Which is Best Underlay for Laminate?
Flooring Underlayment for Laminate
or Engineered Floating Floors
It depends! The answer to "which is best underlay for
laminate?" really does depend on three things...
- Your Environment... meaning what is the subfloor where
you are installing the laminate floor? Concrete underlayment
is not designed for plywood subfloor applications and viceversa!
- What type of floating floor that you have purchased. Laminate
floors with underlayment attached have different needs
then a plain engineered or laminate floor.
- Your personal needs. Do you have a budget? Is it important
to add "R" value or have a noise
reduction laminate underlay?
First, it is important to realize that underlays of various
sorts are designed to serve two critical purposes:
- Underlayments act as a cushion between uneven subfloors
and the backside of your laminate or engineered floor. The
typical cork, rubber or foam underlays even-out the bumps
either on a pored cement slab, or typically where the plywood
sheets meet on a traditional wood subfloor. This puts less
pressure on the interlocking mechanism of a floating floor,
and thus improve their structural integrity.
In environments where heavy equipment maybe sitting on
the floor, the underlay, especially commercial underlays
are quite dense and help in distributing the weight load
on these "slightly uneven" floors.
- Some underlays are also designed to prevent moisture penetration
from the subfloor below into the backside of the floating
floor, especially critical in "on concrete" installations.
It can also
- provide sound
dampening services between floors.
- increase your "R" value, especially in below
grade installations.
- act as a cushioning agent to make standing and walking
on floating floors a more enjoyable experience
Your Environment?
Thus if we go back to our original question of "which
is the best underlay for laminate?" the first question
is what is the subfloor. On-Concrete underlayment must be
both a vapour barrier AND a cushion. This can be accomplished
either by using a foam underlay + a polyethylene film (typically
6mm) in a layered installation, or a 2 in 1 underlayment
installation like the Pergo
softseal combo foam floor underlayment, Quiet
WalkŪ by Midwest or Solid Walk LT- Fiber MB with lip and
tape.
The latter being the most sophisticated version with a 3"
extension of polyethylene film that extends beyond the fiber
pad, and allows an overlap of the vapour barrier film. Cheaper
"2 in 1 underlays" require the foam to be flush
fitted and taped, creating a less effective vapour barrier.
In cases where the subfloor it is a traditional above
grade plywood or OSB, underlayment should NOT include a
vapour barrier. Wood is a biological species that likes
to breath. The polyethylene films can lock in moisture and
lead to mould in severe case... thus not necessary so don't
use it!
That being said, Wilsonart does have a few exceptions
so ask!
Type of Floating Floor?
In a similar vein, make sure you know what type of floating
floor that your have bought BEFORE you purchase a laminate
flooring underlayment. Many of the newer laminate floors actually
have been fabricated with a foam padding incorporated into
its design. These flooring products DO NOT require a foam
padding. Be sure to ASK FIRST!
Your Personal Needs?
I'm not sure that I would worry about the R value of a foam
as it is more of an incidental benefit than a real one. With
an typical R rating of .5 for a laminate underlayment, you
may want to think of other methods to achieve significant
insulation value then factoring in the underlay
Noise reduction is another issue. Personally I hate the hollow
sound of most floating floors, especially when my dog wants
to pace all night, so I'd invest a few extra cents in a noise
reduction laminate underlay, especially since the industry
has developed a number of options that are significantly cheaper
than the historical cork and rubber solutions. That being
said it really doesn't make sense to spend .70$ on an underlay
for a $1.49/sq.ft floor.
Some underlays spout about their anti-microbial additives
but when I talk to industry distributors they seem to suggest
that this is more of a marketing game than a real benefit.
Well that's it guys, hope this helps.. at the end of the
day you probably only have a few choices of laminate underlays
to pick from in your area, so use this as a guideline to select
the most appropriate of the lot.
Further Information:
Install
Laminate Underlayment
Noise
Reduction Underlay Standards
Noise
Reduction Underlay Ratings
No
Underlayment Laminate Floor
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