Before we can understand the cost or how the cost of laminate flooring is made up, we must first redefine how laminate flooring is manufactured. Laminate flooring consists of a high-density fiberboard (HDF) core, a decorative layer impregnated with melamine that is a photographic reproduction of a real wood or tile floor, and on top of that, a high-strength protective layer to give the floor the required protection and durability.
Underneath is what is called a balance laminate that not only ensures the stability of the board during the production process, but also due to its lack of porosity, helps prevent moisture from penetrating the HDF core once the floor has been laid.
Under immense pressure and heat, this ‘sandwich’ comes together to form a huge sheet of flooring which is then cut into smaller boards, the edges of which are profiled so that the boards can be ‘joined’ without the need for any adhesive. It is during the production process that surface finishes such as embossing and texturing are applied.
The actual pattern or wood look is the decoration paper. Decoration paper is a melamine-impregnated photographic reproduction of a wooden or tiled floor.
The top surface of the laminate floor is a very strong, very resistant transparent protective layer that uses corundum (Al²O³) impregnated with melamine resins. It is non-porous so it is impossible for any form of moisture to penetrate the HDF core board from the top and it is for this reason that floor polish should not be used on a laminate floor as it cannot be absorbed across the floor.
The thickness of the laminate flooring base plate is important as it determines the thickness and standard of the laminate flooring to be sold. Laminate floors can be sold in any thickness, but are commonly sold in 6mm, 7mm, 8mm, 10mm, and 12mm thicknesses.
6mm laminate floors are manufactured primarily in the largest European factories, where they can produce the laminate fast enough to generate value.
7mm and 8mm laminate floors are primarily manufactured in Europe and the USA.
10mm and 12mm are usually made again in Europe where they can have up to 10 laminating lines and use a few for slower 10mm and 12mm production, which with the greatest thickness is generally embossed and beveled.
8.3mm, 10.3mm and 12.3mm laminate comes from China and is generally unlicensed so be careful you have the 0.3 because it is your argument against the patent system and they think it is a bit better. So you can quickly know the origin of a country, just by those 0.3mm; It is 99.9% of the time made in China.
Now that you understand where the product comes from, let’s see what the cost of laminate flooring makes up for:
1. The motherboard, this makes the product 6mm, 7mm, 8mm, etc., etc. The thicker the core, the slight cost difference in the product.
2. The melamine backing: this gives the laminate its structure.
3. The Décor Paper: melamine-impregnated photographic reproduction of a wooden or tiled floor.
4. Clear melamine coating. The upper surface of the floor is a very strong, highly resistant transparent protective layer using corundum (Al²O³) impregnated with melamine resins.
5. Finish: micro-bevel, registered and embossed, wood grain, light grain, etc.
6. Fully vertically integrated, if a factory is fully integrated, this is IMPORTANT: it is located next to the managed forest – its raw materials, it collects and manages that forest and creates its own central dashboard.
7. Transportation costs: if a factory is not fully integrated, it must send the motherboard and this is expensive; You must also purchase the motherboard from another company (for example, Georgia Pacific); they will add their margin to the product. Essentially, non-vertically integrated factories cannot control their costs as they are subject to motherboard costs and market fluctuations.
8. Marketing, branding, advertising costs, etc., etc.
9. Packaging materials, boxes in which the product enters.
10. Inserts showing installation instructions.
11. Personnel – employees
12. Production speed – The faster you create the laminate, the cheaper it will be, as unit cost is basically a calculation of all the above costs divided by production.
Laminate cost = All costs above ÷ number of square feet produced
All these above items create the laminate flooring cost, if you take a non vertically integrated laminate factory (90% of factories even if they don’t support it) you can produce 7mm laminate flooring from $ 0.50SF to $ 0.55SF.
