What is the difference between parquet and laminate

Repair in the house is not only financial costs, dirt, household chores, it is also the agony of choosing finishing materials. Especially a lot of controversy arises around the flooring. Indeed, on what to stop: on a laminate or parquet board? Each of these materials is very popular and good in its own way. So what should be preferred? Perhaps a closer acquaintance with each of them will help to make a choice.

More about parquet board

“The decorative layer of the product is always made of valuable wood”

There is an opinion that laminate flooring is the prerogative of the office. Some consider such a finish to be low-quality cheap stuff. This is fundamentally wrong, but still, if possible, preference should be given to a parquet board. This material, of natural origin, will bring special warmth and comfort to the house. It is able to warm even the coldest minimalist interior.

The parquet board is a prefabricated structure with three layers. The base is made from softwood veneer or durable plywood. The middle part is assembled from wooden planks laid along. They are also made from firs or pines. At this level, there are lock lamellas that allow quick assembly of the floors. The cross-layering of the parquet board adds strength to the product, makes it resistant to deformation, deflection, and other loads.

The decorative layer of the product is always made of valuable wood. However, he is responsible not only for the aesthetic beauty of the coating. In his charge is the durability and quality of flooring in general. The most popular texture is:

• oak;
• beech;
• birch;
• ash.

To preserve the charm of the natural wood pattern, do not open the parquet board with varnish. It is enough to treat it with wax-containing compounds or a specific oil. The latter option is more practical and profitable, as it requires updating every two to three years. But back to the design of the board. According to the design of the top layer, it can be:

• whole;
• two-lane;
• three-lane.

In the first case, the top layer of the board is a solid plank of wood, on which the pattern created by nature itself is perfectly visible. He can be anyone. There are uniform stripes, and variegated veins, and thick knotty. Variations depend on the cut.

In other cases, the decorative part is assembled from several lamellas, which can have different lengths, as a result of which the picture is unusual and unusual. But this feeling lasts only until the coating is laid. When you look at the finished floor, you get the feeling that natural parquet is laid, laid in a deck way. There is also such a pattern on the parquet board that imitates herringbone or wickerwork.

In general, the range of parquet boards is quite wide, so it will not be difficult to choose the right shade and an interesting pattern.

Advantages of a parquet board

1. Coating is an excellent noise absorber. The tree dampens the sound wave and does not allow external noise to penetrate into the house.

2. The parquet board is antistatic, which means that it will not attract dust.

3. The material is subject to restoration. Such floors can be repeatedly re-sanded. How many times depends on the thickness of the decorative layer. The main thing is not to do this work on your own. Here you need the hand of a master.

4. The aesthetics of the parquet board is beyond competition. Nature is the best creator and what comes out from under her brush is distinguished by its unique beauty.

5. Flooring in the interior looks expensive and stylish.

6. Last but not least, ease of installation and maintenance of floors.

7. The last argument is the length of the warranty period. The manufacturer gives it to his product for at least 10 years.

Cons of parquet board

1. There are few of them, but you can’t keep silent about them, since some points are quite serious.

2. First of all, the parquet board does not tolerate moisture, therefore, it is not used in the decoration of bathrooms, baths and pools.

3. Parquet varnish is less durable than laminate flooring, so it will wear out faster. This means that in houses where there are animals or it is customary to walk without taking off your shoes, its layer will often have to be restored.

4. For a long-term service, a parquet floor needs a stable indoor climate. It does not respond well to temperature changes and dampness. What does it say? Only that such flooring is not the best solution for country houses and other seasonal housing.

More about laminate

"The material is more resistant to abrasion and adverse effects than a parquet board"

It is necessary to begin to characterize this material from the fact that it is of artificial origin. This does not prevent the laminate from holding the palm in demand. It quite actively displaces the parquet board. The material is more resistant to abrasion and adverse effects than a parquet board. In its production there are no stages of impregnation, grinding, varnishing, which reduces the cost of production. Laminate unpretentious in care, which greatly facilitates the life of the hostesses.

The coating is multi-layered: it is made from polymer-bonded kraft paper or plastic and fiberboard boards.

The wood fiber layer allows the board to keep the geometric dimensions unchanged and actively resist adverse physical influences. The decorative layer imitating the pattern of the wood structure is covered with a protective film based on melamine resin. It is this protection that makes the laminate particularly durable.

To increase the moisture resistance of the material, its non-laminated edges are additionally impregnated with wax containing compounds.

Laminate differs not only in decorative features, but also in strength. There are grades for minor, medium and high loads. What type the product belongs to is indicated by the corresponding marking. Naturally, this also affects the cost of goods. What strength to lay a laminate directly depends on the level of patency of the room. If we consider the example of an apartment, then the lowest floor loads will be in the bedroom, the highest - in the kitchen.

Benefits of laminate flooring:

1. It does not accumulate dust.

2. Excellent resistance to impact and abrasion. Classes 31-33 have the highest strength. Such a laminate is intended for finishing office offices and industrial premises. When repairing residential spaces, you can limit yourself to classes 21-23. Their strength indicators will be quite enough for the load that they have to bear.

3. The laminate does not deform even with strong physical impact. It will withstand prolonged compression.

4. The coating is not afraid of the sun's rays.Its decorative layer does not fade, is heat-resistant, does not react with household chemicals.

5. Good thermal conductivity makes laminate a priority finishing material when arranging a warm floor.

6. A wide range of patterns, shades and textures allows you to choose the perfect option for flooring in the interior of any stylistic decision.

7. Warranty period is at least 5 years.

What is alarming about the laminate:

1. With all the efforts of the manufacturer to make the coating as moisture resistant as possible, it is impossible to lay it in rooms with too high humidity.

2. Laminate has poor sound absorption, so the coating requires the use of a soundproof underlay.

3. The most unpleasant moment is the impossibility of repair. If the board is damaged, then it will be impossible to repair it. The element will need to be replaced.

4. With all the aesthetics of the decorative layer of the laminate, the artificiality of its origin will not escape the eye.

Myths about laminate and parquet board

Which of the existing opinions about the quality of these materials is true, and which is a delusion? Let's try to figure it out. So what are people talking about?

1. Laminate is a synthetic material, which means it is dangerous. It's not like that at all. In terms of its environmental friendliness, a high-quality laminate is in no way inferior to a parquet board, as evidenced by its belonging to the E1 class according to this indicator. Believe it or not, parquet flooring can be much more harmful to your health if unscrupulous builders use toxic glue to assemble it and open it up with cheap and low-quality varnish.

2. Laminate, unlike the parquet floor, is booming. This is also a myth. The thickness of the coating will depend on the quality of the substrate used and the initial evenness of the finished surface. If you put a parquet board on a cheap PVC substrate on an uneven floor, and a laminate on a cork and on the ideal smoothness of the surface, then the first steps will create acoustics. Whether the floor will resemble a drum depends on how tightly it can be pressed to the surface. The only way to avoid the problem is to glue the board to the base. The event is expensive and calls into question the point of acquiring a finish that provides for a lock in general.

3. The parquet board is subject to restoration, but the laminate flooring is not. It really is. But honestly, it should be said that such a statement is pure marketing ploy, since it is extremely difficult to find a master who will undertake the restoration of parquet that has not been glued to the floor. It is risky to handle a floating surface. The board will definitely bend in the area of ​​the lock joints, which will cause the appearance of waviness of the coating. But even if a specialist is found who performs manual grinding, it must be borne in mind that after several such procedures, the decorative layer will lose color and brushing. The floor will look like cheap plank. There is absolutely no point in restoring a three-strip model of a board after using the floor for more than 5 years. The reason for this is the delamination of the lamellae. It will not be possible to return the board to its former strength, so it will be cheaper to re-lay the floor than to restore it. By the way, for the period of restoration work, the room will need to be completely freed from furniture for at least a few days, until the varnish layer is completely dry.

So what to choose?

You can make a choice only after analyzing the materials in comparison.

If you look at the above, you can see that there is not so much in common between laminate and parquet boards - multi-layered.But even here there are nuances. Now let's try to compare the rest of the parameters.

Load resistance

The leader in this indicator, of course, will be a laminated floor, but on the condition that it was assembled from high-quality material. The coating of high-quality laminate will not be damaged by sharp heels or fidgeting in a chair. Even very heavy objects can be moved along it, naturally not impudently, but with a certain caution, for example, by placing nylon covers under the legs. There will be no traces of drawing on the laminate. The parquet will not withstand such "violence".

Moisture and heat resistance

The parquet board is finicky. She needs a specific microclimate. In a room with too dry air, it will dry out, and in a room that is too humid, it will swell. In both cases, deformation cannot be avoided. Laminate does not have these problems. In general, the material was created as an alternative to parquet flooring, therefore it is devoid of all the disadvantages inherent in natural wood.

Initially, laminate flooring could be found in luxury homes. Improvement in manufacturing technology has made it possible to bring the production of laminate to the mass level. The material became cheaper and became available to the masses. Some classes (from 31 to 34) are superior to the parquet board in everything. The secret is that HDF becomes their basis, capable of expanding smoothly and proportionally, so gaps never form in such a floor.

decorative

Here, according to this indicator, the undisputed leader is the parquet board! Its design is refined and noble. It fits into classic interiors. The parquet floor just asks in addition to the marble finish of the fireplace, wall gilding, ceiling stucco. Such a floor is an unsurpassed addition to paintings in rich frames and antique furniture.

However, in modern interior solutions, it is lost. Modern, high-tech, eco-decor are more impressed by the laminate. Its range is so diverse that it will be possible to choose a coating for a specific design without any problems.

Performance characteristics

The service life of materials is quite long. Although in a comparative analysis, the parquet board looks somewhat fragile and delicate, nevertheless, with adequate care, the floor from it is ready to last up to three decades. Middle class laminate will last 7-20 years. Higher quality types last even longer.

What to put where?

If we ignore the stylistic design of the premises in the house, then the next guideline for choosing the flooring material will be the planned load. So in the corridor and the kitchen it is quite high, so it is better to use a laminate there. Parquet flooring is more acceptable in the nursery and bedroom. It will bring a touch of comfort to the atmosphere.

Price policy

It cannot be considered an axiom that a parquet board is more expensive than a laminate one. Everything will depend on the manufacturer and the class of the laminate. The price for it is directly proportional to the strength of its coating, so it is quite possible to find laminated synthetics on sale with a significantly higher cost than parquet.

The parquet board is also offered in a price variety. Products with a varied pattern, knotty inclusions will not be expensive. Many people can afford to buy the material. A completely different thing is a branded product, made of magnificent wood without the slightest flaw. For such a parquet board they ask very expensive. Usually it is decorated with elite class apartments.

Care

Since the laminated board is more adapted to the conditions of our time, it will be permissible to wash the floors from it without fear of damaging the coating.This does not mean that they can be scrubbed like a deck. Naturally, you should not use abrasives and scouring powders, as well as splashing a bucket of water on them.

The parquet board is mostly carefully vacuumed. If you cannot do without wet cleaning, then you need to carry it out with a semi-dry rag. When caring for a parquet floor several times a year, it will need to be treated with a special composition that protects the tree.

Conclusion

No matter how good the characteristics of the materials are, it is up to you to decide which of them will go to finish the floor in your home. In principle, both laminate and parquet board are worthy to complement the interior design. Beautiful in this case is not always expensive, but if naturalness, durability, comfort are also priorities of choice, then the answer is obvious: parquet.

Video

 

---