Elevating Your Home with Luxury Laminate Flooring: What Are the Top Trends and Benefits?

Elevating Your Home with Luxury Laminate Flooring: What Are the Top Trends and Benefits?

Luxury laminate flooring is becoming a top choice for homeowners looking for a perfect blend of style, durability, and cost-effectiveness. With advances in flooring technology, luxury laminate now offers a wide range of options that can elevate any home's aesthetic.

CALI offers three luxury laminate flooring collections, all of which are NALFA certified, extra scratch-resistant, and fully waterproof.

• Pacifica – This realistic wood-look luxury laminate plank flooring captures the colors and textures of genuine wood and measures 47-13/16” long by 7-11/16” wide.
• Mavericks – A super-sized luxury laminate wood-look plank that offers expanded dimensions to make rooms feel more open and spacious. Planks measure 86-5/8” long by 9-7/16” wide.
• Shorebreak – Elegant stone-look tiles bring the beauty of marble, slate, and travertine to homes in flooring tiles that measure 23-17/32” long by 11-17/32” wide

Let’s dive deeper into the nuances of luxury laminate flooring, including its trends, benefits, and how it compares to other popular flooring options.

What is the Difference Between Laminate and Luxury Laminate?

Today’s modern laminate flooring is loved for its durability and versatility, but luxury laminate takes these attributes to a new level. Here’s how luxury laminate flooring stands apart:

• More Realistic Designs: Luxury laminate flooring offers superior design options that mimic high-end materials like natural wood and stone with incredible accuracy and detail. These floors go so far as to replicate the actual textures of wood and stone.
• Superior Construction: Featuring a thicker, more robust construction, luxury laminate planks provide enhanced stability and a better acoustic profile, reducing flooring noise when you walk on it.
• Advanced Wear Layers: These laminate floors come with highly advanced wear layers that resist scratches and stains better than standard laminate, making them ideal for busy households.

What is High-End Laminate?

High-end laminate flooring represents the pinnacle of laminate product lines, offering exceptional quality and design per square foot:

• Innovative Textures: Employing the latest in photographic and embossing technology, high-end laminates offer textures that are rich, realistic, and pleasing to touch.
• Exclusive Designs: From rare wood species to elegant stone looks, high-end laminates often feature flooring designs that are unique to the brand. This is the case with CALI’s distinct wood laminate textures and the marble looks of the Shorebreak collection.
• Enhanced Durability: These laminate products are built to withstand the rigors of heavy domestic or moderate commercial traffic, ensuring longevity and long-lasting good looks.

What is Better: Luxury Vinyl or Laminate?

Choosing between luxury vinyl and laminate flooring often comes down to the specific needs of your space:

• Water Resistance: Luxury vinyl has traditionally had an edge in environments exposed to moisture and humidity, making it ideal for bathrooms and basements. However, high-end luxury laminates will often offer the same level of water resistance. Just be sure to check with the manufacturer. (CALI’s laminate floors are waterproof!)
• Cost-Effectiveness: Both luxury vinyl and laminate offera more affordable entry point than other flooring options like hardwood with a similar aesthetic. This makes both options a smart choice for large areas or entire homes.

Long story short, as long as you opt for a quality product, both luxury laminate and luxury vinyl will offer style and durability at a great value. It really comes down to your design preferences and the look you want in your home!

The Added Safety of High-Quality Luxury Laminate Flooring

When choosing the perfect flooring for your home, safety is obviously a top priority. Modern luxury laminate flooring offers numerous benefits, especially when it comes to the health and well-being of your family and pets.

FloorScore Certification: Ensuring Safe Indoor Air Quality

One of the standout features of CALI’s luxury laminate flooring is its adherence to stringent safety standards, such as FloorScore certification. This flooring certification ensures that the flooring meets rigorous indoor air quality requirements, making every square foot a safe choice for your home.

• Reduces Concerns About Flooring Off-Gassing: Off-gassing refers to the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air, which can be harmful to breathe. Low-quality laminate flooring can emit these harmful chemicals, compromising indoor air quality and potentially causing health issues.
• FloorScore Certified Laminate Flooring: With FloorScore certified laminate flooring, you can rest assured that your flooring meets high safety standards, limiting VOC emissions and protecting your family's health.

Durability and Easy Maintenance of Laminate Flooring

Luxury laminate flooring is designed with durability and ease of maintenance in mind. Its robust construction makes it resistant to scratches, stains, and moisture, which is especially beneficial in households with children and pets.

• Scratch and Stain Resistant: The durable surface of laminate flooring ensures it can withstand the rigors of daily life, including the antics of pets and children.
• Moisture Resistance: Spills and accidents are less of a hassle, as laminate flooring is easy to clean and maintain, ensuring a safe and hygienic environment.

Is Laminate or Luxury Vinyl More Scratch Resistant?

Durability considerations are crucial in choosing the right flooring:

• Luxury Vinyl: Typically includes a protective wear layer that shields against scratches and dents, making it suitable for homes with pets or commercial spaces. CALI Vinyl flooring features a premium wear layer that is 20mil thick.
• Luxury Laminate: Recent advancements have significantly improved laminate’s resistance to scratches, making high-quality laminate floors just as durable as luxury vinyl options. CALI Laminate floors boast an AC4 scratch resistance rating.
  

Can You Put Heavy Furniture on Laminate Flooring?

Laminate flooring can support heavy furniture, but taking precautions can extend the life of your flooring:

• Use Protective Pads: Heavy furniture should have felt pads or coasters under legs to prevent pressure marks.
• Avoid Sliding Furniture: Always lift rather than drag furniture to rearrange your space to avoid scratching the flooring surface.
• Floating Precautions: When floating a laminate floor (meaning clicking planks together without securing them to the subfloor)you’ll want to ensure no planks are glued down, allowing for any tiny movement to occur without damaging the whole floor. See all CALI flooring installation guides here.

What Makes Luxury Laminate Flooring Stand Out?

The distinctive features of a luxury laminate floor include:

• Cost-Effective Luxury: Luxury laminate provides the look and feel of natural materials at a fraction of the cost of hardwood or stone flooring.
• Easy Maintenance: Unlike real wood or stone, luxury laminate is easy to clean and doesn't require special treatments or polishes.
• Quick Installation: Whereas hardwood and stone often require complicated installations that are typically best left to professional contractors, a luxury laminate floor is much easier and faster to install. This means your home sees less disruption and your wallet sees significant savings!

Deciding Between Luxury Vinyl Flooring and Laminate: Which One is Right for Your Home?

In the great flooring debate between luxury vinyl flooring vs laminate, consider the following:

• Lifestyle Compatibility: Evaluate the typical activity level in your home – do you have young children, pets, or lots of foot traffic? If your home sees a little extra action, ensure your flooring choice aligns with these demands.
• Aesthetic Preferences: Both luxury vinyl and laminate offer a wide range of styles and looks, but the final decision might hinge on which material best fits your visual aspirations for your home.

Why Choose Luxury Laminate Plank Flooring?

Luxury laminate plank flooring is favored for several reasons:

• Installation Ease: Many luxury laminate products feature click-lock designs that make DIY installation straightforward, reducing the cost and time involved.
• Environmental Considerations: Luxury laminate is often made from sustainable materials, appealing to eco-conscious homeowners.

Current Trends in Luxury Laminate Flooring

• Eco-Friendly Materials: There’s a growing trend towards using recyclable and low-VOC materials in laminate production, making it a responsible choice for environmentally aware consumers.
• Wide Planks: Larger plank sizes are popular for their modern look and ability to make spaces appear larger. Check out the extra-large planks on CALI’s Mavericks luxury laminate collection.
• Authentic Textures: Wood-look luxury laminates with deep embossing and hand-scraped textures are in vogue, offering a realistic (but cost-effective!) alternative to hardwood floors.

Luxury laminate flooring is not just a practical decision; it's a lifestyle choice that brings a level of sophistication and warmth to your home. Whether you opt for the rich textures of high-end wood-look laminate or the modern elegance of stone-look laminate tiles, you’re making an investment in comfort and style. Remember to consider all factors – from foot traffic to moisture exposure to aesthetic preference – before making your final decision. This way, you ensure your new flooring not only looks great but also meets the demands of your daily life.