OnFlooring | Floor Decor Made Easy

Laminate flooring is a huge category with hundreds of brands and manufacturers both import and domestic - so which is the best? Clearly, that is a subjective opinion, and we are entitled to ours.

We've determined that evaluating these six characteristics is a good framework to form an good opinion:

• Designs and Visual Realism
• Locking Mechanism
• Durability
• Brand Reputation
• Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing
• Green and Healthy

Designs and Visual Realism

Flooring provides a fundamental backdrop-a canvas for your taste and decorating style. Plus flooring is often the common denominator that unites and enhances all decorating elements in a room. The appearance of laminate flooring is often derived from a high definition photograph, usually of a hardwood floor. It needs to have features such as texture and 3-dimensional depth. The colors and designs should coordinate with major interior design trends and have a North American appeal. In a nutshell, the laminate floor needs to look as authentic as possible.

Locking Mechanism

This is the way in which the laminate flooring planks are attached to each other, ensuring a long lasting and tight fit. The joints when locked together should form a reasonable seal against water spills. The locking mechanism should have a proven track record over at least 10-years.

Durability

This one is not too difficult, since durability is a primary characteristic of most laminate floors. Laminate floors are extremely fade, stain, scratch and wear resistant. We look for brands that have a minimum of an AC3 durability rating and some sort of industry certification. Certification is important because it insures that the durability testing is done by a third party.

Brand Reputation

You'll be living with your laminate floor for many years. You will want the assurance of trusted brand with a strong warranty.

Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing

We all have to play our part in protecting our planet. We want laminate flooring manufacturers that are industry leaders in actively seeking innovative ways to recycle, reduce, reuse and renew.

Green and Healthy

The laminate flooring should be free of air damaging chemicals and should be certified to comply with formaldehyde emissions regulations.

...and the winner is

Mohawk laminate flooring. One of Mohawk laminate's most admired characteristics is the outstanding colors and designs which coordinate with major interior design trends and have a North American appeal. Gorgeous and realistic colors and designs will have you wondering if you are looking at real hardwood or not! Mohawk's ultra-realistic laminate floors are a result of unique manufacturing innovations:

• Embossing in-register is a powerful method to highlight the grain and texture that you see in real hardwood floors. The highlighting is is perfectly suited for Oak, Hickory, Chestnut and other species that are common in North American colors.
• Next, Mohawk's GenuEdge features the most realistic hardwood looks in laminate flooring. The remarkable visual effect is achieved through an innovative process that allows the paper to roll over the edges of the laminate plank, for a three dimensional effect on the edges. 

Mohawk is the parent company of Unilin, the inventor of the UNICLIC locking system. UNICLIC technology created a revolution in the flooring world in 1996.  UNICLIC was the first floor with a click system that was milled directly in the core material of the flooring planks. Since 1996, the Patented UNICLIC locking system has proven itself as arguably the easiest, least problematic and most trusted way to put together flooring without nails or glue. The Uniclic locking system enables you to engage the flooring panels via two methods - angling and snapping. This fact makes Uniclic one of the easiest locking mechanisms for do-it-yourself flooring installations.

Mohawk Laminate Flooring is designed to provide you with durability and easy upkeep while preserving a shining exterior. Mohawk's ScratchGuard™ Advanced Finish Protection keeps your floors looking newer for longer with unparalleled surface defense.

This new process increases resistance to abrasion by infusing aluminum crystals into the top layer of the laminate, not as a topical treatment, but as an actual part of the finish. Dulling and tiny scratches from everyday dust and dirt are significantly reduced as a result.

Mohawk's Comprehensive Lifetime Warranty for laminate flooring is backed by Mohawk Industries, one of the world’s largest floor covering manufacturers and distributors. Mohawk Industries’ 125 year history of excellence is a lasting part of the American floor covering industry. It is a story of innovative ideas and of hard working people who built a company in the 19th century that remains an industry leader today.

Environmentally conscious manufacturing is assured with Mohawk Laminate Flooring. Mohawk only uses renewable, fast-growing, sustainable southern pine in its US facilities to manufacture laminate cores. Plus Mohawk uses an average of 74% pre-consumer content in US made Mohawk laminate flooring, which means 680 million pounds of material are kept out of landfills each year.

Finally, Mohawk Laminate Flooring is NALFA certified. It complies with formaldehyde emissions regulations for laminate flooring core board set forth by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) sections 93120-93120.12, title 17, of the California Code of Regulations. Plus NALFA certified flooring has passed 10 rigorous performance tests that include everything from how well it resists water, light and stains to whether it can be damaged when a large object is dropped or a castor chair comes in contact with the floor. NALFA uses independent, third party testing laboratories to assure that NALFA certified laminate floors meet demanding performance standards.

Browse our Mohawk Laminate Floors