Atlanta Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring in Atlanta has risen from the ranks of economy flooring to one of the most frequently installed flooring products in the metropolitan area. That's saying a lot for a product that just a decade or two past was mostly known as a cheap knock-off of attractive hardwood flooring. Today's laminate flooring, however, is nothing of the sort. Not only is it more durable and easy to install than it's ever been (which is saying something if you know anything about laminate's long celebrated status as a front-runner in those departments), but advances in technology have also vaulted laminate flooring from cheap hardwood flooring imitation to a flooring material that any homeowner can be proud of in the looks department.

Atlanta Laminate Flooring 101

Despite its popularity, most homeowners find themselves at a loss when asked to describe what laminate flooring really is. At the risk of oversimplifying it, laminate flooring in Atlanta is composed of four elements all bonded together under high pressure to create the flooring planks that you install in your home. Working from the bottom up, the underside of your laminate flooring starts with a water-resistant layer that prevents moisture from working up through the subfloor into the product's core. The core itself is a high density fiberboard product that gives the flooring its strength, and on top of that a high resolution image is applied that's responsible for laminate's great looks (No, it's not real wood, or even a veneer. That drop-dead image of bamboo, oak, or maple, is actually just a really big photograph!). Finally, the surface is finished off with the scratch and impact resistant clear coating that makes laminate one of the most durable flooring products around.

Atlanta Laminate Flooring: Choosing a Finish

The rising fame of Atlanta laminate flooring is largely thanks to the explosion of choices that the industry now provides homeowners when it comes to appearance. After all, the durability and easy installation of this product has been touted over water coolers and at hardware stores across the country for years already. It's the fact that you can now purchase laminate in oak, maple, bamboo, cherry, pine, teak, chestnut, stone and ceramic tile imitations, and more, that have homeowners flocking to laminate in previously unforeseen numbers. Throw in realistic textures, a choice of plank widths, and even beveled and "hand scraped" flooring planks, and it's easy to see that laminate isn't a cheap hardwood imitation any longer.

Atlanta Laminate Flooring Is Synonymous with Rock Bottom Prices

We keep touting the durability, looks, and easy installation of laminate flooring Atlanta, but we've hardly touched on the price. To put it simply, you won't find a better deal in a flooring material, period. Quality laminate flooring can be purchased and installed for less than $5 per square foot, which is more than half of what you'll pay for installing traditional materials like hardwood flooring and stone tile (and that's a conservative estimate). Furthermore, while the price of laminate flooring varies depending on quality (you should expect to pay higher prices the more realistic and unique your choice of laminate flooring gets), the pendulum swings both ways. Keep an eye out for sales, and install the laminate yourself, and it's not unusual to find laminate flooring moving off the shelves for less than a dollar per square foot.

Atlanta Laminate Flooring Installation

We may be venturing into dangerous territory here, especially since we're in the business of providing contractor referrals, but it would be an understatement to say that laminate is one of the most homeowner friendly flooring materials in the industry when it comes to installation. To be fair, no DIY job is guaranteed to look 100 percent professional upon completion, and I have talked to contractors who warn from experience that the lure of easy laminate flooring installation has been known to get inexperienced homeowners into trouble. But the fact that laminate flooring in Atlanta is a "floating" floor product, combined with newer click together lines in which the flooring planks literally snap together, makes this flooring about as DIY friendly as flooring gets. Of course, don't feel bad if you don't feel qualified to do the job, or if you're just too busy to set aside the time it takes to do it on your own. It's just as easy (okay, easier) for a professional to install laminate as it is for a homeowner, which translates into quicker installations and lower labor costs. In other words, even if you do hire the job out, you'll still be saving money by choosing laminate over hardwood flooring or tile.