Most people don’t even realize that we actually DO sell flooring. In fact, we have both bamboo and laminate flooring. When shopping for flooring you have a wide range of choices, but when it comes to wood or simulated wood, you really have three choices: solid wood, engineered wood, and laminate. Generally speaking, they also go in that order in terms of most expensive to least expensive. Everyone always wants solid wood flooring, but you are also going to pay a premium for it. When it comes to engineered and laminate, technology has improved to give you the look of real wood, with some key advantages.
When you are looking at these three different types of flooring, you really need to compare price, thickness, and installation process to make sure you are getting the choice that is right for you. While nothing really compares to the feel of real wood, it also has it’s disadvantages because it is a natural product. It is susceptible to moisture, expands and contracts, and generally needs to be nailed down. The advantage to real wood is that it can be sanded down several times to be refinished, resealed, or hide blemishes. Engineered flooring offers the best of both worlds in that it does have a layer of real wood, comes in either nail down or floating versions, and in most cases has less expansion and contraction. While you can refinish engineered flooring, it is limited to the thickness of the veneer of wood. With most laminates on the market, you not only get the look of real wood in the patterns they print on the laminate, but it is easy to maintain, and very easy to install.
Some of the big box stores will advertise “flooring starting at $.79 sf/ft” or even less. Most people just look at the price, but don’t look at the thickness. Thickness of laminate and engineered flooring will determine the feel and sound. The thinner the flooring, the more bounce and more of a hollow sound you will get when you step on it. It will also sound more like plastic than wood. The thicker the flooring, the more substantial the feeling when you step on it, and the quieter it is. So that low price that companies advertise is usually for 7mm thick flooring or something really thin. All of our flooring is 12mm, which is what we are installing right now in our showroom. To show you just how easy it is to install, we even created a quick “how to” video to show you the process. Installing Laminate Flooring
So when you are shopping for flooring, it is not only important to look at price, but also consider the thickness and installation process. Don’t forget to head over to our flooring page, where we have an easy calculator that will tell you exactly how much bamboo or laminate flooring you need for your room or entire home.
