Laminate Flooring - Real Wood Hybrids

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Are they wood or laminate? The question is not easily answered because the products can fall within either category. We choose to categorize them as laminates mainly because we don't want to risk customer confusion with engineered hardwood Floors. The distinction between Hybrids, engineered hardwood, and laminates is best described in this table:

Product Type	Core Material	Overall Thickness	Veneer or Paper Thickness
Hybrids	HDF	7mm-9mm	Paper Thin, less than 1mm
Laminates	HDF	Mostly 7mm-10mm	Not veneer, its photographic paper, less than 1mm
Engineered Hardwood	Wood, usually Pine or Spruce	3/8"-9/16"	Thicker veneer, usually 1/32" - 1/4"

Laminate flooring is definitely the most durable of the three, with higher impact, stain and abrasion resistance. So, if durability is your primary concern, you better stick to laminates! Surprisingly, however, hybrids often tend to have more impact resistance than their “big brother”, engineered hardwoods (when compared within species). This is because the paper thin slice of veneer is supported by the HDF (High Density Fiber Board) underneath. HDF is extremely hard and impact resistant.

This becomes most noticeable with soft species of wood such as American Cherry, which as a stand alone species, has a Janka Hardness rating of approximately 950 ( vs. 1290 for Red Oak and 2350 for Brazilian Cherry). But American Cherry in a hybrid has a Janka rating of approximately 1750! In fact, nearly every species of wood used in hybrids ends up with approximately this same Janka rating. Remember, the Janka ball test measures impact resistance, not scratch resistance. All hardwoods and hybrids will easily scratch when compared to laminates. Another interesting aspect of hybrids is that they are very environmentally friendly. According to Decospan, the world leader in cutting Veneer, a single tree may yield up to 20,000 square meters of hybrid flooring (just over 200,000 SQFT, that's enough to cover the floors of nearly one-hundred 2000 SQ. FT homes), remarkable!