Laminate flooring is an affordable, stylish flooring product that can work well in lots of areas of your home. While you'll want to stay away from using this product in your bathrooms because water can soften it, it can be a suitable choice in such areas as your living room, hallways, dining room, bedrooms, and more. Laminate flooring products can vary significantly in appearance, but it's common to see several different types that depict wood. Here are some things to check if you're shopping for laminate that looks like wood.

Wood Grain

Some people like hardwood flooring that has a lot of grain, while others prefer the look of hardwood that has little in the way of visible grain. Given these different mindsets, you can expect to see laminate products that depict lots of grain and other products that have minimal grain. Think about what your preference is, as this will allow you to buy the right product for your home. You may feel that laminate that features lots of grain looks more like actual wood than a product that has minimal grain.

Knots

You can also expect to see a considerable variance in the presence of knots when you look at a handful of laminate products that look like wood. Some of these products feature lots of knots, while others depict knots only sporadically. As with assessing the look of the wood grain, you'll need to decide how much you like the look of knots. If you feel that their presence helps to make a particular laminate product look a lot like actual wood, you might feel that a knotty laminate product is the best choice for your home.

Color

Laminate flooring products that look like wood are available in all sorts of different colors. Some look like wood that has a minimal finish on it, appearing in various shades of light brown. Others are much darker, suggesting dark types of wood that are finished with a dark stain. You'll even see flooring products that have reddish and yellowish tints, which can add a splash of color. Others appear in different shades of gray, suggesting a weathered, barn board-style type of wood. Certain colors will likely be a perfect fit in your home, and you may also find that specific colors look more like actual wood than other colors.

Learn more about laminate flooring that looks like wood by visiting a local home flooring retailer.