Do you need underlayment for laminate flooring

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Do You Need Underlayment For Laminate Flooring?
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• Laminate flooring manufacturers will always
  recommend that you install underlayment
  before laying laminate flooring.  Yet is it
  necessary?  While underlayment is the safe,
  default choice, in some instances it is not
  necessary.
• Begin with the manufacturers' recommendations and
  reasoning before moving onto the opposite view.

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Reasons for Underlayment

• Sound Laminate flooring is so thin that it needs
  underlayment's extra help to feel and act like
  real wood. Consider sound transmission. You do
  not need foam padding under solid hardwood for
  many reasons, and one reason is because hardwood
  alone limits the transmission of sound, both
  within the room and to floors below. Laminate
  flooring is thin--usually no more than 12mm--and
  is made of a type of fiberboard. So underlayment
  boosts laminate's sound absorbing qualities.

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• Subfloor Imperfections This is the biggest issue
  of all, what the flooring manufacturer might call
  "subfloor imperfections." This means that your
  subfloor is not perfectly flat and featureless,
  which describes many subfloors. Solid or
  engineered wood can bridge small gaps. Ceramic
  and porcelain tile can bridge those gaps, plus
  mortar works to fill them in. Underlayment helps
  to prevent laminate damage.

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• Moisture You will need moisture-proof
  underlayment when there is a chance of moisture
  migrating upward concrete slab, tile, cement
  board, and even wood sub-floor or flooring over a
  crawlspace or other non-climate-controlled
  space. Underlayment and vapor barrier are not the
  same thing. Common foam underlayment will inhibit
  moisture. But there are types of underlayment
  that require a separate 6 mil. polypropylene
  vapor barrier.

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• On Concrete When you are installing on top of
  concrete, you may want the extra padding that
  underlayment provides to make it softer to walk
  on.  Take note that underlayment is not
  considered a vapor barrier.  Manufacturers
  typically recommend that you add a vapor barrier
  in addition to the underlayment.

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• Margin of Safety For The Company Product
  liability providing a wide margin of safety and
  appealing to a majority of installations these
  are some reasons why flooring manufacturers make
  this blanket recommendation. It is a case of
  laminate makers wanting to ensure few problems
  with the greatest number of installations.

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When You Do Not Need It At All

• The only instance when you absolutely do not need
  underlayment is when it already has underlayment.
   Confused?
• Your laminate might already have pre-attached unde
  rlayment, rendering separate underlayment
  unnecessary.

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• Rare only a few years ago, laminate with
  pre-attached padding is now found in great
  numbers. Over half of Lumber Liquidators'
  laminates come with pre-attached padding over
  75 of Pergo's laminates now have pre-attached
  underlayment.
• In this case, not only is separate underlayment
  unnecessary, it is detrimental to the stability
  of your flooring. When you have pre-attached
  underlayment, manufacturers recommend that you
  still install vapor barrier.

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When You May Not Want It

• When Cost Is an Issue
• Underlayment can be surprisingly expensive. One
  premium underlayment, Roberts AirGuard, costs
  0.55 per square foot. This is not expensive in
  relation to 7 per square foot laminate. But
  when compared to cheap 0.49/sq. ft. clearance
  laminate, the underlayment costs more than the
  flooring itself.

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• When Your Base Surface is Moisture-Proof
• One popular mode of installation is to put
  laminate on top of vinyl flooring. This
  eliminates the need for removing the vinyl floor.
  Vinyl flooring is not--or, should not--be
  water-permeable. If it is water-permeable,
  somebody installed the floor wrong.
• Even hastily-installed peel 'n' stick vinyl floor
  tiles can do a reasonably good job of holding
  back the moisture.

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• You notice it immediately when you walk from a
  solid surface, like tile, to laminate with
  underlayment. It is a singular feeling that
  alerts you to the fact that you are on laminate
  with foam padding.
• Laminate flooring with denser felt
  underlayment more closely approximates
  the feeling of real wood flooring.

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Laminate flooring

• Green Wood General Trading Co.
• Gold Crest Executive TowerJLT, Dubai, UAE
• Phone [phone]Fax [phone]
• Email info_at_greenwood.aeMail P.O.Box 123727
  Dubai - UAE