Laminate flooring is an extremely durable and resilient flooring. It is typically manufactured in rectangular or square planks that contain a tongue and groove system on the edges of each plank. Multiple planks are then assembled and secured together, such as by gluing or snapping the tongue and groove joints, to cover a flooring area.
Laminate flooring is typically used because it is more durable, wear and stain resistant, and low maintenance than many other types of flooring such as hardwood floors, vinyl flooring, ceramic tiles, etc. For example, laminate flooring does not scratch, dent, wear, absorb liquids, or require refinishing or waxing like typical hardwood floors. In addition, laminate flooring does not scratch, dent, tear, wear, or require waxing like vinyl flooring. Finally, laminate flooring does not scratch, crack, require grouting, or require constant care like ceramic tile flooring. Best of all, typical laminate flooring can be designed to mimic the look of any other type of flooring while retaining its durability, wear and stain resistance, and low maintenance characteristics.
The most common use of laminate flooring is to recreate the look of hardwood flooring. To do this, photographs are taken of various pieces of wood (to reproduce the color and grain pattern of the particular wood). The photographs are then digitized, formatted, and enhanced to create digital images of wood grain that can be used on flooring planks. The digital images are not typically of contiguous portions of the wood grain but are random samples of the wood grain. This is done to more accurately mimic a real hardwood floor where the grain of each plank will not be contiguous with the grain of the piece next to it but will have its own unique grain pattern. The digital images are then printed on a substrate, typically paper, that can be used in the laminate flooring manufacturing process.
Typical laminate flooring planks are made from a base material, such as medium or high density fiber board, with a design surface, such as the printed image described above, on top of the base material, and a protective surface on top of the design surface. The three pieces are then laminated together to form the flooring planks. In addition to these three elements, some flooring may also include a backing surface underneath the base material to provide extra rigidity and warp protection and an impact layer between the base material and the design surface to provide shock absorption and dent protection.
To simplify the manufacturing of laminate flooring planks, manufacturers typically start with a large sheet of the base material, such as a 12′×4′ sheet of high density fiber board, rather than having the base material already machined into planks. Multiple images are then arranged into one large layout that will cover the entire sheet. Because the sheet will later be machined into individual planks, spaces are left in between each image where the sheet will be cut or machined so that portions of each image are not lost. The sheet of base material, the design surface, the protective surface, and any other layers that may be used, are then laminated together. Once the layers have been laminated, the sheet of flooring is cut into the individual planks and tongues/grooves are machined into the sides of the planks.
Although attempting to mimic hardwood flooring, unlike real hardwood flooring, laminate flooring does not use unique grain patterns for each and every plank. To do so would be inefficient, expensive, and extremely time consuming. Instead, flooring manufacturers will typically make a predetermined number of grain pattern images only. The idea then is to assemble the planks as randomly as possible (not placing identical grain patterns next to each other) to make the laminate floor look like a real hardwood floor.
Therefore, typical laminate flooring is only made where a predetermined number of identical planks can be reproduced and installed to replicate a random pattern. Because of this, individuals have a limited selection of flooring styles to choose from and are not able to customize or personalize their floors. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have laminate flooring that allows customization and not just random patterns. More particularly, it would be advantageous to have laminate flooring that when assembled would produce a custom image.