Laminate.
The floor people mistake for timber when they walk into our showroom. A 12mm click-together board with an AC4 wear rating, built for hard use and priced to be the easy decision.
Why Laminate.
Mistaken for timber
People walk into the showroom and read it as a timber floor; being told otherwise is usually the surprise of the visit. A wood-grain pattern with a subtle brushed texture and an ultra matte finish does the convincing.
AC4, in plain words
Abrasion class 4 is a commercial-grade wear rating: built for heavy residential use and moderate commercial traffic. Cafés, offices, busy family kitchens and pet-heavy living rooms are exactly what it is for.
Honest about water
The board is water-resistant for up to 48 hours of everyday household moisture, which covers real life in a kitchen. It is not waterproof; no laminate is, and we will not tell you otherwise.
Made for rentals
Durable enough to shrug off tenants, affordable enough to make sense across a portfolio, and simple to keep right with our Laminate care guide. One of the highest quality laminates in the country, priced like a mid-range one.
One board, four jobs.
Cut a board in half and four layers look back, each doing different work. This is why a $75 floor can take an AC4 beating.
Layer proportions exaggerated for clarity.
Wear layer
A hardened, aluminium-oxide surface where the AC4 rating lives. It takes the chair legs, the claws and the grit so the pattern underneath never has to.
Décor layer
A high-definition wood-grain print, embossed so the texture follows the grain. This is the layer that gets mistaken for timber in the showroom.
Coreboard
A 12mm high-density black core carries the strength and the 48 hour water resistance. This is most of the board, and most of the reason it feels solid underfoot.
Balance layer
Black balance paper on the underside mirrors the tension of the top layers, keeping every board flat through humidity swings and underfloor heating.
Floated, never glued.
Laminate is the one floor we never glue down. The boards click together and float as one surface, on a dedicated laminate underlay.
No glue, anywhere
The Unilin click system locks board to board mechanically, so there is no adhesive in the whole floor. Nothing to cure, nothing to off-gas: the room is back in use the day the floor goes down.
On a laminate underlay
Every install goes down on a dedicated laminate underlay between the boards and the subfloor. It smooths out minor unevenness and softens footfall, so the floating floor sounds and feels settled.
Why floating wins here
A floating floor moves as one surface with the seasons and never fights the subfloor. It also makes laminate the fastest floor we lay, which is part of how the price stays where it is.
The underlay.
The layer the whole floating floor sits on: a high density IXPE foam, 2mm or 3mm by job, included in the price on every laminate quote. Here is what it is and the work it does.
Closed cells, permanent spring
IXPE is polyethylene foam that has been cross-linked, sealing it into closed cells. It does not soak up moisture and does not pack down under years of traffic, so the floor feels the same in year ten as on day one.
Three jobs at once
A bonded film faces the subfloor and keeps ground moisture out of the boards. The foam quiets footfall so the floating floor never drums, and minor subfloor variation disappears into it, letting the click joints sit flat.
Density is the warranty
Soft underlay lets click joints flex underfoot, and joints that flex eventually wear. High density foam supports every joint from below, which is why the 15 year cover requires an approved underlay: this one.
What laminate isn’t.
Laminate carries thirty years of reputation baggage, and most of it stops being true at this quality level. The honest list:
It isn’t the laminate you remember
The thin, hollow-sounding boards with the shiny photo finish belong to another decade. This is a 12mm board with a commercial AC4 wear rating and an embossed, ultra matte surface that follows the grain.
It isn’t plastic
Most of the board is wood: the core is high-density wood fibre, pressed harder than natural timber. The surface is a print of real oak grain, textured so your feet believe it too.
It isn’t invincible
AC4 takes traffic, claws and chair legs in its stride, but a dropped cast iron pan still leaves a mark, the same as on any floor. Water gets 48 hours, not forever. We would rather you know.
It isn’t easy to spot
Come into the showroom and try to pick the laminate from the timber. People get it wrong every week, and that is the whole point.
The details.
Laminate, installed.
Every board’s current hero, in a real room. More photography lands here as jobs are shot.
270-10 · ATS Laminate
270-10 through the living room at Prictor Road, the log burner staying put.
Let’s start from the ground up.
Tell us about your space and we’ll come back with a plan and a price.