If you are thinking about laminate in today’s market it may come as a surprise to you that just a few years ago laminate was 100% glue together at the tongue and the groove. While this was still a “floating floor” it was not as cool as the newer generation of clic floors (click flooring). Uniclic, aka flooring industries, which was acquired by Mohawk industries Mohawk Industries, Inc.
(Public, NYSE:MHK) and as usual this turned out to be a brilliant move. MHK is one of the best at making acquisitions and then completing integrations of assets of any company in the world, let alone the flooring category.Valinge has also created a series of technology advancements in the patent science of clic flooring, but I would say that unilin owns the laminate category by in large. There are other pieces to the puzzle including Pergo, Classen, Faus, Alloc, Junkers and many more I am sure. Frankly it is tough to figure out who covers what.
http://www.ifloor.com/articles/lam/pickclick.html
PICK A CLICK
I wrote an article a few years back about picking a click together laminate which deserves an update, but the reason I thought about this topic today was more related to the fact that engineered hardwood is about to undergo the same kind of transformation that laminate did.This time many experts I have talk to generally believe Valinge has the edge in the hardwood category.
While just a couple years ago the concept of a clic flooring or clic laminate or click hardwood in general seemed like a fairy tale today it is fast becoming a reality. I remember the first time a manufacturer told me about their tests for a glueless locking system. I was flabbergasted and I came up with at least 10 reasons why it could never work. (This points out the obvious, which is that I don’t know enough!)
As the next great chapter in the clic flooring begins I will be watching. Lots of cool stuff coming.