Columbia Jefferson Oak Laminate

Q: We are looking at replacing our dog stained carpets with a nice laminate. We liked the look of Columbia’s Jefferson Oak Cashmere however I noticed on the specs that it is only 8 mm thick. We really want a decent surface that doesn’t sound too hollow. Should we be looking at a thicker product? Also, I saw a review on your site from a user who had some problem with denting, after dropping an object. We’ve got a 13 year old daughter, not the most careful of kids! Again, are we looking at the wrong product?
Thanks for a great website! Hope we can find something we can order from you.
Sheldon
A: When it comes to laminate thickness does not always dictate how durable a floor is, but it will give you an idea as to how strong the hollow or “clicky” noise will be when walking over the floor. Now as far as Columbia’s product is concerned it is fairly well made, but not amongst the highest tiers of laminate flooring in the industry. This particular floor is built to take a bit of abuse, but as is the case with any floor it will get damaged. If you drop a soup can from a kitchen counter it will dent the floor – the matter is simply how drastic this dent is.
Now if your primary concern is denting – such as dropped items, you could look into a higher rated laminate such as Quick Step’s Eligna or Perspective, Pergo’s Select, Westhollow’s South Pacific and similar collections. Your other alternative here would be to look into something like stone or tile as these are far more impervious to damage. A final alternative here would be cork flooring. Although cork is very soft compared to laminate, cork will naturally push denting out, meaning that dents slowly get removed.
For wood floors your best bet overall for durability will be a high quality laminate as they are simply built to take abuse. Now when it comes to the noise from a floor this is mostly dependent on the underlayment you choose. Basically put, if you want the floor to sound solid look into premium underlayments like Sound 6 or 6mm Cork. A majority of the foam underlayments produced, even those made by flooring manufacturers have very low STC ratings when compared to Sound 6 and Cork, which means more noise from the floor.