Laminate flooring is designed to be durable and can withstand the weight of heavy furniture, but excessive weight or pressure on a small point can cause dents or scratches on the surface of the laminate.
If you find it difficult to move furniture, especially the bigger ones, you can use plastic discs that come with padding on a side, placing it under the furniture. Those discs will enable heavy and large furniture to easily glide on the laminate flooring without resulting to any damage.
Laminate flooring can accommodate 300-500 pounds per square inch. Exceeding 500 pounds will cause dents on your flooring. As such, be careful with heavy and bulky furniture and appliances such as the piano, which is around 600 pounds.
Plastic Flooring Pads
To prevent laminate flooring scratches and wear, you will need to use protective mats under your caster chairs if you are in an office setting. This is an essential tip when it comes to laminate floor care. Mechanical damage to your floor surface is not covered by the product warranty.
Tiles or planks that are glued down, however, need time to set. This process takes at least 48 hours. Like luxury vinyl, carpet and laminate that is not glued to the subfloor can be walked on immediately. Brands that must be glued down are not ready for furniture for at least 24 hours.
How to install hardwood or laminate flooring with furniture in the room: As the team from the flooring company puts down laminate or hardwood planks, you could move your valuables to one place at a time. You would need to buy furniture pads for heavy desks or dressers to prevent scratching or dents.
You can use furniture pads such as bought or home-made felt pads. Alternatively, you can use decorative rugs with non-slip rug padding to protect your laminate floors.
It's also important to avoid dropping heavy objects or dragging sharp or heavy items across the laminate flooring, as this can cause scratches or dents. With proper care and maintenance, laminate flooring can provide a durable and long-lasting surface for your home.
Laminate floors are durable, but they can scratch or scuff, so avoid things like steel wool as well. Although laminate is a hard floor, you want to avoid steam cleaning to tackle tough stains as it can loosen that top protective layer and damage the surface.
Laminate flooring lasts between 15 to 25 years on average. The exact lifespan will vary depending on the product quality of your floor, how well you maintain and care for it and the overall wear-and-tear it receives. In some cases, laminate floors can last over 25 years.
Folks use heavy furniture, aquariums, etc. on floating floors all the time. If the floor can move elsewhere it's probably fine. Be sure to acclimate the flooring well.
Laminate floors are usually scratch-resistant and dent-proof due to their high-density core layer. Perhaps they are more dent-resistant than hardwood flooring. There is, however, a chance that the laminate floor will dent. There are many causes of having a dent on your floor, but there are many remedies as well.
Floors are usually designed for a nominal 30psf to 40 psf live load. Example: a 10x10′ room designed for 30 psf can handle 3,000 pounds of people, evenly distributed across it.
Like all flooring though, a luxury vinyl installation is an expensive investment, and you want to protect your investment and maximize its lifespan. Unfortunately, heavy furniture has the potential to cause lasting damage to your vinyl, ruining your hard-earned money and the work of the installers.
Cleaning the floor using a Swiffer Sweeper and a dry, untreated pad daily can remove dust without damaging the laminate. Dry mop pads that are treated with detergent, on the other hand, can leave a thin film behind.
You should sweep and mop them regularly. Use a specialty mop to clean them without excess liquid. Though laminate floors are water resistant, if they are soaked in water, they can be damaged. The best way to clean laminate floors is to use products especially made for them.
Hardwood floor cleaners, waxes, all-purpose cleaners, and soaps leave a film on the floors and can cloud the laminate surface. Using too much moisture. Dripping mop buckets and steam cleaners used on laminate floors leave too much moisture, which can seep down through the joints in the flooring and cause warping.
Laminate flooring will snap and pop as you walk on it if it's bridging across hollow spots under the flooring. Your weight stresses the interlocking tongues and grooves in the flooring, causing the noise. It's nearly impossible to stop this noise after a laminate floor is installed.
If the house is designed and framed properly, i.e. in accordance with a building code, the only pieces of "furniture" heavy enough to worry about in terms of floor loading are bathtubs/spas full of water and stone or masonry fireplaces.
Humidity can make your laminate floor boards shrink or expand a bit. This fluctuation in humidity levels can cause them to click loose and move, resulting in openings between the boards. Fortunately, you don't have to remove the entire floor to close these open joints.
Avoid rough-textured rugs with fiber, plastic, or other tough materials because they can scratch a laminate floor. Also, stay away from rugs with dark-colored dyes that don't specifically state they're colorfast because they can stain the floors.
Protect Your Flooring
If you want to increase your flooring life, you should invest in a chair mat. May it be hard flooring, vinyl floor, laminated flooring, or some other type, it is prone to get damaged with scuffs and scratches if you sit on a rolling chair and use it without a chair mat.
Laminate and LVT/LVP flooring are both extremely durable, but they have their weaknesses. Laminate is prone to scratches and chipped corners over time, so vinyl is probably a better choice for your home if you have pets. LVT/LVP is scratch-resistant, but it's more vulnerable to denting and tearing.