Commercial laminate flooring – know the unknown

Laminate flooring is known to give a neat professional look and hence it’s found to be a favorite among the commercial buildings be it restaurants, auditoriums, hotels, etc. It’s specially found preference here owing to the low maintenance, low cost and neat look of the commercial laminate flooring. Apart from these, the modern techniques add up additional features improving the durability of the laminates for commercial applications.

Before opting for commercial laminate flooring one needs to understand the different industrial standards for such flooring option.

The laminates

The laminates of the commercial laminate flooring is a synthetic flooring concept where different layers are fused together. The laminates here simulate the feel of wood. Typically each laminate has four layers. Generally the layers include a protective transparent top, a synthetic infused fiber simulating the wood, the core which is usually made of recycling materials and the balance which comes in contact with the actual floor itself.

Durability

The commercial laminate flooring is graded using an industrial standard grading system called the AC rating. The AC rating stands for Abrasion Class which is directly related to the durability of the laminate. The laminates are graded considering different factors for their AC rating. The major points affecting the grading of the laminates include, stain resistance, impact, insulation and reaction to heat, moisture, scratch resistance and scuffs.

Based on these six factors the laminates are graded from AC1 (lowest) to AC5 (highest). AC1, AC2, AC3 are primarily more towards residential applications which have from light to heavy traffic. AC3 is sometimes are preferred for commercial applications with light traffic. AC4 and AC5 are specifically designed for commercial buildings with moderate to high traffic. These could include buildings like public offices, auditoriums, etc.

Variations

The fact that the laminates are multi-layered is an advantage here. The top layer is the transparent protective layer, which means the second layer is the most important one in terms of expressing oneself and designing it accordingly. This gives the commercial laminate flooring the variation in terms of designs and patterns. This could vary from a simple replica of wood to complex designs that could be printed on them.

Maintenance

An important point to note when opting for commercial laminate flooring for commercial building is the maintenance work. The laminates work great here, as the top protective layer makes sure that the maintenance, in terms of cleaning the dirt off the laminates is as low as possible. The dirt just sits on top and all one needs to do is wipe it off or vacuum it. Probably one of the best feature about the laminate is its protective layer on the top which does not get influenced by the heat from the sunlight and hence is a great addition the outdoors too. Although care must be taken here, as that layer is the only protective layer on top and damaging that could lead to further damages to the ply itself and there is no work around there, except to replace the floor.