Laminate Flooring Tips: Does Brand Name Matter?

Lately a number of people have been turning to laminate flooring as there choice of flooring for there home. We have had quite a few jobs recently were we have had to install this type of flooring. The first job we did turned out to be a headache. The customer had purchased the laminate at a local discount supply store. It was an off brand and therefore quit a bit cheaper than the name brand stuff (IE.Armstrong, Pergo, etc).

Being the first time we had ever laid this type of flooring. I bid the job at what I thought was a fair price since I had assumed, you now what they say about assuming, that it could not possibly be much harder to lay than wood flooring. Boy was I wrong! The locking mechanism on the planks, the ones they say are easy locking, were not at all easy. They took some finagling and a little tapping to get them in place and you had to be extra careful not to break the lock because when that happened the piece was ruined. Once we finished the job, I vowed to never work with the stuff again.

A few months later, we were asked to do another laminate job for one of our returning customers. I could not bring myself to turn them down so I took the job. Only this time I bid the job a little higher expecting the worst and learning from my mistake last time. This time the customer had purchased the name brand Armstrong laminate from Lowe's. We arrive on the job that day. We get out our hammers and tapping blocks and prepare ourselves for the long struggle ahead of us. We start to fit the second row of planks in to the first we just laid. I get down ready to start tapping when the planks just slide and snap right in with a little bump of the hand. Much easier than the first laminate we laid.

So, what I have learned from the several jobs since is that, how easy the laminate is to install depends greatly on the brand. Everyone is different but we tend to charge our customers a little more now to install the cheaper stuff than the brand name stuff. Just to make sure we don't have the same problem we had on the first job we did. If other contractors have figured this fact out it may not benefit someone to buy the cheaper laminate because the cost may be about the same once you add the labor.

Unless of course you are going to attempt to lay your laminate yourself, In that case it would be a good idea to also purchase the tapping tool they make for the laminate so you want damage the locks. Always remember to stagger the joints and lay out a few rows to visualize how the pattern will play out before you start cutting to minimize waste.