At Kite our mission is to find you the perfect floor and whilst we mainly sell wood floors, the reality is they aren’t right for every project. For a start, wood flooring done properly is expensive, especially over large areas and with uneven subfloors. Also, regardless of finish, wood flooring will always require some maintenance. If you want to fit a floor and never think about it again, wood floors aren’t always the answer.
Mention “Laminate” to most people and they think of shiny floors with chips and scrapes, or swollen joints from excess mopping. They also think of creaks and bounce where the floor hasn’t been fitted properly. Like everything in life, there’s the average, the good, and the awesome. At Kite we work with the awesome.
What makes an awesome Laminate floor?
- Matt finished and textured
It has to look good and that is a non-negotiable. At Kite we look at a lot of floors and have visited a lot of manufacturers across Europe. When we saw our Laminates for the first time we couldn’t believe how realistic they looked; the key was their matt finish, which was slightly brushed.
- Super hard-wearing, with a long warranty.
On your flooring journey you’ll soon discover that floors have specifications and it can get very confusing. The specification for Laminates is called the AC or Abrasion Class classification. Floors are rated from 1 to 6, with 1 being a low standard and 6 being incredibly hard-wearing. At Kite, we almost always sell AC6 laminates, as it means once it’s fitted, you never have to worry about it again. These floors generally have a lifetime warranty in residential properties.
- Don’t go too thin
Typical Laminates are 8mm thick. When we’ve fitted thin Laminates, especially in old houses, we’ve had movement and instability, so we generally recommend a thicker product of 12mm. Combining this with a good quality underlay will minimise your chances of having movement or bounce in your floor (note, the subfloor still needs to be relatively flat). Here’s some information on fitting strategy.
- Easy to fit
At Kite, our fitting teams do fit Laminate floors and we are happy to quote or give any advice you need. However, if you’re looking for a Laminate floor it’s often cheaper to buy the flooring through us and find a local handyman to fit (Checkatrade is great). Wood flooring professionals have decades of training, combined with expensive tools and insurance, so have to charge a premium rate to make their business work. This makes sense for wood flooring but doesn’t always work with Laminate. DIY is also possible as the flooring uses a very simple click system.
- Wide planks
Narrow plank flooring tends to look cheaper so avoid it. The most versatile width of flooring we find is around 190/200mm, which looks good, whatever your room size. We also do a wide plank version of our laminates that is 270mm wide, for very open spaces.
- Some water resistance
Good quality Laminates will have protection in the joints which means they have a level of water resistance. This is very different from cheaper laminates which will swell as soon as they’re exposed to any leaks.
- Environmental credentials
The best quality laminates often have gold-standard environmental credentials, as generally they are made in high-quality European factories in Germany or Spain. This is in contrast to the online wood floor market. One of the main manufacturers we work with is called Finsa, who have an awesome Sustainability strategy – Finsa Sustainability.
Premium Laminates are very rare in the UK. Why? Because most retailers sell cheap wood floors at a similar price point, none of which get close to the performance of a good laminate.
And what about vinyl floors?
Most people have heard of major vinyl flooring brands like Karndean or Amtico. At Kite, we struggle with this type of flooring, because a premium Laminate is just as hard-wearing and its cheaper. Laminates now even have some water resistance properties, which is advantage that is often quoted with vinyl products. Adding this to some challenging environmental factors, especially with the disposal of glue-down vinyl flooring, we struggle to see why you would go with a vinyl product over a strong laminate.
So there you have it. If you’re looking for a cost-effective, forever floor, then a premium Laminate could be for you. But, the reality is, seeing is believing; until you hold and test a sample, this just reads like a sales pitch…. which it is. But we do genuinely think they’re awesome.
So, order your samples here…
Or for any technical advice, book a consultation with our team here…
