Laminate Flooring in Spokane, WA
The Best Laminate Floor Installers in Spokane and CDA
Laminate is an extremely attractive flooring option for many reasons. It is highly durable, cost-effective and works extremely well in basements, bathrooms, kitchens, and high traffic-areas including business and commercial applications. Well will help educate, guide you through the product options, underlayment options, and with installs on new laminate flooring to your satisfaction.
Selecting and Installing Waterproof Laminate Floors
Spokane Flooring Contractors can help explain and show you the finest laminate options so you can feel how they are different, understand the correct underlayment for your application/product, view and feel the many laminate style options, measure and calculate material needs, show you detailed quotes for your new laminate floor and help calculate the laminate flooring installation cost.
Finally our skilled crew will complete the laminate flooring installation with the highest quality techniques and precision.
Call us to learn more about laminate floors or complete the contact form for a quick and free instant quote.
Recent Laminate Flooring Installation in Cheney, WA
Our customer wanted the carpet removed because of damage caused by a previous tenant. They decided to go with water-resistant laminate for the ease and clean, bright finish for the room.
After tearing out the carpet, pad, and repairing the subfloor we installed a vapor-barrier underlayment to help protect the space from future issues.
As you can see, running the boards perpendicular to the window helped with natural lighting and to make the room feel larger.
Finally, installing molding concealed the necessary expansion gaps and left the room finished and ready for the next tenant.
Advantages to Laminate
Budget-friendly option:
- Laminate beautifully replicates real hardwood which makes it an affordable alternative to expensive hardwood options while maintaining aesthetic appeal.
Durable and long lasting:
- Products feature high density fiberboard (HDF) for strength with AC3 to AC5 durability ratings, making it more dent resistant than hardwood.
Scratch and impact resistant:
- The durable surface protection offers scratch and impact resistance to pet’s claws, children, broken plates, and more.
Water-resistant with new options being waterproof:
- Traditionally, laminate floors have only been water resistant. There are an increasing number of waterproof laminate flooring options that offer WetProtect technologies increasing the applications throughout the residency or commercial building.
Heat resistant:
- Laminate performs well in extreme heat environments due to its thermal conductivity.
Simple/easy installation without the user of adhesives:
- Installation is generally as a floating floor. This means that adhesives tend not to be necessary and the locking system is quicker and simpler than other options resulting in generally less laminate flooring installation cost.
Easy to Clean
- A simple sweep or vacuum and light mop are all that are necessary to quickly and thoroughly clean laminate.
Laminate Flooring Installation Cost
Old Flooring Removal:
- $1-2 per square foot
Subfloor Preparation and Leveling:
- $1-3 per square foot depending on damage
Underlayment:
- $.25-1 if not already attached to the planks
Materials:
- $1-6 per square foot, primarily depending on thickness
Labor:
- $2-6 per square foot for standard material
Baseboards and Moulding:
- $.50-2 per linear foot for most material
Laminate Composition
Laminate flooring is comprised of five key layers:
Underlayment:
- Depending on the manufacturer/product, laminate may have an underlayment attached or a separate foam, felt, or fiber underlayment must be installed. The purpose of lament underlayment is to make a quieter floor, assist in waterproofing, and a comfortable cushion.
Backing (the bottom):
- This serves as the foundation and protects both the underlayment and the laminate. Additionally, it assists in strength, waterproofing, and water resistance.
Core board:
- The core board is the high density fiberboard (HDF) which was briefly discussed above. This layer composed of 80+% wood helps in the structural strength, dent resistance, and helps with water resistance.
Decorative or image layer:
- As the name describes, this photographic realistic layer comes in many forms including colors, patterns, woods (hand scraped, traditional wood, and specialty wood), as well as stone and tile.
- It is responsible for the visually and sometimes physically aesthetically appealing aspect.
Durable surface or wear layer:
- This is the layer that you walk on. Its purpose is to protect the laminate from everyday wear and tear, scratches, water, and more. It can be made of melamine, hard plastic, or even aluminum oxide with higher quality laminate floors.
Direct Pressure Laminate (DPL) and High Pressure Laminate (HPL)
Direct Pressure Laminate:
- DPL is produced with less PSI (300-500 PSI) making it more flexible and cost effective. Because it is produced at a lower PSI it also offers more realistic textures due to the more flexible melamine. This is what is most commonly found in residential laminate applications.
High Pressure Laminate:
- HPL is produced under 1,300+ PSI making it much more durable making it more resistant to higher traffic, scratches, and impact. It is ultimately a stronger and thicker product making it ideal and most commonly found in commercial laminate applications.