Modern,
waterproof laminate wood floors are showing up in more and more West Palm Beach,
FL homes and we are not the least bit surprised. With hardwood and luxury vinyl flooring prices
rising, laminate wood floors offer the best price to performance ratio of all the wood-look hard
surface floors. While wood-look flooring is the most popular flooring type today, many West
Palm Beach, FL homeowners are looking for more features that are found in hardwood floors.
Enter today’s modern, waterproof laminate floors.
When homeowners from West Palm Beach, FL visit our
Palm Beach Gardens showroom, they
are often completely surprised when we tell them that the vast majority of the laminate floors
we carry are waterproof and suitable for all rooms in your home.
It is important to note that not all
laminate floors are waterproof; some are water-resistant.
Let’s talk about this important difference.
Water-resistant means the material can withstand or resist water for some period of time.
Eventually, it will be damaged by standing liquids or water. For most West Palm Beach, FL
homeowners, this level of protection against spills is adequate but for rooms exposed to water,
a waterproof laminate wood floor would be the preferable option.
Waterproof means impervious to water. It will stand up to water indefinitely, and remain in its
original shape without damage.
This is where things start getting a little tricky. While the laminate flooring may be waterproof,
what’s around it likely not. If moisture seeps down into the subfloor, which is not waterproof,
the damage could occur from the bottom up. Other things like the baseboards or quarter round
and drywall are not waterproof; in fact, they will act as a wick to draw water into them. With so
many products claiming to be waterproof, you’ll be best served looking for products that also
warranty your subfloor. That is a great way to determine what companies actually stand behind
their waterproof flooring claims.
A point we can’t stress enough is that there is no such thing as a floor that is flood proof.