The most floor for the budget.
A practical guide to laminate — what it actually is, the honest answer on whether it is waterproof, what drives the price, and how it compares to the alternatives. Written by the people who supply it.
Printed layer over an MDF or HDF core
Budget-led projects · Dry rooms
$ $2.50–$5.00 / sq ft
Wide colour range
Laminate is a printed floor over a wood-based core. A decorative layer — a photograph of wood — sits beneath a hard transparent wear layer, and the whole thing is bonded to a core of MDF or HDF.
It is the most cost-effective option we supply, it is easy to install, and it comes in a wide range of colours. For a budget-led project in a dry room, it is a genuinely sensible choice and we will say so.
There is one thing we will not tell you, though, and it is the thing the packaging usually does. MDF and HDF are not inherently waterproof, whatever a manufacturer's marketing claims.
Laminate gets dismissed more often than it deserves. In the right room it is a perfectly good floor, and pretending otherwise would not help you.
Here is the honest version, including the one condition that rules it out.
If the room is anywhere near water, tell us before anything else. It is the question that decides whether laminate belongs in the conversation at all.
Wide choice · Easy to install · Cost-effective
Laminate covers more floor for less money than anything else we supply. What it asks in return is that you keep it dry.
Choosing a floor isn't really one decision, it's several smaller ones. None of them are difficult once you know what they mean.
Laminate sits at the affordable end of what we supply, but the range within it is still wide, and thickness moves the number more than the pattern does.
One thing worth saying plainly. Laminate is the cheapest of the four on paper, and at the very bottom of the market it genuinely is — you can always buy cheaper. But that end is where laminate earned its reputation, and it isn't what we stock. Below a certain point the wear layer and the core simply stop lasting, which is why our laminate starts around the same place as our luxury vinyl.
It has also come a long way. Much of the stigma attached to laminate comes from how poor it used to be — a lot of what is made now is genuinely stunning, and at the top end it is hard to tell from real wood.
What we can do is show you what you are paying for, so the quote you eventually get makes sense.
Laminate is the most cost-effective floor we supply.
$2.50–$5.00 / sq ft
Relative material costMaterial only, before installation. At that level you get a good wear layer (AC5), a water-resistant HDF core and a wider plank. Cheaper laminate exists, and you get what you pay for.
This is what we quote: the flooring itself, priced per square foot against your specification. Registered trade clients receive trade pricing on the same products.
Quoted separately, by your installer. We're primarily a supply business — we let installers do their thing so you can choose someone you know and trust. If you need a recommendation in Ontario, get in touch and we may be able to help.
Three comparisons cover most of the decision. If one of the right-hand columns describes your project better than the left, that is the direction worth exploring.
When budget leads and the room stays dry. It is the most cost-effective option we supply.
Whenever water is a real risk. Vinyl is genuinely waterproof; laminate is not, whatever the packaging claims.
When upfront cost is what matters and you want a wide choice of colours.
When you want genuine wood, and a floor that is renewed by refinishing rather than replaced.
For the lowest material cost and the quickest installation.
When you want a real wood surface that still copes with our seasonal humidity.
A fuller side-by-side of all four materials lives in our flooring features checklist.
Aaron
President
If you are buying floors to enjoy them, look for quality — you can get a whole lot more quality by adding $0.50–$1.00 over the cheap laminate options.
The wear layer is super important, and I would not recommend anything under an AC4. The thickness of the floor matters as well, so try and stay in the 12mm range for durability, comfort and quiet. Better laminate has a "waterproof" claim, but note that this really means water resistant for a period — typically 72 hours submerged, or 300 hours of ponding (water sitting on top).
Good quality laminate flooring can be stunningly beautiful and almost indistinguishable from real wood, but it will cost on the higher end of the price spectrum, which is still below most engineered hardwoods. Also, if you get an AC5 or AC6 wear layer, laminate can withstand normal use and abuse for years without fail.
Good laminate photographs exactly like wood, which is the whole problem. A picture cannot show you the wear layer. It cannot tell you how a 12mm board feels and sounds underfoot against an 8mm one. It cannot show you whether the embossing follows the grain or simply repeats every few boards.
Those are the things that separate laminate worth laying from the laminate that gave it its reputation — and every one of them is settled by holding the board, not by looking at a photograph of a finished room.
So we would rather put one in your hands.
Tell us the look you are after and roughly what the room is, and we will get samples out to you. Email info@TradeFlooring.ca and we will take it from there.
Email us for samplesFinished work in other materials is in the project gallery.
No — not truly. Laminate is made from MDF or HDF, which absorbs water over time. "Waterproof" claims typically mean it can handle surface moisture for 48–72 hours before damage. If waterproofing is a priority, luxury vinyl is the better choice.
No. Neither laminate nor vinyl can be refinished. When the wear layer goes, the floor is replaced rather than renewed.
We would generally recommend luxury vinyl below grade instead. Basements carry moisture, and the MDF or HDF core in laminate absorbs water over time.
Both are printed floors. The difference is the core: vinyl does not absorb water and is fully waterproof, while laminate uses a wood-based MDF or HDF core that does. Vinyl generally costs more.
Yes, and it is usually where the money is best spent. Thicker material means better underfoot comfort, noise reduction and durability.
Budget roughly $2.50–$5.00 per square foot for laminate worth laying — at that level you get a good wear layer, a water-resistant HDF core and a wider plank. Cheaper laminate exists, and you get what you pay for. Material and installation are costed separately.
Usually not, by choice. We're primarily a supply business, so you can use an installer you know and trust. If you need a recommendation in Ontario, get in touch and we may be able to help.
Tell us what you're working on and we'll help you find the right material — laminate or otherwise.
Talk to Trade Flooring