and every wall, toe kick and pipe needs an expansion gap hidden by trim. Get any of that wrong and the floor peaks, gaps or clicks underfoot.

Our own crews handle the measure and the install, with 15 or more years of experience and most at 25 or more years. That is the part customers write about afterward.

Living with it.

• Sweep or vacuum on a hard floor setting. Grit is what dulls a wear layer.
• Damp mop with a laminate cleaner, never a soaking one. Water belongs on the surface, not in the seams.
• Skip steam mops, wax and polish. Heat and film do not belong on melamine.
• Felt pads under furniture, a chair mat under a desk, and mats at the doors off the driveway and garage.
• Keep the spare planks from the same run in case one ever has to come out.

See the samples in Wentzville.

Laminate is the easiest floor to judge badly from a photograph and the easiest to judge well with a board in your hand. Come by the showroom on Veterans Memorial Parkway, feel the texture, check the AC rating and hold two finishes against your cabinet door. When you have it narrowed down, the estimate is free and the measure happens in your house, where the doorways, the transitions and the subfloor are decided.

Brands we carry in the showroom include Mohawk, Pergo, Godfrey Hirst and Karastan.