Flooring Guide Your Dubai Home: Wood versus Laminate

June 12, 2019

Choosing a new floor for your home can be a challenging process, especially with so many diverse flooring options on the market. Many homeowners find themselves choosing between engineered wood flooring and laminate flooring, but not truly able to understand how they differ from each other and question the oftentimes significant price difference between the two.

Essentially, the most basic difference between an engineered wood floor and a laminate floor is that one is made from a natural material – wood – while the other is made from a synthetic material with a printed image simulating wood. They both have a multi-layer construction for stability and durability, but look and feel completely different from each other. 

A wooden floor is hygroscopic, which means it is living and moving. As a room’s humidity changes, the floor swells, shrinks and moves. You might not think about it very often, but the humidity in your home varies a lot depending on the season. These fluctuations create extensive natural changes. If you’ve ever had a wooden chair that’s started to creak, it’s probably because of humidity changes.

These changes are what cause gaps to occur in solid wood flooring. The purpose of a lamella construction is to counteract wood’s natural movement. By gluing different layers crossways, they never move in the same direction. Thanks to their construction, lamella floors are up to 75% more stable than solid wood floors. Kährs Engineered hardwood flooring uses multiple layers of wood, with the bottom and middle layers consisting of cross-laid solid lamella wood from fast-growing pine or spruce. The top layer is made of sustainably-sourced hardwood such as oak, ash, walnut or maple and comes is many natural and stained hues and textures. All Kährs wood floors are pre-finished in Kährs factories, meaning they are ready for immediate use, with no treatment required upon installation.

Laminate floors, on the other hand, are a synthetic flooring product, designed to imitate the appearance of real wood. The core layers are made of melamine resin and fibre board material and the top layer has a printed image of wood (texture). While the laminate flooring mimics the colour and appearance of engineered wood flooring, they are essentially an artificial product that cannot replicate the unique properties of natural wood.

A natural wood floor keeps your feet warm on a cold day and cool on a hot day. Wood’s cellular structure creates thousands of tiny air pockets per cubic centimetre. This makes wood an effective material for insulation, more so than tile or laminate, for instance. 

Aesthetics and durability

Natural wood is characterised by its texture variations and grain densities. Just like a human fingerprint, no two wood planks of a natural wood floor will ever appear the same. Due to the pre-designed patterns printed on their top applique layer, laminate floors have identical patterns repeating, on average every 5 planks, depending on the quality.

When it comes to durability, laminate floors withstand daily challenges very well. As most laminate floors are manufactured through the bonding of aluminium oxides with melamine resins under extreme heat and pressure, they can withstand dents, fades and moisture damage.

On the other hand, while wood floorings are more prone to damage, they can also be easily cleaned, refinished and renewed without having to do major repair works, unlike laminates which will need to be replaced if damaged. Wood floors also age gracefully over time, gaining a beautiful patina.

Environment-Friendly

Engineered wood floors are manufactured from natural wood. Engineered wood flooring from Kährs is made using only sustainably-sourced, certified and traceable wood from reliable timber suppliers, primarily in Sweden. Kährs’ innovations have radically transformed the global wood flooring industry and contributed towards sustainable development and they are always trying to find ways to make their production process more environmentally friendly. 

Over the years, Kährs has come up with many innovations as part of their eco-friendly production model. They always look for ways to improve air quality, use less water and reduce noise pollution considerably during manufacture.

Laminate floors, on the other hand, are made of composite chemicals and synthetic materials that are oftentimes harmful to the environment and to your health. It is important to 

Lifespan

Unlike popular belief, laminate floors have a relatively short life-span when compared to wood flooring. And as laminate floors cannot be sanded or refinished, the only option is to replace them.

On the other hand, the engineered hardwood floors can easily have a lifespan of 40, 80 or sometimes even 100 years if maintained well. The engineered wood flooring from Kährs can be sanded and refinished up to 4 times, without losing its original quality.

Wood is the most environmentally friendly, most beautiful and versatile flooring material available. Wood gives warmth to the most minimalist interior, while enhancing the impression in a more traditional interior. And while trends come and go, quality and style are never out of fashion. That’s why a Kährs wood flooring will always feel just right. Kährs stands for quality, design, innovation, environment and sustainability. 

So don’t delay your decision. Choose your wood flooring from our wide range of Kährs wood collection. Make your home a better place to live!