New Technological Innovations Make for…Good-Lookin’ Laminates

To better appreciate why the current generation of laminate flooring looks so good, one needs to understand how the product is made today. Laminate flooring makes use of a printed decorative layer that is covered with an extraordinarily durable overlay (or wear layer) made with aluminum oxides.

The actual flooring pattern — be it a wood, stone or ceramic look — is printed on the decorative layer. These layers are placed on top of sheets of phenolic resin-treated kraft paper. (“Phenolic” refers to a plastic commonly known as Bakelite, and “kraft” is a German word meaning “strong.”) These layers and sheets are then adhered to a high-density fiberboard core that is baked with a backer designed to keep the board from warping.