Day: August 8, 2018

What Goes Under Laminate Flooring?

Understanding what goes under your laminate flooring can help improve the life of your flooring. Of course, this really never gets talked about because the flooring is what you look at, feel and admire. What isn’t talked about is underlayment. Underlayment helps moisture protection, sound absorption and compression support.

Do you really need underlayment for laminate flooring?

Yes, proper underlayment and subfloors allows minimal wear and improve stability of any flooring. Without underlayment, click and lock mechanism can fail over time and give your floor an unlevel floor.

How does laminate flooring underlay work?

Underlayment works by providing the following benefits:

1. Moisture Protection

Fiber underlayment works by absorbing moisture/water vapors from your subfloor. The open gutter of the outer perimeter of the underlayment evaporates the vapors. With the built-in vapor barrier (film facing up), the moisture will never touch the laminate.

2. Sound Absorption

Another benefit is the fiber underlayment provides a fuller sound when walking on. Also dampens the sound from impact or sound transmission noises from other rooms.

3. Improved Subfloor Minor Imperfections

While laying out the underlayment, it can cover the small imperfections your floor has and makes your floor look nice and even. If your subfloor is uneven, your flooring can potentially buckle or sound like “rice krispies popping” when walking on.

What are all the sizes of underlay for laminate flooring?

There is a lot of variations between sizes. Some come in 100 sq ft rolls – 3′ x 33.4′ or 360 sq ft – 6′ x 33.4′. Some other size can be 48″ x 25′ or 48″ x 150′.

Does price really make a difference with underlayment?

Yes, it does make a difference with underlayment.

Foam underlayments is like buying a bicycle. cfiber/felt underlayment is like buying a cadillac.

Foam underlayment is essentially trapped air in tiny bubbles. The issues is over time with high traffic areas, the air is released/popped and never returned to is original form.

Fiber/Felt underlayments however provide that compression rebound so your floor never looks/feels flat.

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    • Underlayment for Bamboo Flooring

    Have you recently bought some bamboo flooring and looking for the best underlayment? Did you know what lies underneath your bamboo plays an even more important role or equal to?

    Underlayment for bamboo can help you solve three hidden problems.

    1. Moisture Protection

    From talking to customers who had questions, bamboo flooring seems to be more prone to moisture. With QuietWalk Plus underlayment, it prohibits upto 5lbs of moisture per 24 hours. You can figure out the amount of pounds your subfloor is emitting by doing a calcium chloride test.

    Most flooring installers won’t do a test but they lay down a 6 mil vapor barrier on top of the subfloor and under the bamboo/underlayment. The vapor barrier provides complete protection of moisture.

    2. Sound Absorption

    Another benefit is the fiber underlayment provides a fuller sound when walking on. Also dampens the sound from impact or sound transmission noises.

    3. Improved Subfloor Minor Imperfections

    While laying out the underlayment, it can cover the small imperfections your floor has and makes your floor look nice and even. If your subfloor is uneven, your flooring can potentially buckle or sound like “rice krispies popping” when walking on.

    We offer QuietWalk Plus underlayment for bamboo flooring that provides all three benefits above. Not only that, but it is a recycled fiber that allows no VOCs.

    [dt_default_button link=”https://mpglobalproducts.com/flooring-underlayment/products/quietwalk-plus/?utm_source=online&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=underlayment_for_bamboo” button_alignment=”default” animation=”fadeIn” size=”medium” default_btn_bg_color=”” bg_hover_color=”” text_color=”” text_hover_color=”” icon=”fa fa-chevron-circle-right” icon_align=”right”]View QuietWalk Plus[/dt_default_button]

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