Exceptional Durability!
Do you want the beautiful appearance of a real hardwood floor but with exceptional performance that will holdup from the wear and tear from kids, pets, and spills? This question is in the minds of many American homeowners when shopping for a new floor. The answer many flooring shoppers have found is choosing one of the many laminate floors. These floors are similar in construction to the laminate kitchen counter tops but with some added performance features.

Laminate floors originally came from Europe where they have been used in homes for over 20 years. Although most of the laminate floors are imported, a few of the laminate brands are made here in the U.S.A.. The performance differences between the brands appears to be minor even though the construction methods that are used may be slightly different. All the laminate floors have good performance characteristics and are often confused with real hardwood floors. Even though these floors resemble real wood floors they are not wood. Our cross-section diagram of a laminate floor should help you better understand the differences between wood and laminates.

Laminate floors offer many benefits for homeowners, including:

• Exceptional durability


• Easy to clean surface


• Superior stain resistance


• Superior fade resistance


• Install in on all grade levels, even below grade


• Install over many different types of subfloors


• Great impact and indentation resistance


• Exceptional realism at affordable costs


• Easy to replace later on, if desired.

Laminate flooring is a tongue and groove interlocking flooring system that comes in either planks or squares. All of these floors have a wearlayer, a decorative print film layer, an inner core structure, and some type of backing support layer. The decorative print film layer is either fused or glued to the inner core. The print film can be a photo of any real floor. The wearlayer is applied to the decorative print layer to protect the pattern. Melamine resins are the main component of the wearlayer. The melamine surface gets its incredible durability from aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide is almost as hard as diamonds and provides unsurpassed wear and stain resistance.



Backing - is usually a melamine plastic layer used to give additional structural stability and added moisture protection to the planks.

Core - generally made from high-density fiber board (HDF), particle board, or plastic, the core adds impact resistance, and forms the tongue and groove locking system. Melamine plastic resins are also impregnated in the core by some of the manufacturers to improve the moisture resistance of the core.

Melamine - is a plastic-type resin used throughout the construction process to add durability, and stability to the laminated planks.

Print Film - which is also called the decorative layer gives the floor the appearance of a real hardwood or tile. Some manufacturers have been able to duplicate the old wood floors found only in some old historical buildings.

Wearlayer - is a tough clear melamine layer with aluminum oxide particles. When fused together with heat and direct pressure to the core the wearlayer becomes an incredibly hard, durable finish. The resin-filled wearlayer is so dense it becomes extremely difficult to stain, scratch, or burn.

Underlayment - is a clear thin plastic sheet that is installed over the substrate before the laminate floor is floated. The plastic sheet helps the laminate floor to float freely above the substrate.

Atlanta Flooring Design sells and installs Laminates
Atlanta Flooring Design Centers features Alloc, Pergo, Formica,Wilsonart, Mohawk, and Mannington laminate products. Industry wide, Laminate sales have increased by leaps and bounds since it was first introduced in 1994.

It is estimated that this category of floor covering increased at the greatest rate in 1998. This is also a very exciting product line for Southern Rug. The success of this product is due to its real wood look and the fact that it can be installed quickly, with an already finished look (no sanding required).