Mid Browns

Choosing mid-brown laminate

The three mid-brown laminates, Golcuk, Safranbolu and Mundanya, are the conventional oak colour in a printed, click-fitted board: 8 mm thick, 193 mm by 1204 mm, melamine surface over a printed decor on a high-density fibreboard core, micro-bevelled, AC4, listed as compatible with underfloor heating, 25 year manufacturer's warranty, 2.32 square metres to the box. Golcuk also sits among the greys and Mundanya among the dark browns, which brackets the band: Golcuk cooler, Mundanya deeper, Safranbolu in the middle.

A mid tone is the practical colour for a laminate. It shows the least of any tone, neither the dust that a dark floor shows nor the scuffs that a pale one does, and the AC4 melamine surface takes the scratching that grit and chair legs cause. It suits living rooms, bedrooms and a home office, and it suits a house that will be redecorated more than once, because it sits under most schemes without argument.

The limits are those of any laminate: the core is wood fibre, and the laminate standard, quoted below, excludes rooms that get wet regularly. A kitchen with a dishwasher and a back door is the room where the mid-brown rigid vinyl floors, in the same tones on a waterproof core, are the better answer.

Laid floating over an underlay with an expansion gap at every edge, the boards go down in a day; the underlay decides how the floor sounds and how much heat gets through from underfloor heating, and the industry guidance on both is quoted below. For the same tone in real timber, the engineered natural oak boards are the dry-room alternative.