Laminate gets a bad name from the 7 mm boards big-box stores pile by the door. Frankie stocks 12 mm, and the difference is the first step you take on it.
Two laminates can carry the same photo of oak on top and feel like completely different floors. Thickness is most of that gap.
A 12 mm board sits solid underfoot and stays quiet. Thin laminate flexes over every small dip in a subfloor, which is what makes a floor sound hollow and click as you cross it.
Laminate’s top layer is aluminium-oxide hard, which is why it beats real wood on pure scratch resistance. Chairs, claws and grit do far less to it than they do to a soft site finish.
Modern laminate is water resistant, not waterproof. It will take a spilled glass wiped up in a few minutes. It will not take a dishwasher letting go overnight. If the room floods, you want luxury vinyl.
Laminate earns its place when you want a wood look in a room that gets used hard, without paying wood money or babying a wood finish.
Laminate wins on scratch resistance and price. Hardwood wins on resale value and can be refinished. If the room takes a beating from kids and chairs, laminate usually makes more sense.
LVP is fully waterproof and softer underfoot. Laminate is harder on the surface and often reads more convincingly as wood at 12 mm. Bathrooms and basements go LVP; living rooms and bedrooms can go either way.
Different jobs. Carpet is warmth and quiet, laminate is easy cleaning and allergy-friendly. Plenty of houses use both, and that is a single visit for Frankie either way.
Pergo effectively invented the category. These are the mills whose locking systems actually hold.
You feel it immediately. Thicker board means less flex over the subfloor, a quieter step, and a locking edge with more material in it, so the seams stay tight for longer. It is the single spec Frankie will not cut.
Yes, and it is a common choice there. Wipe spills rather than leaving them, and keep an eye on the dishwasher and fridge lines. For a room that has actually flooded before, luxury vinyl is the safer call.
Yes, and some boards come with it attached. It quiets the floor, evens out small subfloor variation, and on concrete it also handles the moisture barrier.
Cheap laminate does, because the same photo repeats every few boards and the surface is flat. Better boards use more pattern variation and embossing that lines up with the grain. Worth seeing the sample in your own light before deciding.
Often yes, if the existing floor is flat, sound and dry. Frankie checks the subfloor at the estimate rather than guessing, because floating a floor over a bad base is how you get movement later.
Every material we carry, side by side, with the same straight talk.
Tell us the room and the floor you’re dreaming about, carpet, hardwood, laminate, or LVP, and we’ll bring the samples and a straight price.
Financing through Synchrony — 0% available for qualified buyers.
