How to choose a laminate for an apartment

As one person said, the repair is impossible to complete, it can be suspended. This is partly true, because often not everyone can do it at once in all rooms of an apartment. While you make repairs in one room, you already need to do it in another, taking into account not very high-quality materials, which are also often expensive. At the same time, this statement can be refuted, if you use building materials of excellent quality for finishing the room, which will last more than a decade. But what kind of materials you need to buy?

This question is relevant when choosing flooring for a nursery or living room. For example, not everyone understands how to choose laminate for an apartment in a building supermarket, where the choice is simply huge.

Laminate selection criteria

These criteria include the following aspects:

• brand;
• the presence or absence of a pattern on its surface;
• cost of goods;
• wear resistance;
• scratch resistance;
• resistant to moisture;
• what is its strength to withstand random shots.

Wear resistance важна только в тех помещениях, где люди будут ходить очень часто, то есть в приёмных различных предприятий, куда приходит множество людей, или же в офисах, а также в торговых залах. В таких помещениях укладывают очень износостойкий ламинат, обычно это изделие 33 или 34 класса прочности, которое прослужит намного дольше обычного.

When the choice of laminate for an apartment is made, such high strength is not required. We pretend who and how many times will walk along the same corridor in a two or three bedroom apartment. It seems to be enough laminate with a smaller, 32nd class of wear resistance.

As can be seen from the practice of use, the service life for laminate boards of class 33 does not differ from class 32, and many other characteristics are similar.

The ability of a laminate to resist scratches that appear, for example, from female heels, pet claws, or child's toys, with which it fits across the floor, is more important than wear resistance. High-quality laminate, which belongs to class 32, usually has a sufficient amount of corundum in its composition, and the cheaper laminate may not have these additives at all. The surface of cheap laminate does not last for a long time, since the melamine layer, which covers the surface of the laminate board, is an order of magnitude thinner.

Most often, such a seemingly durable laminate can be easily wiped, as its manufacturer is not a member of EPFL and does not bear any responsibility for the data shown on the packaging, which is nothing more than advertising. As a result, such a laminate, declared as 32 class, may actually be 21 class or even lower. This is due to the fact that its producers are Russian or Chinese entrepreneurs who are not particularly eager to produce quality products.

Environmentally friendly raw materials

Phenol-formaldehyde-based raw materials are used in the manufacture of formaldehyde, which leads to the development of cancer cells as a result of exposure of the gas to the human body. It is also known that formaldehyde is used in morgues to preserve deceased bodies in order to keep them 1-2 days before the funeral. So, the conclusion - when buying Chinese laminate should be careful!

As you know, in Europe, according to certain standards, laminated floors are strictly controlled for formaldehyde. If we compare the laminate of the European type, which has class E1, and the usual parquet board, in which formaldehyde is contained only in varnish and glue, then there will not be any difference in the amount of harmful substances. But in China, these standards are significantly underestimated, so the amount of formaldehyde in the product increases markedly.

Note! If after opening the package with laminate in the room began to feel a sharp smell, it is better not to lay it on the floor. It is even better if it is possible to open this package in a warehouse or in a store in order to decide in advance whether to buy laminate or not.

How else can you check the laminate for environmental friendliness, even if it's past 2-3 years? Simply pour a little water into the bowl and put a small piece of laminate into it for about 20 minutes. In the event that a harsh smell appeared in the room, you will have to admit that this instance represents a serious health hazard.

To understand how to choose a laminate for an apartment, you need to pay attention to how much you need to pay per square meter. This is an important factor, since the characteristics of less expensive laminate boards are inferior to all known standards, even the lowest. There is even such a misconception that it is impossible to find such products in hypermarkets (they say, they monitor their prestige and image). However, it is better to part with such an opinion and carefully check the products in these places.

Often, building supermarkets sell this product with the condition that the contract states that all responsibility lies with the supplier, and they will be innocent to the buyer. Even if certificates are provided that ask the manufacturer of the laminate, the authenticity of such a product is not always proven, and it is not verified in the hypermarket. Why should they do this if there come a lot of trustful customers who already buy laminate, which is in stock and counters?

Interestingly, laminate with a high content of farmaldehyde can be found even among well-known European brands. The laminate of their production is produced specifically in this composition, since it is subsequently sold in the countries of Africa and the East, which in more “civilized” countries are considered to be “third world countries”. And in Russia there are products marked “only for the Russian Federation”, since such a product in Europe will have to pay a decent fine due to low environmental performance, you can even lose the license to produce it.

Wear resistance

Today, the floor coatings market offers 4 classes of wear resistance, namely 31 to 34. If you once had to buy laminate, you could hear that the first of these classes is used only in those rooms where very few people walk, 32 in the rooms with a little more traffic, and 33 and 34 - exclusively in office buildings. This is not entirely true, because the concept of laminate classiness is actually more voluminous. How to determine which class of laminate is needed for our premises?

A sample of the laminate, prepared for testing, is attached to the device intended for the experiment. Further, using an abrasive disc, it is determined how many revolutions need to be done so that you can see the first few scratches. And after continuing these actions, it is possible to determine how many turns it will take to completely destroy the layer, which is protective. The data obtained as a result of this experiment are summarized, and then the average is output, which is an indicator of how quickly this sample is able to come to wear.

Usually scratches appear after the 300th revolution, and the top layer is able to come to destruction somewhere after 5000 revolutions. If you calculate the arithmetic average, it will be equal to 2650. Now another option. Scratches appear after 1500 turns, and the destruction of the layer on the 3800 circle. The average is the same, but here scratch resistance in the second case is 5 times more. So the conclusion is what laminate to choose for the apartment.

If you add corundum, it will reduce the likelihood of scratching, but at the same time will increase the cost of production, so sometimes 32 class of laminate can cost more than 33rd. So, if you buy a cheaper 33 class, you can soon encounter a bunch of potholes and scratches in the laminate. Moreover, its upper layer has not collapsed, which means that it is believed that it can be exploited. It turns out that the 20 years of operation promised by the manufacturer become 2–3 months, when the laminate looks relatively good.

But the 32 class laminate, which is more expensive, will have a presentable appearance for quite a long time, but with enhanced exploitation it will quickly wipe. For apartments of this class is more than enough to wipe it there, you just need huge loads, which in these buildings are almost completely absent. So for 15-20 years the laminate should be enough.

According to the EN13329 standard, the class and quality of the laminate can be determined not only by durability, but also by moisture resistance, impact resistance, heat resistance and other characteristics.

Note! This regulation does not apply in China and the Russian Federation, as these countries are not members of the European Association. Therefore, there are no strict standards, and it is the local manufacturers who decide which class to indicate.

HDF board is resistant and moisture resistant

Most often 4 layers are a part of a laminate:

• the first layer, which is transparent (protects the image from erasing);
• photo itself (drawing);
• HDF plate;
• stabilization layer - final.

The most important part of the laminate is its base, that is, the HDF plate, on which locks are carved and a photo with a protective layer of melamine is applied. In fact, this plate is not as expensive as the rest of the laminate board. The stronger it is, the less laminate will suffer from moisture and will have stronger locks.

Equally important feature is the geometry of the plate. The more accurate it is, the easier it will be laying on the floor of the laminate, which means that cracks on it will not appear soon. Of course, everything listed above affects how much a square of laminate will cost (depending on the class and brand).

Laminate design - the best for home

There is a laminate that successfully copies a floorboard made of wood. However, since each parquet board differs from one another, it is required to use laminate from one batch to achieve the maximum quality of installation, and to minimize the repetition of the pattern for greater similarity with a real tree.

The diversity, which is inherent in this board from nature, does not always like the buyer of Russia. For example, it is believed that the color of the board should be close to brown or light beige, preferably without knots and one tone. These properties have Chinese products, which uses a photograph of a simple background. However, the quality of such a product, as mentioned earlier, is very doubtful, so it would be better to consider investing in the purchase of high-quality and at the same time beautiful laminate.

Decorative embossing is also used, which is considered a sign of well-being in the house. How it looks in the room can be seen in the photo. The feeling that the floor in the room is slightly convex, and the tile or tree painted on it may seem real and believable. This structure of the laminate board is practical because it reduces slip; it does not show footprints without shoes or stains after wet cleaning.

Now you can summarize everything that is written above. You should carefully choose the class of laminate, as well as take into account its inherent characteristics. It is important to know in advance who the manufacturer is so that you can draw the appropriate conclusions. Laminate itself is a beautiful, albeit far from perfect coating. At the same time, if you properly approach its choice in building supermarkets, you can purchase coverage that will last more than a dozen years.

A photo