It may come as a shock to some and others (hint: flooring companies) would loudly disagree, but laminate hardwood floors don’t exist. Hardwood is hardwood and laminated floors are laminated floors, both have nothing in common. The only thing that you may vaguely call a laminate hardwood floor would be engineered hardwood. The latter is made of top thin real hardwood layer pressed onto multi-layer of plywood and other timber. Since laminate technologies and methods are used to combined and create the finished floor plank or tile, it is sometimes called laminated hardwood flooring.
It’s not to say that engineered hardwood floor is bad, not at all. The fact remains that solid hardwood floors are made with the sacrifice of massive forest regions and the recovery of these take decades. With the high temps of industrial development it means we’re overusing natural resources and destroying the balance. By using 90% less hardwood, the so called laminated hardwood floor is quite eco-friendly.
The the top layer maintains the qualities and properties of hardwood, although it cannot sustain the stress that a solid floor could. That’s why it’s more suited to private rooms with expected low level of foot traffic. People who don’t want to spend much, but desire to bring the traditional cosy rich color of wood floors to their home would also benefit.
The plywood planks that form the flooring core are set perpendicularly to each other and that ensures much higher stability to the construction. It also deals with humidity changes and moisture much better, therefore is suitable for homes that are exposed to big amplitudes in climate between seasons.
Laminated floors that have a hardwood finish and color are the better solution if you just want to have the looks but don’t want to deal with maintenance. Very easy to install and keep intact, laminate floors are safe from the troubles you may run with a wood and wood based floor. Things like moisture and waxing are non-existent when it comes to laminated floors thus making them ideal choice for people that are short of time or just want to avoid the burden of maintaining a hardwood floor.