Laminate Flooring - Advantages & Disadvantages in Charlotte Homes

Is Laminate Flooring Right For Your Home?

Advantages & Disadvantages of Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring is a multi-layer flooring product which uses fiber board materials and adhesive resin compressed together for the core of the product, and a laminated face either made of wood, or resembles the look of wood, tile, or other common flooring products.  Over the past few decades, laminate flooring has risen in popularity with homeowners for a number of reasons. Laminate flooring is often less expensive then other popular flooring products, cost less to install, and easy to maintain.  Although, like with any flooring product, laminate flooring does have some disadvantages as well.  What we intend to explain in this blog post, is the advantages and disadvantages of laminate flooring, and to help educate the homeowner to make the decision on whether laminate flooring if right for your home or not.

As with any home improvement project, cost is often a big factor for homeowners, when making a decision on what to buy.  While a homeowner may want hardwood floors, it simply may not be within their budget.  Laminate flooring is a great cost effective option for homeowners, to get the look of hardwood flooring, at half the cost.  With hundreds of styles and options of laminate flooring, homeowners can generally find a laminate flooring product that resembles the hardwood flooring product's look they are going for.  There are laminate flooring products that resemble nearly every species of wood, board size, and pattern of hardwood products.  Laminate flooring products vary in pricing from as low as $.50/square foot, all the way up to $4 or $5 per square foot.  Higher priced laminate products generally offer a longer warranty then the lower priced products, however their are a variety of options for homeowners in any price range.

Ease of installation is another advantage laminate flooring provides to homeowners.  While a more experienced DIY'er could do a laminate floor installation, eliminating installation cost all together, the ease of which the product is to install leads to lower installation cost, even when having a professional installer do the work.  Laminate flooring generally comes in 4 foot by 12 inch pieces, meaning more square footage can be installed on each board piece.  Sometimes laminate flooring is referred to as a "floating floor" because it requires no nailing, which also helps to lower installation cost as well.  Underlayment materials for laminate flooring also take less time to install then other flooring products as well. Also in addition to easier installation, laminate flooring can be installed on just about any surface.  While many homes in the Charlotte, NC area are built on concrete slabs, laminate flooring can be installed right over a vapor barrier, versus using expensive adhesive to put down an engineered hardwood floor.

While cost is the major driving factor for many homeowners when choosing laminate flooring over other flooring products, a lot of homeowners will choose a laminate flooring product over other flooring options because of the low maintenance.  Laminate flooring can be vacuumed, broom sweeped, or dust moped, which takes a lot less time to do then moping and waxing like you would have to do with other flooring products.  Many homeowners with pets often choose laminate flooring as it is easier to get up the pet hair off a laminate flooring surface versus other flooring products.

With all the advantages of laminate flooring it is hard to find why a homeowner would not choose a laminate flooring product for their home.  However, as with any flooring product, laminate flooring has some disadvantages as well.  One of the major disadvantages of laminate flooring is its water resistant abilities.  While some of the higher end laminate products hold up better to water exposure, many laminate flooring products don't hold up well if exposed to water for long periods of time.  Another disadvantage of laminate flooring versus other flooring products like hardwood, is product warranties and lifespan of the product.  While the higher end products can offer 25 year warranties, many of the more affordable options will only cover 10 years.  Also laminate flooring can not be refinished like traditional hardwoods.

Overall, laminate flooring is a great flooring product, that will provide the homeowner with a great look and quality flooring product at an affordable price.  As you can see the advantages of laminate flooring outweigh the disadvantages, however the final choice of what flooring product to use rest in the hands of the homeowner.  We hope that we have educated the homeowner on laminate flooring products and will help the homeowner make a better educated decision when choosing their next flooring product.  For more information on laminate flooring, visit some of these websites of the leading laminate flooring manufacturers.

Mohawk Flooring - http://www.mohawkflooring.com/flooring-products/laminate/default.aspx
Shaw Flooring - http://shawfloors.com/laminate-flooring
Pergo Flooring - http://na.pergo.com/
Bruce Flooring - http://www.bruce.com/flooring/laminate
Armstrong Flooring - http://www.armstrong.com/flooring/laminate.html

You can also find a lot of useful information on laminate flooring at these leading home improvement suppliers websites as well:

Lowe's Home Improvement - http://www.lowes.com
Home Depot - http://www.homedepot.com

While we do not work for or recommend one product or store over another, we do want to provide easy access to the information available on laminate flooring products.  We do not endorse one brand over the other.  If you are a homeowner in the Salisbury NC or Charlotte NC areas looking to have a professionally installed laminate flooring, contact us through any of the methods listed below.  Thanks for reading and please comment for more topics for our blog.

Authored by:


MB Construction Company
224 Prescott Drive
Salisbury, NC 28144
Phone: 704-267-7763
Website: http://www.mbconstructioncompany.com

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Popular Summertime Home Improvement - Deck Construction and Deck Repairs

Deck Construction Is A Popular Summertime Home Improvement Project

The Advantages of Building a Deck or Repairing an Existing Deck Structure.

One of the most popular home improvement projects in the summer for homeowners in the Charlotte, NC area is constructing a new deck.  With the great spring & summertime weather, mild falls & winters, installing a new deck can add a lot of value for a homeowner in the North Carolina area.  Having a new deck built also can turn a boring patio slab into one of the more attractive features of your home.  The are a lot of reasons why to build a new deck, and what we intend on highlighting in this blog post, is a variety of advantages that a new deck can offer.

First, lets start with the added space of outdoor living area.  Decks vary in size and lengths, but no matter how big of a deck you decide to build, it gives your home a lot more area to enjoy the outdoors right at your home. From having cookouts, to sunbathing, to just having drinks with guest in the evening, having a deck offers another area to enjoy the outdoor space on your property. Being able to have a nice, clean area to enjoy the outdoors on a nice day, is always an added benefit of having a deck.  More often then not, this is one of the most popular reasons why a homeowner will build a new deck on their home.

Another advantage of having a new deck on your home is that it can be a great selling point when it comes time to sell your home.  Especially in many of the tract home neighborhoods in Charlotte and other cities, where a lot of the homes look the same, a new deck can help differentiate your home from other in the neighborhood.  A lot of new buyers will take this into consideration when making a choice to buy a home, and having a deck already installed on your home, can factor in to a new buyers thought process when making their final decision.  Also, the many deck design options available online and in home improvement magazines can help homeowners find a unique and attractive deck design that will wow guest and potential buyers at the beauty of your deck, offering a homeowner another design option, that can differentiate your home from others in the neighborhood.

One of the major factors that might dissuade a homeowner from building a new deck, is the added maintenance it may add to your home.  Often times homeowners will think about what it will take to keep their deck looking nice, and the cost and time associated with it.  However, after building decks and other exterior structures for years, decking products have come a long way, with many new products offering little to no maintenance at all.  From stains and paints, to new composite decking products, depending on your budget, you can build a new deck that offers little to minimum maintenance.  Even with traditional pressure treated lumber, simply sealing the lumber and keeping the deck clean from leaves and other debris, is often all the maintenance a homeowner will have to do to keep their deck looking nice for years.  The new technology developed in fastening materials, such as screws and nails, have also made many improvements in design, that reduce and eliminate one of the most common deck maintenance needs, that being nail pops. Even if repairs are needed, they are often easier and more affordable to make, as decks generally do not have to have drywall and other wall covering materials removed before any structural repairs can be made, making deck maintenance easy for the home improvement contractor.

All in all, their are many more advantages then disadvantages to building a new deck on your home. With having a nice space to enjoy the outdoors, adding new design enhancements to your home, to the easier to maintain decking products, there are many reasons why now is the time to install a new deck or replace an existing deck on your home.  If your looking to have repairs on your existing deck structure, or looking to construct a new deck in the Charlotte NC and surrounding areas, then give MB Construction Company of Salisbury NC a call today for a free estimate.  We hope this blog post has been informative, and please leave comments for ideas for additional home improvement topics for our blog.

MB Construction Company
224 Prescott Drive
Salisbury, NC 28144
Phone: 704-267-7763
Website: http://www.mbconstructioncompany.com

Home Improvement Services | Kitchen and Bath Remodelling | Flooring Installers | Tile Installers | Handyman Services | Rental Home Maintenance | Painting Services | Home Repairs | Porcelain Tile Installers | Mosaic Tile Back Splash Installers | Deck Construction & Deck Repairs | Charlotte NC | Concord NC | Salisbury NC | Kannapolis NC | Mooresville NC | Rowan County NC | Mecklenburg County NC | Cabarrus County NC | Iredell County NC | Home Improvement Blogger |