- Acclimation: Adoption of the laminate floor to its installation environment.
- Acoustical Properties: Absorbance, reflection or transmission of sound waves.
- Adhesion: All the forces which exists to join two similar or dissimilar materials in contact.
- Antistatic: Ability to limit the accumulation of static electricity.
- Backer: A material bonded to the back of panels.
- Balanced Construction: A panel construction that has materials of similar properties bonded to both sides of the panel.
- Bond: Adhesion.
- Chemical Resistance: The degree to which a material resists corrosive action of various household and/or industrial chemicals.
- Colourfastness: The ability of a material to withstand colour change on exposure to light (e.g. light resistance).
- Compact Laminate: A high pressure laminate with a thickness greater than or equal to 2mm.
- <Continuous Laminate: A manufacturing process where the laminate is formed on a continuous double-belted press.
- Continuous Laminate Flooring: A product created by permanently bonding continuous laminate to a core.
- Core: centre of a panel (e.g. surface layer, core, backer).
- Crook: A specific type of warping when a panel has curvature from end to end, edgewise, form a straight line (e.g. banana).
- Crowning: A specific type of warping when a panel assumes the shape of an inverted “n” lengthwise or width across the face (e.g. convex).
- Cupping: A specific type of warping when a panel becomes “u” shaped lengthwise or width across the face (e.g. concave).
- Decor Layer: The layer of laminate flooring providing visual aesthetic properties.
- Deflection: The bending of a materal between supports when a load is applied.
- Delaminating: Separation of the panel’s layer(s).
- Density: Weight of a panel weight in lb/ft3 or kg/m3.
- Depression: A dent in the surface of a panel.
- Dimensional Stability: The ability of a material to resist changes caused by enviromental factors (e.g. moisture or temperature).
- Direct Laminating Flooring: A product where resin impregnated materal layer(s) is permanently bonded to the core.
- Embossing: A process by which the surface of the panel is given a texture.
- Equilibrium Moisture Content: The moisture content at which the material neither gains nor losses moisture at a given relative humidity.
- Expansion Gap: A space necessary between fixed objects, i.e. walls of a room, pipes and cabinets, and between the material itself to allow for the movement of the material.
- Fibreboard: A core material primarily composed of cellulose fibres combined with synthetic resins or other suitable bonding systems under heat and pressure. The materials are usually designated as low, medium, or high density (e.g. MDF or HDF).
- Flame Spread: Measurement of the flame propagation along the surface of a material.
- Floating floors Flooring that rests on top of a subfloor without being nailed or guled down.
- Grain The direction in which floorboards are laid down.
- High Density Fibreboard: A fibreboard with density greater than 50 pounds per cubic foot or 800kg per cubic meter.
- High Pressure Laminate: A laminating process where materials are consolidated under heat and pressure exceeding 750 psi or 5.1 mpa.
- High Pressure Laminating Flooring: A product created by permanently bonding high-pressure decorative laminate to a core.
- Impact Resistance: Ability to resist fracture or damage from a falling object.
- Inlay: A decorative effect used in flooring by combining elements of the same material but with different colours or patterns, e.g. border or feature strip.
- Laminate: A material formed by fusing two surfaces together. Examples are Plywood (made from cross-banded wood veneers) and Formica.
- Laminate Flooring: A rigid floor covering with a surface layer consisting one or more thin sheets of a fibrous material (usually paper), impregnated with aminoplastic thermosetting resins (usually melamine). These sheets are either pressed as such (HPL or CPL, Compact), and in the case of HPL or CPL bonded on a substrate, or in the case of DPL directly pressed on a substrate. The product is normally finished with a backing primarily used as a balancing material. Its performance values are set by the NALFA Standard.
- Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF): A type of core material primarily composed of lignocellulosic fibres combined with a synthetic resin or other suitable bonding system and bonded together under heat and pressure.
- Melamine Resin: A thermosetting resin used in the impregnation process of materials used to make laminate flooring.
- Moisture Content: The amount of water in the material, expressed as a percentage of the dry weight.
- Moisture Meter: A tool used to measure moisture content.
- Overlay: A product of paper, plastic, film, metal foil or other material incorporated into laminate flooring that provides the wear resistence and protection.
- Panels: Finished sections of the laminate flooring, e.g. planks, tiles, squares.
- Parquetry Floorcovering in which variation in the appearance of individual boards is used for a decorative, mosaic-like effect.
- Particleboard: A core material primarily composed of cellulosic materials (usually wood), generally in the form of discrete pieces or particles, as distinguished from fibres. The celluosic material is combined with a synthetic resin or other suitable bonding system by a precess in which the interparticle bond is created by the bonding system under heat and pressure.
- Pattern End Matched: When the ends of the flooring panels, typically similar patterns, are matched end to end to yield a continuous linear effect.
- Peaking: Areas of the laminate flooring.
- Plank: A tile approximately five or six times longer than wide.
- Pressing: A manufacturing process whereby material layers are consolidated using pressure.
- Residual Indentation: Difference between the initial thickness after the removal of a load and recoery from indentation.
- Seams: A line of junction where panels are connected together.
- Stain Resistance: The degree which a material resists permanent discoloration form exposure to household items.
- Substrate: Core.
- Subfloor: A pre-existing supporting surface in a structure.
- Surface Layer: The outermost layer of laminate flooring designed to be the visible side when installed (e.g. wear layer).
- Tile: A panel of geometric shapes (e.g. squares, rectangles, etc.).
- Thermosetting Resins: Resins that cure by chemical reaction to form bonds and do not melt when exposed to heat.
- Thermo-fusing: A process where resins are consolidated under heat and pressure to create a permanent bonding.
- Tongue and groove Floorboards with a tongue, or rib, on the front edge and a groove on the back. The tongues and grooves of adjoining boards connect to create a tight, flush joint.
- Unerlayment: A material used between the laminate flooring and the subfloor (e.g. foam padding).
- Veneer Very thin slices of decorative timber applied to less expensive materials; or layers of wood glued together for added strength.
- Warp: Crowning, cupping or crook.
- Wear Resistance: Ability of the laminate flooring surface to resist wear through to the decor layer.
- Wear Layer: Surface layer.
