LESLIE: Reuben in Virginia tunes in to The Money Pit on WJFK and you’ve got a flooring question. How can we help you?
REUBEN: Yeah, I was just interested in knowing how well does manufactured flooring handle like a wet basement?
TOM: When you say manufactured flooring what kind are you talking about?
REUBEN: The Pergo or the other snap-together flooring.
TOM: Perfect choice for the basement. Perfect.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. Laminate flooring is a perfect choice because it’s manufactured from plastic to look like anything under the sun from wood to tile to ceramics; I mean a ton of different choices; even natural stone. And because they’re made from plastic they’re perfect for high moisture areas like the basement; anything below grade like that; a bathroom; a kitchen. I mean they really are. That’s what they’re made for.
REUBEN: I thought that since it looks like particleboard on the back it wouldn’t handle that well.
TOM: Well, it’s actually medium-density fiberboard. And I’ve got to tell you, I took some of that laminate floor when I was doing a television show once and I soaked it in a vat of water overnight. It had absolutely no impact on it. So it really is durable stuff. I’ve had it down in my kitchen for probably close to 10 years now and it’s just stood up incredibly well. So we’re big fans of laminate.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: I think it’s a perfect choice for your basement or a bath.
LESLIE: And with some of the laminate flooring options that are out there some might have an underlayment already attached to the backside; some you’re going to need to buy a separate underlayment and roll that out on top of whatever your floor is in the basement. I mean they really are a good choice and a lot of the ones where you go for an option that looks more like a natural material – maybe a stone – when they’re produced they use a photograph of that natural image and then that picture is sort of etched and put onto that new flooring piece itself. So it really does emulate whatever it’s trying to mimic very, very well.
REUBEN: Oh, thank you very much. That’s good to know.
TOM: You’re welcome, Reuben. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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