It is known that laminated panels are a convenient, practical, environmentally friendly floor covering, creating in the modern home an atmosphere of warmth, comfort, security. To determine the material that is best suited for the interior of your apartment, you need to consider the basic criteria for its selection.
Which laminate class is suitable for the apartment
The laminate floor wear resistance class is determined based on how much the material is exposed to external influences. There are several categories of floor covering. What class of laminate to choose for an apartment? For this you need to consider the following:
- Class 31 is used in rooms with small traffic( bedroom, office).
- Class 32 is suitable for finishing the nursery or living room.
- Class 33 is particularly durable, suitable for finishing commercial premises.
- Class 34 has an unlimited lifespan in living rooms, suitable for finishing public facilities.
How to choose a laminate for moisture resistance
The floor panels differ in the degree of water resistance. There are moisture resistant and ordinary types of laminate. Cloths of the second type are afraid of water, they can swell from excessive dampness. In rooms where conventional laminated panels are used, cleaning is recommended, allowing only a slight touch of the floor surface with water. The situation is different with a waterproof coating. It does not spoil even when spilling liquids onto the floor, it tolerates daily wet cleaning and is well suited for kitchen, hallway.
What should be the thickness of the laminate
There are five options for the thickness of the material. All of them are presented by any manufacturer. These are floor panels 6 mm, 7 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm or 12 mm thick. How to choose a laminate for an apartment? For this, it is necessary to take into account, on which floor is the living area. For the first, boards with a thickness of 10 mm are required, 8 mm for the upper ones. The strength and durability of the floor, its sound insulation and the temperature in the room depend on this characteristic of the web and the quality of the substrate used.
Does the size of the
laminate matter? The panels differ in size. Cloths of width 90 mm are considered narrow. The floor, paved with such material, resembles a parquet flooring. Laminated board width 330 mm is an imitation of ceramic tiles. The common transverse dimension of the blade is 185-195 mm. The floor, laid out with such material, resembles a high-quality wood coating, because the picture on it looks natural. The length of the boards is also not standardized. The longitudinal dimension of the web can reach 1845 mm. The most demanded is considered to be a board 1260-1380 mm long.
How to choose the right laminate for an apartment? To do this, when planning repair, consider the size of the living area. To cover the floor of a wide and long room, panels of the appropriate size are used, which simplifies and speeds up the installation of the coating. When stacking a material in a small room, chances are that you will need small dostochki.
Which laminate is better, with or without chamfer
It is known that the chamfer is the end face of the blade, cut at a certain angle. It can only be present on the long side of the board or go around the perimeter. There are two ways of making chamfers: rolling( punching the plate, which keeps the protective layer on the surface) and cutting the edge. The latter method requires additional treatment to maintain the moisture resistance and color of the fabric.
What is the best laminate for an apartment? The material with a facet is more expensive, thus has the following advantages:
- the floor of dark color laid out "under an oak", looks "not cheap" and it is natural, as though executed from natural expensive boards;
- chamfer partially takes on mechanical loads, prevents deformation of the plate;
- increase the tightness of the joints, increase moisture resistance;
- possibility not to level the floor when changing in height less than 4 mm for every 2 meters;
- a cover with a facet across the room can make the room wider, and bedding along - longer.
The choice of laminate for the apartment by the manufacturer
Before choosing a laminate for an apartment, it is worth exploring its famous brands. Panels from the domestic manufacturer have considerable success and are actively promoted in the foreign market. One of the leading plate manufacturers is Kronostar. Coverage of Class 31 and 32 from this manufacturer meets all international quality standards. No less popular in Russia is the company "RBC-XXI Century", which took as the basis the best world standards and offers its original design.
Among foreign manufacturers of floor covering, the German company Classen stands out, the plates of which, at a low price, are of excellent quality. In its price segment, the material from this company has the best technical characteristics. QuickStep plates are a popular top quality coating from the Swedish company Unilinflooring, which has a service life of 25 years. Widely known material of the brand Balterio from the Belgian concern Baltagroup. This floor covering was given a service life of 15 years.