Free-Reprint Article Written by: Jason Ashby See Terms of Reprint Below.
***************************************************************** * * This email is being delivered directly to members of the group: * * ReprintArticles-Paradise@yahoogroups.com * ***************************************************************** We have moved our TERMS OF REPRINT to the end of the article. Be certain to read our TERMS OF REPRINT and honor our TERMS OF REPRINT when you use this article. Thank you. This article has been distributed by: http://Article-Distribution.com Helpful Link: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act - Overview http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- Article Title: ============== What is Laminate Flooring? Article Description: ==================== Laminate flooring mimics the look of traditional woods while offering easy installation and lasting durability. Additional Article Information: =============================== 615 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line Distribution Date and Time: Tue Feb 14 07:32:04 EST 2006 Written By: Jason Ashby Copyright: 2006 Contact Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/d/a/what-is-laminate-flooring.shtml For more free-reprint articles by this Author, please visit: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/d/index.shtml#Jason_Ashby --------------------------------------------------------------------- What is Laminate Flooring? Copyright © 2006 Jason Ashby Laminate Flooring Info http://www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk Laminate flooring mimics the look of traditional woods while offering easy installation and lasting durability. At first glance, it can be difficult to spot the difference between hardwoods and laminate flooring. What appears to be a natural wood grain pattern is really a thin layer of decor paper (a photographic image) under a tough-as-nails protective film that is glued and pressed to a high-density backing board. Laminate Flooring comes in an array of wood effects as well as stone and ceramic effects. Laminate floorings main advantages are that it is easy to install, is very hardwearing and relatively inexpensive compared to real hardwood flooring. Laminate flooring is a floating floor, which means it does not fasten directly to the sub-floor. Instead the planks are clicked together. This enables the floor to be fitted fast and with no real mess. Laminate flooring has been around in Europe for around 15 years and has seen massive growth in the past few years. In 2004 over 750 million square meters of laminate flooring was sold worldwide this was an increase of 13% on the previous year. The biggest growth market is in the US with an impressive growth rate of 25%. What Is Laminate Flooring Made From? Laminate flooring is made up of four layers. The bottom layer is the stabilizing layer; this is what gives the laminate floor its stability. It is made up of moisture resistant resins. Above this there is the core layer; this is made up of high density fibreboard (H.D.F.). This is saturated in resins to make it extremely hard. Most manufactures also add a moisture resistant resin to the core. This is important as it helps keep the flooring protected against moisture penetrating the boards. On top of the core layer is added a high strength paper along with the decorative paper. It is this decorative paper which gives the laminate flooring its individual appearance, ranging from highly authentic wood reproduction, ceramic or stone designs. The top wear layer is provided by the melamine resin, a highly wear resistant material that makes laminate flooring so hard wearing. This top layer is very similar to the top layer on counter or kitchen work tops but is usually around 40% stronger. This makes the laminate flooring highly resistant to scratches, burns, dent's, stains, etc. There are a lot of laminate flooring manufactures who have products in the market place, each saying theirs is the best. Our advice is to stay with the leading ones these are QUICK-STEP, ALLOC, PERGO, BRUCE, and KRONOTEX. Theses manufactories have been around a long time and offer quality products that you can trust. How Does Laminate Flooring Fit Together Most laminate floors today fit together with a click system with the most common being the UNICLIC system as used by Quick-Step. This is extremely easy and fast to fit. The ingenious UNICLIC- system has a special shape of tongue and groove. You simply place the tongue of one plank into the grove of another at an angle and press down. Their sophisticated and very accurate milled shape makes it possible to create a very tight connection during the installation. The floor can be walked on straight away. If you are laying laminate flooring over a concrete sub-floor then you will fist need to lay down a damp proof membrane (DPM). This is basically a sheet of plastic usually around 5mm which helps protect the Laminate from moisture. On top of this goes the foam underlay this acts as sound absorption and also helps even out minor irregularities in the sub-floor. Most manufactories now offer a combined DPM and underlay along with several underlay's that have better sound absorbing qualities. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Jason Ashby has over 20 years experience in the flooring trade. For more information visit "<a href=http://www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk>Laminate Flooring Info</a>": http://www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk --- END ARTICLE --- ..................................... TERMS OF REPRINT - Publication Rules (Last Updated: April 7, 2005) Our TERMS OF REPRINT are fully enforcable under the terms of: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.2281.ENR: ..................................... *** Digital Reprint Rights *** * If you publish this article in a website/forum/blog, You Must Set All URL's or Mailto Addresses in the body of the article AND in the Author's Resource Box as Hyperlinks (clickable links). * Links must remain in the form that we published them. Clean links should point to the Author's links without redirects having been inserted into the copy. * You are not allowed to Change or Delete any Words or Links in the Article or Resource Box. Paragraph breaks must be retained with articles. You can change where the paragraph breaks fall, but you cannot eliminate all paragraph breaks as some have chosen to do. * Email Distribution of this article Must be done through Opt-in Email Only. No Unsolicited Commercial Email. * You Are Allowed to format the layout of the article for proper display of the article in your website or in your ezine, so long as you can maintain the author's interests within the article. *** Author Notification *** We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Jason Ashby can be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** Print Publication Reprint Rights *** If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ..................................... If you need help converting this text article for proper hyperlinked placement in your webpage, please use this free tool: http://thephantomwriters.com/link-builder.pl ===================================================================== ABOUT THIS ARTICLE SUBMISSION http://thePhantomWriters.com is a paid article distribution service. thePhantomWriters.com and Article-Distribution.com are owned and operated by Bill Platt of Enid, Oklahoma USA. The content of this article is solely the property and opinion of its author, Jason Ashby http://www.ukflooringdirect.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX --------------------------------------------------------------------- THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE USING ARTICLES POSTED ON THE GROUP: 1. Print the article in its entirety. Don't make any changes in the article . 2. Print the resource box with all articles in their entirety. 3. Send the Author a copy of the reprinted article or the URL where the articles was posted. Anything short of following these three rules is a violation of the Authors Copyright. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ReprintArticles-Paradise/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
