Flooring

Laminate Flooring

Laminate is a wood-composite core topped with a photographic layer and a melamine wear surface. Modern products have moved a long way from the shiny, hollow-sounding planks of twenty years ago — the good ones are dense, quiet, and harder to scratch than almost anything else at the price.

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Fully Insured

General liability & workers' comp coverage

EPA Lead-Safe Certified

Certified firm for pre-1978 homes

Years in Business

A decade of Triad craftsmanship

Financing Available

Flexible plans on approved credit

Scope

What laminate installation includes

Existing floor removal, disposal, and subfloor cleaning
Acclimation of material in the installed room for 48 to 72 hours
Subfloor flattening and squeak correction before underlayment
Foam or cork underlayment selected for sound rating, plus vapor barrier on slab
Click-lock floating installation with staggered end joints
Consistent expansion gap at walls, cabinets, pipes and door jambs
Undercut door casings so planks slide beneath rather than being cut around
Transitions, stair treads where applicable, and shoe molding install

Our approach

Installation note: the expansion gap is not optional

Laminate is a floating floor and it moves seasonally. Every failed laminate job we've been called to repair had the same cause: planks installed tight to the wall, or shoe molding nailed down through the flooring instead of into the baseboard. Both pin the floor in place, and by the second humid summer it buckles. We hold a consistent gap at every vertical and fasten trim to the wall only.

1Confirm AC rating and underlayment against room traffic and sound needs
2Acclimate material on site, then demo and prep the subfloor
3Roll out underlayment and vapor barrier, seams taped
4Undercut casings, set the first row square, and lock the field
5Maintain expansion gaps, then install transitions and shoe molding

Why STRYDE

Why homeowners choose laminate

Best scratch resistance for the money

An AC4 laminate takes chair drags, grit tracked in from a gravel driveway, and furniture moves better than vinyl of similar cost. In a busy household where the floor's enemy is abrasion rather than water, it's the smarter buy.

It feels like a real floor

The dense fiberboard core doesn't flex the way thinner vinyl does over minor subfloor imperfections. Clients who've had both consistently describe laminate as more solid underfoot — that's the core density you're paying for.

Convincing texture at a modest price

Embossed-in-register laminate aligns the surface texture with the printed grain, so the wood look holds up when you're standing over it, not just from across the room. That effect costs meaningfully more in vinyl.

Questions

FAQs about this service

How is laminate different from LVP if they both look like wood?

The core. Laminate is high-density fiberboard — compressed wood — under a melamine wear surface. That gives it a harder, more solid feel underfoot and better scratch resistance than vinyl, but the core swells permanently if standing water reaches a seam. LVP trades that hardness for waterproofing. It's genuinely a trade, not an upgrade in one direction.

What does the AC rating on laminate mean?

AC is an abrasion-and-impact rating from AC1 to AC5. AC3 is the residential standard and fine for bedrooms and living rooms. We spec AC4 for hallways, entries and homes with large dogs, because it's rated for light commercial traffic and the price difference is small.

Bold design. Flawless craftsmanship. Built to last.

Compare laminate against LVP on your actual floor

We'll bring samples of both and tell you honestly which one your rooms call for.