Today laminate flooring ranks as one of the most versatile floor coverings ever. It has a long history and goes right back to the days of the Ottomans and after them the Arabs. They both used a technology that can now be regarded as the forerunner of the laminate process.
They impregnated their writing paper, which arrived in the Orient from China, with vegetable or animal fats, so that it would keep for longer and to improve its writing quality.
However, the arrival of modern laminating technology came only at the start of the 20th century, when cellophane was invented and people began to cover paper and other materials with this transparent material.
It was in the middle of the 20th century that the first workable boards were developed and the European furniture industry began to exploit the new laminating technology, using it first for front panels and work surfaces.
Decorative papers were impregnated with a special resin – on the one hand to protect the paper, but also to be able to process it further. At high pressure and temperature, the decorated paper was either pressed directly on to the core layer or glued to it in the form of pre-processed high-pressure laminated material.
So the term laminate means nothing more than layers pressed together, with the top layer providing a particular type of protection or refinement.
From here on in, it was a small step to the introduction of laminate flooring, but it took almost another 30 years before laminates began to be used for flooring.
As well as improving the boards which form the core layer, it was necessary to develop the abrasion resistance of the resins, as floors have to cope with far greater demands than furniture surfaces.
At the end of the 1980s the first laminate floors came on to the market in Sweden and quickly took hold as far as Central Europe.
This new type of flooring could not fail to grab the consumer’s attention, as it came in attractive designs, was hardwearing, easy to fit and great value for money. As with many products, laminate flooring had its teething problems but today it has become a technically sophisticated floor covering product, which has posted significant rates of growth consistently over the years.
With glue-less fitting technology, footstep soundproofing, water-repellent edge-finishing and many additional features, such as antistatic and anti-bacterial surfaces, laminate flooring is up there among the trendsetters in floor coverings.
The latest synchronised grain and pore printing system allows virtually authentic laminate flooring designs to be manufactured in wood, stone and any other visual effects that might be in demand.
It even recreates perfectly the natural structure of the material – touch the surface and you can actually feel the wood!
As well as the decorative paper, it is the melamine resin overlay that plays a key role in the creation of laminate flooring. This is the layer that achieves the special surface effects by means of its individual consistency, colour rendition and/or imprint. It is the refinement of the product.
Today the Association of European Producers of Laminate Flooring (EPLF), based in Bielefeld, Germany, represents the leading producers of laminate flooring in Europe and its suppliers. The association was established in 1994 in Bonn.
EPLF member companies account for approximately 55% of the global market and approximately 80% of the European market. At present some 20 laminate producers from 10 European countries, 30 suppliers to the laminate flooring industry, and four renowned testing institutes, are members of the EPLF.
The EPLF considers itself an international platform for the exchange of ideas and experience between producers of laminate flooring and their supplier industries.
The focus of the association’s work revolves around research, development, the introduction of standards, representation at international trade fairs, and evaluation of statistical data.
The EPLF was the first to set itself the task of producing a European laminate flooring standard.
The work of developing product and test standards is the main job of EPLF’s Technical Committee, which has been successfully managed by the Belgian Dr Theo Smet for a number of years.
Its work also includes permanent lobbying work at CEN and ISO level, which is also overseen in the association by Dr Smet.
While it may still be a little unusual for you to find Mona Lisa, Picasso and Marc Aurel on laminate flooring, it’s certainly no longer exceptional: digital printing is very much on the upswing.
In the meantime, alongside existing laminate flooring which is layered and pressed using melamine resin, there are now those which are design-printed directly onto the core layer, which is then lacquered.
Technologically speaking it ushers in a new generation of laminate floorings and creates yet another new look and feel for floors.
It will be fascinating to see where laminate flooring takes us next. It goes back a long way, but we can be sure it will stay true to its creative roots well into the future.
