| | Laminate FlooringIn 1997, the introduction of laminate flooring sent shock waves throughout  the carpet and flooring industry. The carpet industry was already reeling from market share losses in schools and commercial facilities and hardwood flooring was becoming the new chic product for the residential marketplace. Hardwood flooring, while beautiful, was a bit pricey for the average consumer. Laminate flooring offered the beauty and ease of maintenance of hardwood, but laminate pricing was a fraction of the cost of hardwood. In comparing laminate flooring vs. hardwood flooring, laminate flooring is a very formidable option for the consumer. Laminate flooring prices are very competitive and their durability competes with hardwood.
The carpet industry immediately went to work trying to find a dent in the laminate flooring armor. Almost every testing lab in the Dalton, GA area, at one time, was performing a barrage of destructive testing for carpet manufacturers on laminate flooring products looking for its' weaknesses. The results were not good from a carpet standpoint. Laminate flooring was found to be a long wearing, cost effective flooring product with few weaknesses. As a result of this testing, many carpet manufacturers opted to Join 'em rather than try to beat 'em. Many older outdated carpet manufacturing facilities were taken out of carpet production and laminate flooring production was begun in the Dalton, Ga area. In addition, construction of new laminate flooring manufacturing facilities created a construction boom in the Dalton area.
While laminate flooring doesn't carry the mystique of hardwood flooring, it does produce a reasonably close appearance and wears almost as well as hardwood. With soap and water clean-up it provides the maintenance attribute of vinyl flooring, but the look of hardwood. The most often overlooked attribute is it is easily installed as a do-it-yourself flooring installation project. While the hardwood flooring market continues to grow, carpet market share continues to grow, as well. The real loser was probably the vinyl flooring industry. For the most part vinyl flooring usage had been relegated to small bathrooms and kitchen areas. While most homeowner continue to use vinyl flooring in their bathrooms (along with ceramic tile), many homeowners now use laminate flooring in kitchen areas, entry areas, and even family activity areas. With the benefits that laminate flooring provides, it should continue to capture market share from the other flooring alternatives.
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