The 7 NALFA "Need-to-Knows"

1. NALFA stands for the North American Laminate Flooring Association. We are the ONLY trade organization exclusively dedicated to the laminate flooring industry.

2. Our organization was founded in 1997 by a group of US and Canadian laminate manufacturers and importers who saw a need to promote the continuous and responsible growth of the laminate industry.

3. One of our primary missions is to help consumers navigate through the confusing and stressful floor buying process through research and education.

4. Industry leaders who participate on the NALFA board of directors and serve on NALFA committees do it on a completely volunteer basis. They receive no compensation for their services.

5. NALFA became an accredited ANSI standards developing organization in 2008 and has published testing standards for laminate flooring and underlayment products. Today, these tests are an industry standard for quality.

6. The NALFA certification seal is given to laminate flooring and underlayament products that pass the rigorous ANSI product standards testing. It represents the highest quality you can buy. Look for the seal before you make the deal!

7. NALFA membership is open to a wide variety of businesses who support the laminate flooring market: manufacturers, marketers, importers, retailers, installers, testing labs, buying groups, and suppliers of laminate flooring goods or services.

What’s Not to Like about Laminate Flooring?

Laminate flooring is quite possibly the best all-encompassing package for your decorating dollar and perfect for busy families who want low maintenance flooring. Check out this impressive list of benefits:

1. Laminate flooring is extremely durable

Protected by a tough external layer and resin coating, a laminate floor is much stronger, and more scratch-resistant, impact-resistant and longer lasting than any hardwood, vinyl, or carpet. It’s virtually resistant to dogs, cats, kids and even high heels.

2. Laminate flooring is stain, fade, and moisture resistant

Most laminate flooring manufacturers offer extensive warranty protection against stains, fading, and moisture damage. Hardwood floors, on the other hand, are subject to wood grain staining, fading in sunlight, and can scratch and dent easily.

3. Laminate flooring is easy to clean and maintain

Laminate's superior stain and moisture-resistant surface coating makes spills and other messes easy to handle. This special surface doesn’t require waxes or varnishes to keep it looking great.

4. Laminate flooring is easy to install

The introduction of glueless laminate floors revolutionized ease of installation in the industry. Not only are the flooring sections smaller, designed to interlock, and easier to work with, but laminate floors can also be installed over most non-textile existing subfloors. In this “floating floor” method of installation, the laminate floor is laid or “floated” over the existing subfloor without being glued to the surface. This saves considerable time and installation cost. Moreover, laminate floors are easy to un-install and replace quickly and easily when it’s time for a style update.

5. Laminate flooring is economical
Not only is laminate flooring generally less expensive than other hard surface floors to start with, but when its durability and longevity are considered, it becomes a particularly economical choice.

6. Laminate flooring offers a variety of styles
While many laminate floors simulate the authentic look of hardwood or stone, the possibilities for new styles and colors are limitless. A variety of color tones and patterns enable you to match the floor with the exact mood and style of your room, whether it’s rich and elegant or cool and contemporary. We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the availability, realism and quality of today’s laminate floor styles.

7. Laminate flooring is environmentally friendly
Laminate flooring is made from wood and wood by-products, and does not involve the harvesting of rare or endangered trees.

Is it green? Or just green paint?

By: E.C. “Bill” Dearing, President, NALFA

Visit any flooring department today and you’ll see a plethora of green colored signage—in fact, you have to look hard to find any display that doesn’t indicate, at the bare minimum, that a product will not cause adverse environmental impact. Some claims even make promises of saving the planet. So how does a consumer recognize overstating and greenwashing? What do the claims really mean? Is laminate flooring really “green”?

To answer the question about laminate flooring’s “greenness”, we’ll focus only on our NALFA Regular and Associate Member’s products — and with good reason. Unless a product is tested to NALFA standards, it cannot make claims about its relative performance to these standards with any certainty.

The first concerns of a shopper usually are the features and benefits, with sustainability now at the top of the list. When laminate flooring was introduced to North America in 1993, it was significantly ahead of most other flooring in environmental sustainability. It originated in Sweden who was striving towards “green” at least eight years before sustainability hit the average North American’s radar screen. The manufacturing process was extremely efficient in its time in order to make prices competitive, which in turn kept sourcing and production steps at a minimum. Finally, the product’s life cycle ended with further recycling of most of its components, or used as approved heating fuel or farming additives.

The Scandinavian consumer considered environmental recognition important and when a company was awarded the Scandinavian Green Swan for example, its logo was extensively promoted. Indoor air quality was linked to environmental concerns and once again, laminate flooring came through. Reported as superior to other flooring by various country’s health departments in this regard, Laminate Flooring rapidly replaced other options in these countries. By the way, “Laminate” refers to the tiniest component of a NALFA Member’s product which is the environmentally friendly protective cover that you can’t see yet gives well made Laminate Flooring its distinctive benefits of Wear, Fade and Stain.

NALFA Certified Laminate Flooring continues this tradition. For example, all of our Members’ products are CARB compliant. We invite anyone to visit www.nalfa.com for a complete update of our Green Standard initiative as well as a list of our Members, both Regular and Associate. From there, you may further link to our member’s sites where you will find that most have been awarded significant environmental recognition. A core NALFA belief is in our transparency; no smoke and mirrors, and never any deceptive statements.

It takes an effort for a company to claim genuine NALFA Certification and anyone concerned with sustainability (consumers, architects, dealers, installers, etc.) can visit our site and be directed easily to the standards that back up our NALFA Certification process. The NALFA certification seal, which gives a shopper and dealer assurance of quality and suitability, is proudly displayed by every NALFA member. And yes, it is “green”.