Laminate flooring erases many problems. It can be inexpensive, it can be easy to install, and there are no sealing issues at all.
Myths about Laminate Floor
- Myth: Laminate flooring is easy to install. Truth: Laminate flooring is easier for the DIY homeowner to install than hardwood, but not necessarily easy.
- Myth: Laminate flooring covers flooring imperfections. Truth: Because laminate is thin and flexible, your subfloor needs to be flat and level before you can lay laminate.
- Myth: Laminate wood floor looks fake. In this past, this may have been true. I have even criticized laminate for its artificial appearance. But recently, manufacturers have been developing laminate with greater surface texture and visual depth.
- Myth: Laminate floors cannot be installed sub-grade. Sub-grade installation means below ground-level. While it is true that laminate floors are susceptible to moisture--and there are flooring materials that are more appropriate for sub-grade installation--it is possible to install laminate here.
- Pergo is laminate; laminate is Pergo. Laminate floors have gone way beyond the Pergo brand, with nearly all top brands of resilient flooring now selling laminate. Chances are, you will find cheaper laminate flooring with other brands than with Pergo brand. When homeowners discovered in the 1980s that they could finally self-install a type of flooring that looked like wood, they jumped right on the bandwagon. But Pergo isn't the only laminate flooring manufacturer out there.
