Structure
Laminate flooring
Laminate flooring consists of a wood-based material board, which is provided with a decor. The decor gives the floor the appearance of a high-quality floor covering such as solid parquet, tiles or natural stone flooring. However, laminate flooring is thinner, much cheaper and quicker to lay than solid parquet thanks to the click profile. High-quality laminate flooring has structural embossing, for example to imitate a grained wood surface, and V-joints between the panels. Unlike parquet flooring, laminate flooring cannot be sanded down when damaged or worn, so it is more short-lived.
There are two types of laminate flooring:
With DPL (Direct Pressure Laminate) the decor is first printed on a paper sheet. The flooring manufacturer usually buys this from an external partner. The decor paper is laminated onto the carrier board with other paper webs. A paper must also be applied to the underside as a backing. A variant of DPL is HPL (High Pressure Laminate). With this particularly high-quality material, many layers of impregnated paper are laminated under higher pressure. HPL is often used for kitchen worktops or table tops, but it is also used to make particularly resilient floor coverings.
A PDL (Printed Direct Laminate) does not require any decorative paper. Here the decor is printed directly onto the carrier board. The possibilities for structuring the surface are not as pronounced with direct printing as with DPL.
Variants
Laminate flooring with paper surface (DPL)
