Would you like the beautiful appearance of a real hardwood floor?  But will it holdup to the wear and tear from pets and kids?  This question is in the minds of many American homeowners when shopping for a new floor. Laminate floors have the appearance of hardwood but at a more affordable cost.  They are easy to clean and are stain resistant.  Laminate floors come in several wonderful colors and styles and make a beautiful investment in your home.

As a result of innovation and attention to detail, laminate flooring is able to offer you a range of the most realistic wood and slate designs available.  And not only does laminate flooring look like real hardwood, it may very well win your ears over too. A wood look no longer means high maintenance.  So bring on the high heels, rain-soaked puppies and stampeding kindergartners.

One beauty of laminate flooring is the splendor and richness of classic American wood.  These dynamic designs recreate the rustic hardwood and pine planks that have been mined from the pre-Civil War buildings.  Complete with saw marks and nail holes in all their glory.  Each design has several different planks, so you’ll have fewer repeat patterns overall.  They are engineered to weather the demands of modern life.
 
Laminate flooring also offers eye-catching designs, with all the warmth and luxury of ceramic tile.  It can be much more affordable than real ceramic tile.  It is also warmer and more inviting to touch.  Better still, there’s no grout to scrub, ever. It’s the kind of product that can instantly transform a room.  And thanks to its exceptional resistance to stains and water, it doesn’t matter whether the room you want to transform is a bedroom, kitchen or bathroom.  As if you happen to be accident-prone around red wine, flower vases and gallon jugs of milk, don’t worry.  It can handle it.
Laminate floors are meant to be floated over a variety of subfloors and never glued directly to any substrate. In other words, the floor just lays on top of the subfloor, which can be wood, concrete, or an existing floor. This allows the laminate floor to expand and contract freely as the room environment changes. Laminate floors come in planks and squares of various sizes and shapes. All four sides of each plank have a tongue and grooved edge for connecting them together. For most laminate floors glue is applied along the tongues and/or grooves to lock the planks together. 
A "floating floor" installation means the floor is a not anchored to the subfloor underneath. Instead a bead of specially formulated, water-resistant, glue is placed between the tongue and grooves of every plank to lock the planks together and to seal all the edges of the planks from moisture. A special polyurethane underlayment is laid down prior to the new laminate flooring being installed to prevent the glue from sticking to the substrate. Some underlayments give additional benefits such as reducing sound transmissions or acting as a moisture barrier. Some of the newer laminate floors have a mechanical locking system that allows the floor to be installed without using any glue at all. The tongue and grooved edges of these floors are sealed to prevent moisture from attacking the inner core structure. 
In order to achieve the professional finished look you want, you may need some molding and/or transition pieces. Here are some of the transition pieces you might need to finish your laminate floor:
Stairnose is to be used on step and landing areas.
Reducer is used during transition from laminate floor to any place where the bordering floor is lower than the laminate floor.
T-molding is used during transition from laminate floor to: more laminate floor, tile, wood floor, or any other flooring product with an equal height as the laminate floor.
Base shoe is used to cover the gap left for expansion around the perimeter of the entire floor.
Determine the grade level
Always be aware that some flooring is not recommended for below grade installations.  Check with your sales person to see if the floor your interested in will function well in a below grade setting.