Laminate Flooring History

Laminate Flooring Beginnings

We have to start by telling you that Formica was a laminate countertop named after the manufacturer. The lamination process, which consists of simply fusing together different layers of material, has come to represent a lot more than 70s-style kitchen countertops.

Perstorp AB Holdings is a giant chemical industry who marketed a product in 1984 under the name ‘Pergo’ which today rings a bell for many people. This Company invented the laminate wood flooring – a wood floor that wasn’t made from solid wood but it looked just like it. Their secret was using a simple type of decorative laminate, which had previously only been used to make kitchen countertops, and brought it to the living room floor.

Pergo floors were considered to be the biggest European innovation since the invention of cushioned vinyl in the 1960s. When it was introduced to the market of North American in 1994, it became very popular in short amount of time. Statistically speaking, the European Producers of Laminate Flooring (EPLF) informs us that in 2004 over 750 million square meters of laminate wood flooring were sold worldwide. The biggest growth in market share came from North America.

Laminate Flooring Today

The marked is still dominated today by the laminate floors.

Today laminate floors are an ideal choice wherever a durable, water-resistant finished surface is required. Furthermore, one of the best things about laminate floors is that they represent a DIY craze as just about everyone could install these floors themselves thanks to laminate’s easy-to-install click-locking system.

To sum it up we have to say that millions of consumers choose to use laminate floors for very good reasons: they’re hardwearing, beautiful, environmental, easy to install and still cost a whole lot less than most other flooring types.