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- 303-366-0721
- Brosflooring@gmail.com
- 303-366-0721
- Brosflooring@gmail.com
- 12001 E 33rd Ave. Unit M Aurora, CO 80010
Around Denver, laminate flooring installed generally runs about $5 to $11 per square foot including materials and labor. Thin builder-grade laminate sits at the low end, thick, high-traffic-rated planks with attached underlayment at the top. That is the market range, not a quote for your house. What moves your number is the plank’s thickness and wear rating, the subfloor, what has to come out first, and how many rooms and transitions are in the job.
Denver hardwood floors since 1994. We install laminate too, and we will tell you when it is the right call and when it is not.
Laminate is the least expensive way to get a wood look on a floor, and it has come a long way. Modern laminate has convincing grain, real texture, and click-lock planks that go down fast over almost any flat subfloor. It is also the product people most often regret in the wrong room, because most laminate is not waterproof. Get the room right and it is a good, honest floor. Get it wrong and a dishwasher leak ends it.
The plank. Thickness and the wear rating are what you are paying for. Thicker planks (12mm) feel more solid underfoot and hide subfloor imperfections better than thin ones (7 or 8mm). A higher abrasion rating means the surface holds up to dogs, chairs, and grit longer. Attached underlayment adds a little to the plank price and saves a step on the install.
Water resistance. Standard laminate swells if water sits on it. Water-resistant laminate costs more and buys you time to wipe up a spill, not a waterproof floor. If the room gets wet, that is an LVP conversation.
The subfloor. Laminate floats, so it needs a flat surface. Humps and dips in a slab or old plywood show up as bounce and separated seams. Leveling is its own line item.
Tear-out. Carpet is quick. Tile, glued-down vinyl, and old hardwood are not.
Layout and transitions. Every doorway, closet, and change of direction is a cut and a transition strip. Open rooms are efficient. Choppy layouts cost more per foot.
Stairs. Quoted per step, separately, and laminate stairs need matching stair nosings on every step. See the stairs page.
| Choice | Lower end of the range | Upper end of the range |
|---|---|---|
| Plank thickness | 7 to 8mm | 12mm with attached underlayment |
| Wear rating | Light residential | Heavy residential or commercial rated |
| Water resistance | Standard laminate | Water-resistant core and sealed edges |
| Subfloor | Flat and sound | Leveling needed |
| Tear-out | Carpet | Tile, glued-down flooring, old hardwood |
| Layout | Open rooms | Many rooms, closets, and transitions |
| Installed cost | About $5 to $11 per sq ft, materials and labor | |
They look alike on the shelf and they are not the same product. Laminate is a dense fiberboard core with a printed wood image and a hard clear wear layer on top. Luxury vinyl plank is plastic through and through. That difference decides where each one belongs.
Laminate is harder and more rigid. It feels closer to wood underfoot, it dents less, and at the same quality level it usually costs a little less than LVP. What it cannot do is get wet. Water that sits on a seam swells the core and there is no fixing it.
LVP is waterproof. Basements, laundry rooms, mudrooms, bathrooms, and rentals where a supply line failure is a matter of when, LVP wins without a debate. It is softer underfoot and can dent under heavy furniture, and it runs about $5 to $12 per square foot installed around Denver.
Neither one can be sanded or refinished. When the wear layer goes through, the floor is done. If you want a floor that gets renewed instead of replaced, that is hardwood installation, and the full pricing guide walks through that math.
| Laminate | Luxury vinyl plank | |
|---|---|---|
| Installed cost, Denver market | About $5 to $11 per sq ft | About $5 to $12 per sq ft |
| Waterproof | No (water-resistant at best) | Yes |
| Feel underfoot | Firm, closer to wood | Softer |
| Dents | Resists dents | Can dent under heavy furniture |
| Repairable | No, planks get replaced | No, planks get replaced |
| Refinishable | No | No |
| Best rooms | Bedrooms, living rooms, hallways, offices | Basements, laundry, bathrooms, rentals |
Colorado’s dry air is easy on laminate most of the year. The thing to watch is the seasonal swing. A fiberboard core takes on and gives up a little moisture with the air, so the floor needs its expansion gap at every wall and a proper transition at every doorway. Skip those and you get peaking seams in the humid weeks of summer. We leave the gaps, hide them under the base, and set the transitions where they belong. That is most of what separates a laminate floor that lasts from one that buckles in year two.
We measure, check the subfloor for flatness, look at what is coming out, and give you a written number that does not move unless you change the scope. Free, no obligation. We install laminate, LVP, and hardwood, so we have no reason to push you toward one. If you tell us the room and how you live in it, we will tell you which floor belongs there.
Brothers Flooring, Denver hardwood floors since 1994
Serving Denver and the metro area, including Wash Park, Park Hill, Congress Park, Sloan's Lake, Cherry Creek, Highlands Ranch, Centennial, Englewood, Cherry Hills Village, Littleton, Aurora, and Lakewood
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Around Denver, laminate installed generally runs about $5 to $11 per square foot including materials and labor. Plank thickness, wear rating, subfloor prep, and tear-out move the number.
Usually a little, at the same quality level. The bigger difference is water: laminate is not waterproof and LVP is. Pick by the room first, then by price.
We do not recommend it. Standard laminate swells when water sits on it. For basements, bathrooms, and laundry rooms, LVP is the right product.
A high wear rating laminate handles claws and grit well and resists dents better than LVP. Accidents that sit on the floor are the risk, so wipe up fast.
No. The wood image is printed under a clear wear layer. When that layer wears through, the plank gets replaced. If you want a floor that can be renewed, that is hardwood.
Since 1994.
Built on Quality — Rooted in Trust