Ever been curious of how your floor is made, or what it is comprised of?
If you have laminate flooring you are definitely not alone. People marvel at the nature of laminate flooring. The fact that the same basic materials when put together can look just like stone or just like oak is hard for many to swallow. The average person will never know the difference between a genuine hardwood floor and a laminate floor.
Laminate flooring comes in such a diverse array of designs and styles one might think their manufacturing processes are rather different than one another. Though this is intuitive it is not true. The truth of the matter is there are four major steps in the process before laminate flooring becomes laminate flooring. Each step represents a layer in the flooring which is present in all laminate coverings.
The first process is placing what is called "the backing" or foundation layer made of melamine plastic down. This particular material is used often because it inhibits moisture from seeking into the planks above it, while reaffirming the structural integrity of the whole piece. Then the second layer is laid down directly and with mechanical precision. This layer consists of a high-density fiber board which sometimes possesses melamine resins. These resins thwart moisture from affecting the structure.
The third layer is also applied squarely on top of the first two levels. This is the design or photogenic layer. What it really is, is a high-resolution replication photo of real hard wood, stone, or variety of other motifs. This is what gives laminate flooring such a realistic appearance. The creation of this layer takes advances photographic, computer, and manufacturing equipment. The word is the complex process gets better about every year as the technologies which beget them evolve.
The fourth and final layer is a hardy finish. This layer is responsible for protecting the aesthetic layer that supplies the allure as well as sustaining the strength of the sub-layers of particle board. It typically consists of melamine and aluminum oxides as well from time to time. All of these ingredients are essential in safeguarding the longevity of laminate floors.
Once all of the layers are laid perfectly even onto one another, they are squeezed together. this is done with great force and under extreme temperatures to ensure the cohesion of each piece of laminate. Hydraulic machines are employed that apply upwards of 600 pounds of pressure on the 4 layers for about half a minute. The time and pressure is likely to vary to some degree depending on the exact materials used, the desired effect, and the type of presses being used. In addition, the presses have specialized plates that create imprints in the top layer of the laminate to increase the realness of its appearance. This is why a floor that has not a bit of stone or cherry wood can not only fool the eye in most cases, but the hand or foot in others as well.
Next, the laminate sheets are left to cool off. After being placed under such burdensome forces the materials in the laminate pieces need to cool and adhere to one another. Otherwise, bowing, bending, and misshaping are likely to occur. Obviously, this is not the desired effect.
After the raw pressed planks are conditioned, the great sheets are cut into consumer-sized pieces. To create what is called the "tongue-and-groove" feature which allows laminate flooring to simply lock into itself, rather than be nailed down into the subfloor, profiling saws are put to work. Many of the newer profiling saws employ laser technologies that allow for a precision that would have made Plato ecstatic.
The very last step is a detailed and comprehensive inspection designed to weed out warped, discolored, and non-interlocking laminate boards from the rest. That is all it takes to allow you to acquire flooring which rivals the fanciest and rarest of woods at a small fraction of the cost.