In 1997, the introduction of laminate flooring (click flooring) sent shock waves throughout
the carpet and flooring industry.
The Pergo name quickly became an icon for laminate flooring. The carpet industry was already reeling
from market share losses in schools and commercial facilities and
hardwood
flooring was becoming the new chic product for the residential marketplace.
Hardwood flooring, while beautiful, was a bit pricey for the average consumer.
Laminate flooring offered the beauty and ease of maintenance of hardwood, but
laminate pricing was a fraction of the
cost of hardwood. In comparing
laminate
flooring vs. hardwood flooring, laminate flooring is a very formidable option
for the consumer. Laminate
flooring prices are very competitive and their durability competes with
hardwood. Pergo laminate offered the best of both for consumers.
The carpet industry immediately went to work trying to find a dent in the
laminate flooring armor. Almost every testing lab in the Dalton, GA area,
at one time, was performing a barrage of destructive testing for
carpet
manufacturers on laminate flooring products looking for its' weaknesses.
The results were not good from a carpet standpoint. Laminate flooring was
found to be a long wearing, cost effective flooring product with few weaknesses.
As a result of this testing, many
carpet manufacturers opted to Join 'em
rather than try to beat 'em. Many older outdated carpet manufacturing
facilities were taken out of
carpet production and laminate flooring production
was begun in the Dalton, Ga area. In addition, construction of new
laminate flooring manufacturing facilities created a construction boom in the
Dalton area.
While laminate flooring doesn't carry the mystique of
hardwood flooring, it
does produce a reasonably close appearance and wears almost as well as hardwood.
With soap and water clean-up it provides the maintenance attribute of
vinyl
flooring, but the look of hardwood.
The most often overlooked attribute is it is easily installed as a
do-it-yourself flooring installation project. While the hardwood flooring
market continues to grow, carpet market share continues to grow, as well. The
real loser was probably the vinyl flooring industry. For the most part
vinyl flooring usage had been relegated to small bathrooms and kitchen areas.
While most homeowner continue to use vinyl flooring in their bathrooms (along
with ceramic tile), many homeowners now use laminate flooring in kitchen areas,
entry areas, and even family activity areas.
With the benefits that laminate flooring provides, it should continue to
capture market share from the other flooring alternatives.
Reciprocal Link Exchange
We'll be more than happy to include your flooring related
company in our directory at no charge. First Place our link below on
your website, then complete the
add your link
form. Once we confirm the location of our link, we will add
your link to our Partners Section
Need content? You
may use any article in this site at your website, or in your newsletter. The
only requirement is inclusion of the following sentence and link:
"Article by Michael Hilton of carpetbuyershandbook.com
- the Largest Online Source for Unbiased Carpet Information (http://carpetbuyershandbook.com)"
.
- Carpets of Dalton- Shop the
finest selection of
carpet,
wood,
rugs, and
tile at
Carpets of Dalton, the nations #1 place for floorcovering.
Unbeatable selection and prices on name brand, top quality floorcovering.
Call or e-mail for samples, prices, and unbeatable deals. Visit our
Carpets
of Dalton page on the Carpet
Buyers Handbook
product with few weaknesses.
