Window Shopping: Laminate Flooring

Laminated Flooring for the Second Floor

As with the first set of bathroom tiles, my sister chose the design for the laminate flooring that will cover the entire second floor. Hmmm... this is turning out to be her house... I must admit that I preferred the other option (which you can see here) but she said it was too "busy".

This design is from Krono Original but here's the list of contenders:

- Kronospan

Warranty: 15 years
Branches: Home Depot (Alabang & Ortigas)
Website: http://www.kronospan.com, http://www.krono-original.com

Price: Php 1148.45/box or Php 515/sqm

Notes: The original price was Php 1671/box or Php 752/sqm but they're trying to get rid of their old stocks so it's on sale while supplies last according to the sales agent.

- Kronotex

Warranty: 15 years
Branches: Home Depot (Alabang & Ortigas), Wilcon Depot
Website: http://www.kronotexusa.com

Price: Php 1647.25/box or Php 789.35/sqm

Notes: Part of the KronoGroup.

- Pergo

Warranty: 15 years
Branches: Wilcon (Alabang & Ortigas - Design Source) and MC Home Depot (Fort & Ortigas - Design Source), Ace Hardware
Website: http://www.pergo.com

Price: Php 1816/box (no installation) or Php 2018/box (with installation)

Notes: The price above is based on Pergo Universal. If buying from Ace Hardware, please note that their prices are much higher - Php 2229.75/box (no installation) - than if purchased at Design Source which is the official Philippine distributor.

- Steiger

Warranty: 6 years
Branches: Home Depot (Alabang & Ortigas - Design Source) and MC Home Depot (Fort & Ortigas - Design Source), Ace Hardware

Price: Php 975/box (no installation) or Php 1126/box (with installation)

Notes: I read online that the higher the quality, the longer the warranty. So while it was cheaper, we decided to go with something that would be under warranty for at least 15 years.

Laminate Flooring: Krono Original

This was a no-brainer - they were on sale.

Though for a few days, I was seriously considering Pergo. But as someone online pointed out, they are not the only good brand out there.

 Shortlisted Design Options

And while I'm not sure if Krono Original uses the Uniclic system (which you can read about here), it does come with a 15 year warranty.  According to my research, laminated floors should be under warranty for at least 15 years as "the lower-end lines have shorter warranties".

It also helps that the last time we purchased laminated wood, we also bought the same brand. But I can't really say how they've fared long term as our room got flooded last year during a typhoon - just two years after it was installed.

Trivia: There's another brand called "Kronotex" being sold locally. According to Joseph, the sales agent at Alabang Home Depot, the owner of Kronospan (which makes Krono Original) gave the business to one of his sons.  The other son decided to put up his own company and called it Kronotex.

He also said that Kronospan was the one who supplied all the parts to Pergo before they decided to go at it themselves.