Home Flooring Guide

Laminate flooring is dependent on the core for their design and coloration. The core is usually dyed with different colors to form the laminate flooring’s design. Laminate flooring comes in many colors to suit every home theme.

As it applies to making flooring materials, lamination is the process by which hard plastic or fiberglass laminate is applied to a stiff core. This is done under intense heat, sometimes going over 500 degrees Fahrenheit; and intense pressure, sometimes reaching 1,000 pounds per square inch. This results in a flooring material with three layers. The outer layer is also called the shell, and it is made of transparent hard plastic or fiberglass. The inner layer is a porous hardboard or similar stiff material. The backing, the section of the laminate flooring makes contact with the cement foundation of the floor, is either made of paper or another layer of laminating material. The plastic used for lamination is transparent, allowing the coloration of the core material to be visible.

Since the outermost shell of laminate flooring is transparent, laminate flooring is dependent on the core material for its color. The core material can be dyed to any kind of color.  The most popular colors used in laminate flooring are the neutrals--brown, tan, blue, and gray. The more flamboyant colors like red, yellow, and orange are available as well. However, laminate flooring in these colors should be used with caution because they can clash violently with the wall color or the rest of the furniture.

The core material is usually made of a porous synthetic material of fiberboard or another layer of plastic. Both materials can readily accept dyes, so finding a color to match the home design is easy.

Laminate flooring that features more than one color is called ‘designed laminate flooring’. A base color is applied to the core material. Once it has set, another color is applied to speckle the base color. The popular color combinations are black on gray, blue on white or gray, white on green, and other combinations of earth tones and neutral colors. Some laminate flooring can also have combinations involving three or more colors.

Other flooring materials can be laminated as well just like wood. Wood laminate flooring is becoming increasingly popular because of its their warm tones and coloration. It naturally has a brown color, but the laminating material highlights its best characteristics further. Some wood laminate flooring designs have color inconsistencies and differences in tone and luster. They can have sections of monochromatic color variations such as tan and deep brown aside from the standard brown color. Wood laminate flooring with painted cores is also available.