Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Best Wear Layer

What is a better wear layer, Melamine or Aluminum Oxide?

Joanie

I just noticed that no one has answered this. Sorry. I don't know what the others excuses are, but I had clams to dig. I suppose the answer lies in whether you want laminate or hardwood. Melamine is normally a surface laminates are made of and Aluminum Oxide is associated with hardwood finish. Both wear well and both come in the good, better, best ranges. Melamine on floors is normally a replace it when it wears out thing and Aluminum oxide can be sanded off and the floor refinished.

You are so kind to answer my post. Actually, I wanted to delete it as I found the answer that I was looking for but didn't know how to do it if I even could. It turns out that the manufactures that I called didn't know beans of what they are selling. When I first called the girl told me that the wear layer was melanine. I looked it up online and the site said it was aluminum oxide. I called back and another person told me that it it was indeed aluminum oxide with some melanine in there too.

In the end, I ended up getting a different laminate anyway.

Joanie

So did you actually get laminate or did you get engineered wood? The two are not the same but engineered wood is often erroneously called laminate.

Most laminates also have a coating of aluminum oxide over the melanine

I got laminate at Sam's Club. It is made by Uniboard. I did a lot of research and this stuff is pretty good. I think it is competitive with all the others at half the price. That was all I could afford so I went with it.

We had such a hard time of it at first. We just couldn't do it. We followed all the videos and felt so stupid that others can do it and we can't. I am not one to give up, so I just kept trying. I decided to put a row together at a time and then connect that to the previous row. It worked out great. It went fast after that. We only got half the room done because the now have to move all the furniture over to the other side of the room.

Now, I have to figure out how we are going to do the hallway that way. There are 3 of us putting the rows together. I can't see how we can do that in a long hallway.

Joanie

I can't see how we can do that in a long hallway.

Joanie






Your not!!! How do you plan on getting it under the doorjambs and casing trim, you undercut so it will slide under it?

We haven't gotten to the point of door jambs yet. That is what is worring me. I have watched videos and they do say to cut under the jambs. I guess that is what we will have to do. They also say to take off the tongue and groove and to glue the hard to fit pieces.

Joanie

And they're correct. Following the directions is a good thing.