Core is Topdeck's working range: laminate, hybrid and tile for the places timber can't go, specified for residential, multi-residential, retail and commercial fit-out. Hybrid and laminate can look alike, and both click together as floating floors, but they are built on different cores, and that changes how they meet water, heat and the mop.
Two different cores
Laminate is built on a high-density fibreboard (HDF) core, under a decor layer and a wear layer rated by abrasion class, AC3 to AC5 across Core. Hybrid is built on a rigid SPC (stone plastic composite) core. Avala, for example, combines a 5mm SPC core and 0.5mm wear layer with a 1.5mm IXPE underlay attached beneath, 6.5mm in all.
The collections
Prime Laminate:
- Deluxe Edition: 1215 × 196 × 8.3mm
- Contemporary Plus Edition: 1215 × 195 × 12.3mm
- Luxury Edition: 2280 × 192 × 12.3mm
- Legend Collection: 2200 × 239 × 12.3mm, on a DynaCore+ core, AC5
Hybrid:
- Avala: 1524 × 183 or 230 × 6.5mm
- Lumière Ultra HD: 1524 × 230 × 7mm
- Storm Luxury: 1800 × 225 × 7mm
- Artisan Tile: 620 × 310 × 9mm, a tile format
- Belle Vie: 625 × 125 × 7mm herringbone
Water
A hybrid board is waterproof. The installed floor, though, is not a waterproof membrane: water can pass through joints and perimeter gaps to the subfloor, so spills are still wiped up at once and wet-area waterproofing is still required. Laminate is wood-based. The Legend Collection has a surface water-resistant construction that resists everyday spills from above, but no laminate installation forms a waterproof membrane, and spills are wiped up immediately.
Mopping
- Hybrid: a medium-damp mop from time to time; never a steam mop, and never liquid poured directly on the floor.
- Legend Collection: a normal damp mop, and a medium-damp mop to spot-clean; never a steam mop.
- Deluxe, Contemporary Plus and Luxury Editions: never wet-mopped, damp-mopped or steam-mopped; a very slightly dampened, near-dry mop to spot-clean.
Heat and sun
The hybrid guide sets optimal conditions at 18–30°C and 30–70% relative humidity, with the space kept between 3°C and 50°C at all times. Its care guide calls for blinds on windows and doors exposed to heat and high UV, as constant extreme heat and direct sun will damage an unprotected hybrid floor. Laminate is held at 18–30°C and 30–70% relative humidity before, during and after installation.
The Topdeck Limited Warranty does not recommend underfloor heating for Prime Laminate or hybrid floors. A heated floor is raised with Topdeck before anything is specified.
Installation
Both are floating floors. Laminate is never glued, nailed or screwed down; hybrid is never nailed or screwed, and glue-down is not recommended except on staircases. Laminate cartons are conditioned in the room for at least 48 hours, and hybrid boxes for 24 hours. Laminate keeps an 8–10mm expansion gap at walls and fixed objects, with an expansion break at 9m across the plank width or 12m along its length for the Deluxe, Contemporary Plus and Luxury Editions, and at 12m and 18m for the Legend Collection.
Ratings
On fire, the Core hybrids record CHF 10.3–11 kW/m² and Prime Laminate 5.8–8.8 kW/m². On slip, Core ranges from P1 to P4, and the hybrids carry AAAC acoustic ratings of 5 Star or 6 Star. The full results are in Reading a flooring test report and on Downloads.
Choosing
Hybrid suits rooms where spills and humidity are the concern, as a waterproof board that can be damp-mopped. Laminate suits projects that want a longer or wider plank, such as the 2280mm Luxury Edition or the 239mm-wide Legend Collection, in a 12.3mm board. See both in Core.
