Laminate flooring is a fairly common option when designing a modern interior. However, this material does not "love" water, and in the kitchen, as a rule, water and dirt on the floor are often. Sometimes plates and mugs fall to the floor, breaking to smithereens. Given this feature of the kitchen, the choice of a laminate should be taken seriously.
What class of laminate flooring to choose for the kitchen
The ideal laminate for the kitchen is moisture resistant. It should also be wear-resistant, not afraid of scratches and mechanical damage. The flooring in the kitchen is subject to significant stress, as the person preparing the food is constantly in motion. The lamellas should have sufficient strength, close attention should be paid to the quality of the decorative layer.
The requirement for moisture resistance is due to frequent wet cleaning. Loving cleanliness housewives wash the floor after each cooking. In addition, in the kitchen, flooding by neighbors from above is not excluded, and the inhabitants of the house themselves can shed something on the coating. You should not buy a white laminate on which any pollution is clearly visible if you are not ready to wash floors daily.
Laminate Classes
Even sophisticated designers are sometimes surprised by the variety of laminate series. On the market of finishing materials today there are lamellas imitating:
- wood texture;
- parquet;
- ceramic tile;
- marble;
- skin and tissue.
However, the series differ not only in color and pattern, but also in terms of gloss (glossy, matte, rough), in the class of wear resistance and moisture resistance.
Moisture resistance
According to the degree of moisture absorption, the laminate is divided into three categories:
- Private - absorbs condensate and moisture in an amount of 8-16% of its volume. Installation of such a coating is carried out on a base treated with waterproofing compounds or coated with a polymer membrane.
- Moisture-proof - the amount of moisture absorption is 2-8%. The upper polymer layer of the boards is able to protect the lower layers from getting wet for some time. Here, all joints and locks are treated with water-repellent wax.
- Water resistant - the best option for the kitchen. Even flooded with water, this coating absorbs no more than 2% moisture.
The water resistance of the laminate is provided by a special technology of its manufacture. The plates are pressed on highly professional equipment under high pressure, after which they are processed with heated wax. The top layer is a polymer film that a priori does not allow moisture to pass through. Finished planks are treated with an antiseptic composition that prevents the development of mold and fungus.
Other advantages of a moisture resistant laminate:
- resistance to temperature extremes;
- high impact resistance;
- anti-slip effect;
- antistatic properties;
- aesthetic appeal.
Attention! The water resistance of the laminate does not mean that it can be safely filled with water. This characteristic indicates the admissibility of using the coating in a room with high humidity, which is the kitchen.
Wear classification
The strength and durability of the laminate depends on the thickness of the panels. Series with a plate thickness of 9 mm or more are the most wear-resistant, and the coating is able to withstand significant loads. Such a laminate is expensive, but it is ideal for the kitchen.
Wear-resistant coating is marked with numbers 32 and 33. Even more reliable is the series of class 34, which under normal conditions (without catastrophic flooding and fire) will last 15-20 years. However, for installation in the kitchen, the material of the first two classes is quite suitable, the cost of which is lower than that of the marking laminate 34. Panels 32 and 33 of the structure resemble a multi-layer cake.
The composition of the layers, starting from the bottom:
- stabilizing base;
- high-strength fiberboard (HDF) with a lock connection;
- moisture resistant polymer film;
- decorative pattern applied on paper impregnated with a moisture-resistant composition;
- polyurethane or acrylic film.
Important! Unlike the standard (up to 32 class), the wear-resistant laminate is made not of shavings, but of wood with solid fibers.
Which is better to choose for the kitchen
When buying a laminate, the type of lock is of great importance. Panels without locks simply stick to the base, but they are not recommended for the kitchen. There are two main types of lock connections - Click and Lock. Other locks are proprietary technologies of specific companies, therefore less popular.
For the kitchen, it is better to choose a cover with a Click lock, which, unlike a simple Lock, is considered more reliable. Click sipes are easy to install and more practical to use. The coating is aesthetically pleasing, while when using a material with a Lock connection between the planks, cracks often appear in which moisture and dirt get over time.
Laminate selection rules
It is better to refuse to buy a cheap laminate of unidentified production. If the budget does not allow you to spend money on branded material, you should either wait until better times, or be content with commercial linoleum.
Chamfered series look more attractive, but this option is not for the kitchen. Today, an optical bevel coating is produced that looks realistic and does not create difficulties when cleaning. The safest from the point of view of toxicology is a laminate labeled E0 and E1, in which formaldehyde resins are completely absent or are in a minimal amount.
Some manufacturers equip their products with a sound-absorbing layer (Sound Protect), the thickness of which is 1-2 mm. Such material does not require the use of a substrate and has good cushioning. If there is no soundproofing layer in the panels, a substrate must be laid on the rough floor. The substrate for the kitchen, like the laminate, must be moisture resistant. It is better to give preference to foamed polymeric materials.
REFERENCE! In the kitchen, a laminate with a rough structure is preferable. On the structural surface, there is minimal risk of slipping and injuring even with spilled water. However, material with a pronounced relief is difficult to wash. Choose something in between.
In order not to make a mistake when choosing a waterproof coating, carefully study the packaging. On waterproof series, the manufacturer writes the word "Aqua", puts an image of an umbrella or a drop of water. When buying a moisture-resistant coating, you need to check the quality of the impregnation of the locks. If the joints are not impregnated, but only covered with wax from above, they are very smooth. You can easily scrape such an impregnation with a fingernail or a sharp object. It is impossible to scrape off the wax that has deeply absorbed into the structure of the material, in this case the impregnation is of high quality.
Laminate is cheaper than 500 rubles per m2 cannot be of high quality, even if it says on it that it was produced in Europe. This is more of a commercial ploy than a truth. European brands offer their products no cheaper than 1300 rubles per m2, and all that is lower in price, produced in domestic factories or brought from China. The goods of Russian factories operating on European equipment and using imported raw materials are affordable, but at the same time they are of good quality.
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