Hardwood flooring or stone flooring is beautiful to behold, but may be beyond the budget of many homeowners. Luckily, today there are price conscious alternatives in laminate flooring offered by the Armstrong company. No matter which room or rooms you want to decorate, you will find and Armstrong floor laminate to suit.

Armstrong laminates are quality constructed of four separate layers of laminate to give the appearance and strength of wood or stone without the same expense. The outermost layer, especially, is designed for strength and long lasting wear. In addition, you can choose an abrasion classification based on the use you want to put the flooring to. The abrasion classification denotes how much the top layer will protect the underlying laminate. For normal use, an abrasion classification "3" will suffice.

The layer under the top protective layer in an Armstrong laminate floor is usually a photo imaging of the material the floor imitates, that is stone or wood. This very closely resembles the actual stone or wood and is available in many designs and varieties. The next layer is fiberboard of a very high density. This fiberboard is further impregnated with melamine to add to the strength of the final product. The bottom layer that rests upon the sub floor is actually resin soaked paper, which creates a water resistant base to the boards. This layer prevents the boards from warping.

The Armstrong laminate floor system is an interlocking "floating" floor that is designed to be installed over just about any other floor surface, except for a carpet with a high pile. It is recommended in certain situations that a sub floor material be installed prior to the laminate floor as a vapor barrier and for noise reduction. Otherwise, the tongue and groove construction of the laminate makes it easy to snap into place over most any existing floor. It is not even necessary to nail or glue it into place.

If you are putting a laminate floor in a bathroom or other room where it may be exposed to excess moisture, it is recommended that you seal the floor around the edges with caulk or some other type of sealer, and glued together at each board. This will prevent the moisture from permeating the floor.

This excellent type of flooring is perfect for any room in the house, whether it is at grade or below it. This makes it ideal for some hard to deal with areas such as basement family rooms, though you will have to treat it a little differently, as mentioned above. Armstrong laminate floors are beautiful, durable additions to your home. They will not last as long as real hardwood floors, and cannot be continually refinished as hardwood can be, but the inexpensive cost and ease of installation means it can be readily replaced in a few years.

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