In order to make the right choice when buying such a floor as a laminate, it is necessary to take into account a number of parameters, which will be discussed in this article.
Currently, in construction stores there is a very large selection of flooring, which differ among themselves not only with color, texture, surface relief, but also wear resistance and impact resistance with mechanical influences during operation. One of the most popular and economical types of flooring can be attributed to laminate.
Laminated flooring is a coating consisting of one thick or several thin layers of fibrous material, such as paper, saturated with specially prepared thermoreactive resins. There are six laminate classes in total, which are indicated by the following two -digit numbers: 21, 22, 23, 31, 32 and 33. The first digit of the floor class indicates the sphere of operation: digit 2 – home sphere, number 3 – commercial. The second figure of the class indicates the wear resistance of the laminate. The higher the figure, the greater the intensity of the load on the coating. For apartments, many flooring manufacturers recommend choosing laminate 21, 22 and 23 of grade. However, it should be borne in mind that the panels of these classes are designed for minor loads and their service life is from two to six years. In this regard, for residential premises such as a kitchen, a hallway, a children’s room and a living room are best suited for a laminated flooring designed for a commercial sphere. Laminate 31, 32 and 33 is considered the most modern, wear -resistant, with a high service life of ten to twenty years. The most quality coatings are 32 and 33 classes. They have a persistent, antistatic surface, made of environmentally friendly materials, hypoallergenic, poorly ignited and are not exposed to ultraviolet radiation.
When choosing a laminate for an apartment, you should also pay attention to such an important parameter as the thickness of the panel, which can be from six to twelve millimeters. The standard thickness of laminated flooring from seven to eight millimeters, which is enough for residential premises. When using the Warm Paul system in the apartment, you can choose a laminate with a larger panel thickness to improve the quality of heating.
The width of the laminate panel is also different. One of the narrowest 90 millimeters, and the widest 330 millimeters. The optimal choice will be a panel wide 185 – 195 millimeters, which will allow you to convey the pattern and texture of the upper layer of the coating.
As for the length of the laminate, the panels from 1260 to 1380 millimeters are most often used in apartments, they are more convenient for installation and dismantling.
In order for the chosen laminated flooring to please you for more than one year and does not creak when walking on it, you need to use a special substrate that increases sound insulation and helps to align the floor surface.