Laminate flooring has been very popular in Europe for quite some time. Now it is emerging in the United States as one of the most popularly used wood coverings for floors. The cause for its popularity can be attributed to the fact that it provides the hardwood look. Though it looks grand, hardwood flooring is expensive too. So, people often settle for laminate floors to get that effect at a lower price.

Moreover, laminate flooring is very durable. It can be suitably used in a variety of places - from a simple home bedroom to a showroom of automobiles. Laminate floors can be made upon just about any flat surface - be it plywood or concrete slab or hardwood flooring or sheet vinyl flooring.

Laminate floors are constructed of different layers. From the top downward as constructed, these layers are: the wear layer, the pattern or image layer, medium/high density fiber board (a processed wood core), and the balancing layer with a moisture barrier.

It may be noted that laminate is also widely used in kitchen work surfaces. However, the difference between laminate on floors and laminate on kitchen work surfaces lies in the capacity to take stress of people walking on them everyday.

A wide range of colors and patterns are available for laminate floors. The quality of these floors is also improving day by day. Laminate floors have become close imitations of real wood floors.

The dense laminate floors are not difficult to clean. They require the simplest maintenance - dust sweeping or vacuum cleaning or maybe light mopping is required. Even with minimum effort the floors look good for many, many years. A 10- to 25-year residential warranty is also often provided against staining, wearing and fading.