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I am about to lay down new laminate flooring over my new 23/32" plywood subfloors. I first was going to choice a 12mm thickness, but may go with a 8 mm.

I understand that a thicker mm is typically better because it is more solid, better sound resistance, feels more like wood etc...

But then I thought, a thinner laminate would be a bit more flexible and hide those minor floor leveling issues. (example, my 24 x 52 home has a very slight slant on one side of home as opposed to other side. Not enough to notice with naked eye but I'm trying to think ahead and assume settling over time can put it off a few more mm. So I'm thinking thinner laminate would be able to deal with these minor shifts over thicker laminate which may show more signs of buckling or dipping down slightly with human weight on it, Especially over the marriage line down center of home.

Does anyone have any experience with using 8mm vs 12 mm on a double wide? Any experiences or stories you have about using a thin over thick laminate?

I put down cheaper laminate in my kitchen. I had to replace some of the plywood because of flexing (there was particle board before, it wasn't rotted, just old and began to flex to much. My floor it still *slightly* flexible in some areas, and this had become a problem. The slight flexing has caused, over time, the laminate to separate at the joints. It's hardly noticeable now, but It's getting worse. Not sure if thicker laminate would have prevented this, but I'd decided that I'm going to rip it all out, lay down 3/4 inch plywood throughout my kitchen, dining, and front room and just lay down some good quality linoleum. I'd double check to make sure your floor is solid, because in my case, just some very slight flex in the floor of my doublewide is causing the laminate to slowly but surely separate.

If the floor is not level to begin with it will simply transfer the unevenness to the new floor in a few months. You need to at the very least use floor leveler if not the subfloor depending on how bad it is.

I personally think that the quality of the flooring is more important than the thickness.

Greg

I think I need to update my question:

I have already re-done the entire subfloor with 23/32" plywood.

And the floor is now fully level on both sides of this double wide home.

BUT: I'm wondering if it's better to go with 8mm or 12mm on a doublewide floor
which MAY in the future, have level issues on ONE side of the home as which happens over the years naturally on soft dirt that I am set on.

I want to install 12mm thick laminate, but I'm trying to think ahead of future floor settling and think maybe 8mm would be more friendly to future slight level changes on one side of home which can make floor bend. Not talking about a huge amount. Just talking about a few mm difference. Maybe 1/16" inches max. Would 12mm laminate boards bend just enough to deal with the changes or would 8mm boards make more sense since it's a bit thinner, thus would bend easier with the changes in floor level over time? Or am I overthinking this and either thickness would deal with it just the same?

Dude, I use 7mm in rentals, and it's all good. You're overthinking it.

Again, QUALITY. If in 5-10 years down the road you start having issues with the floor having dips it really won't make any difference, it really is only about 1/4" difference.
Since you were smart enough to use plywood you may never have a problem.

Greg

I have installed many square feet of both and like Greg said it comes down to quality. After you replaced the sub floor if it is good then you should not have any problems. If the floor changes over the years I don't think it will mater what thickness you get. As far as sound deadening, it all depends on the type you install. Plus there is an extra underlayment you can put down but for the cost I don't recommend it. Get a decent to good quality flooring and you will be fine. I find the ones with built in vapor barrier and padding work nicer and the way that some click together are a pain to install and others are very easy to install. Just make sure you leave enough room at the edges and also back cut all door jams to let the flooring float under them so you don't get any binding when the floor expands and contracts.

Ron

Thanks for the input to all!

Ya, I think I may be overthinking it. I found some information that states even though 12mm is "thicker" it doesn't mean it's more "dense" so it can be just as flexible as 8mm. So I'm going to stop worrying about that now and just hope it works out in the end.

I heard that you should NOT use planks that come with the pre-glued underlay cause it doesn't actually cover end to end and so you get more play where the connection edges meet.

How do I know which laminate is of "quality"? What should I be looking for? There is so many brands on the market.

The best way that I have found is to google the brand and find reviews on them. And take some of the reviews with a grain of salt, if you have one or two people out of 1000 that had a problem and only a few that had none it can slant the reviews to look like there is a problem. Try to stay with name brands, they are popular for a reason. I have had good luck with Armstrong & Pergo. I would use caution with Lumber Liquidators, My daughter got hers there and the quality was terrible as well as their support.

Greg

Well, due to time restrictions on when this floor job gets done I had to make a decision today and went with a 12mm I found at Home Depot.

It happen to be one on sale as a close-out. $1.39 a square foot. Name is: Pennslyvania Traditions Sycamore. Has a 25 year residential warranty.

current link is:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Pennsylvania ... /203879481

What I notice is no where online or in-store can I find out about what type of materials they used to make this brand. MDF, HDF? Then I noticed that all HD brands have no mention of materials they are made of. So is that a sign that it's inferior materials?

I did notice that all the backing at HD is stamped with a company called Clarion LLC.

anyone heard of Pennsylvania Traditions or used any of the Home Depot brands and had great results over time? (aside from PERGO brand which I assume everyone sees as a great brand to go with)

I googled Pennsylvania traditions flooring and did not find any BAD reviews so I guess that's a good thing.

Greg

I found the Clarion LLC name from backside of panels happens to be in Pennsylvania, (which makes sense to the "Pennsylvania Traditions" name)

According to their site, they do use high end materials.

On monday I am going to phone them to verify their "sycamore' 12mm, from HD closeout, is of this high quality

I had a customer that purchased that flooring and had me install it. It went down pretty good and have even done another room for the same customer with the same product six months after the first and so far everything seem to be fine. It is made of a type of MDF but I would say that they have come a LONG way since the original Particle Board. With waterproof glues and all this stuff seems to be pretty good.

Ron

how "high end" should it be for $1.39 per sq ft

lay it down, wear it out and replace it 20 or more years from now

I did call Clarion today (who makes a lot of boards for different name brands) and found that this product is of high quality MDF material and my installer says he loves it also. It goes together well and looks great. You can also visit their site for more specifications to see it's not just cheapo stuff. I can't believe I got it for only $1.39. I almost went with an 8mm for 2.69!

He is finishing the job by tomorrow. So far it looks fanatastic!

Thanks everyone for your comments!