Choosing the Right Affordable Laminate for High Traffic Areas

Contrary to what many homeowners might believe, not every flooring type is suitable for every area of your home. High traffic areas, for example, require a tough flooring that will last year after year, which is why you should consider laminate flooring for your home’s high traffic area. However, there are several laminate options for you to choose from, which means you need to make sure you pick the right type for your home.

Choosing the right laminate for high traffic areas will ensure that your home will have a flooring option that performs the way that you deserve. Here are a few important factors you should consider when you’re planning to install laminate flooring the high traffic areas of your home.

What are You Willing to Spend?

For many consumers, the most important aspect of choosing a laminate flooring is cost, and if this sounds like you, then a great way to choose the right laminate flooring for your high traffic areas is to look at some of the basic costs of your installation.

Do you know how large of an area you want to install laminate on? If so, this can be a great way to determine your costs. As an example, for a single square foot of laminate flooring, you can expect to purchase between $7.50 and $14.91 worth of material, and the more floor you need covered, the higher your costs could be. For example, for a laminate flooring job totaling 120 square feet, the costs for your whole install can be between $361.73 and $1,036.32.

Before beginning your project, measure the entire area you need laminated so you can get a basic idea of your laminate installation cost.

AC Rating

If you’re familiar with hardwood flooring, then you might have heard of something called the Janka rating, which lets you know how resistant a given hardwood is to damage. What you might not realize, however, is that laminate flooring operates under a similar system known as the AC rating.

Using the AC rating, laminate flooring types are measured on a scale from 1 to 5. The AC rating lets you know how resistant a laminate flooring type will be to wear and tear. For example, laminate flooring with an AC rating of five is the toughest there is, and is suitable for commercial applications. In the high traffic areas of your home, you should try to install a laminate with an AC rating of at least three, although a rating is four is better of max durability.

Thickness

Another factor to consider when choosing a laminate flooring option for the high traffic areas of your home is thickness. Laminate flooring usually comes for four available thickness levels: 6 millimeters (Price range $0.6-$0.99.), 8 millimeters ( Price range $2.5-$2.7.), 10 millimeters (Price range $3.25 to $3.5.) and 12 millimeters (Price range $3.5 to $4.1.). While all of the thickness levels have about the same level of dent resistance, there are some differences you should be aware of.

First, if the subfloor in your home’s high traffic areas is slightly uneven, then a thicker laminate flooring is the better choice. Secondly, if thicker laminate flooring is also great for sound muffling, which makes it a good choice for high traffic areas like entryways. Picking the right thickness level will give you the maximum utility out of your laminate flooring.

Underlayment

Underlayment is one of the most important laminate floor accessories that there is, providing an extra layer of protection to your flooring. When you’re choosing a laminate flooring option for your home’s high traffic areas, you should also think about the necessity for underlayment.

Installing underlayment can help protect your laminate flooring from moisture damage, as well as increasing laminates natural sound suppression abilities. Pairing your laminate flooring with underlayment is particularly useful in high traffic areas as it can increase your laminate’s longevity and improve its overall performance.

Install Laminate Flooring in Your Home

Picking the right type of laminate flooring for your home’s high traffic areas is an extremely important decision. When you install laminate flooring in your home, you’ll be getting a great look and extreme durability that you’ll be sure to enjoy every time you enter or exit your home.