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May 13, 2022
Tarkett laminate flooring probably isn’t the first choice that pops up when you look for the best laminate flooring brands. In fact, Tarkett is a rather obscure brand, at least in terms of residential flooring. So you’re probably wondering: is it any good?
That’s exactly what we’re here to find out! Below you’ll find a comprehensive guide based on thorough research and the input of hundreds of Tarkett laminate flooring reviews. We’ll cover:
Ready to learn whether Tarkett is worth buying? Let’s get started!
Or, click here to jump to our final judgment call!
Table of Contents
Tarkett laminate flooring is, for all intents and purposes, fake wood flooring. But more generally, what is laminate flooring? And what’s the difference between laminate and hardwood floors?
Well, hardwood floors are made from real wood (of course) while laminate floors are made from layers of wood byproducts and other composite materials. Though it’s not hardwood, you can create any and all wood floor designs with laminate.
From top to bottom, here’s how most laminate is made:
This all might sound meh, but the best laminate flooring is nearly indistinguishable from real hardwood. So, to sum it up, laminate is one of the best flooring options for people who like the look of hardwood flooring, but don’t want to pay hardwood prices.
Tarkett is a bit of an obscure flooring brand in the United States, at least as far as the residential market goes—but they’ve been around in one form or another for almost 100 years. The original company is rooted in France and they’ve only recently started to make headway in the U.S. market.
As for what Tarkett offers, they make many different types of flooring divided into two main categories: carpets and hardwood floor alternatives. The latter can be broken down into sheet vinyl, LVT, and today’s main feature, Tarkett laminate flooring.
Tarkett laminate is only sold at Menards, which puts it in the same league as Select Surfaces laminate flooring and Costco laminate flooring. Or in other words, this is a big box store brand so temper your expectations.
If you’re unfamiliar with Menards, it’s a big-box home improvement chain like Home Depot or Lowes—but it’s only found in the Midwest.
To the main event! Here’s how Tarkett laminate flooring breaks down.
Overall, there are 6 collections of Tarkett laminate. Each collection only features a handful of looks (all of which mimic various types of wood flooring) along with different wear layers.
Also: each of the following uses a click-together flooring system—in other words, they’re all floating floors; no glue-down products here.
Price: $2.00–$3.30/square foot
Tarkett AquaFloor Plus comes in three different wood-look patterns. It features a limited lifetime residential warranty and a 10-year commercial warranty. Each plank is 12mm thick, water-resistant, and features an excellent AC4 rating.
All laminate is given an AC rating out of 5, which measures how resistant the floor’s surface is to damage. AC5-rated products are fit for heavy commercial applications while AC1-rated products are… well, basically cardboard.
Anyway, Tarkett AquaFlor Plus has an AC4 rating which is, as we said a moment ago, excellent.
Price: $2.00–$3.30/square foot
The AquaFlor Premier line offers the exact same specifications as the AquaFlor Plus collection, except it also comes equipped with an underlayment that “reduces sound and installation time.”
Oh, and AquaFlor Premiere only offers 2 styles.
Price: $1.00–$1.70/square foot
The Bravado and Invitation collections are essentially the same floors, but in slightly different color palettes. Lke the previous collections, Bravado and Invitation only come in a handful of different styles (Bravado offers dark hues while Invitation features light wood floor colors).
Anyway, each floor is 8mm thick with an AC3 rating (translation: standard residential durability). The collection doesn’t have a commercial warranty, but the limited residential warranty lasts 25 years. Neither of these collections is water-resistant.
Price: $1.80–$2.00/square foot
Tarkett’s Grovewood collection upgrades the Bravado and Invitation collections in 3 ways: it has a pre-attached underlayment, 9mm-thick planks (also with an AC3 rating), and a 30-year residential warranty.
Like the previous collections, Grovewood only comes in 2 styles and it’s not water-resistant.
Price: $1.80–$2.00/square foot
The last Tarkett laminate flooring collection, Malibu, is the only one to use an embossed-in-register (EIR) technique, which Tarkett calls “realistic grain and matching embossing” for enhanced realism.
Despite the more authentic look, the Malibu collection isn’t water-resistant and its planks are only 9mm thick with an AC3 rating.
In many ways, Tarkett laminate is bound by the general pros and cons of laminate flooring.
However, let’s be clear: this isn’t premium flooring, so Tarkett laminate, unfortunately, comes with a few more cons of its own.
Anyway, we’ve read through hundreds of Tarkett laminate flooring reviews to bring you these key points from people who have actually bought the product. We’re just the messenger here!
First, let’s talk about Tarkett laminate flooring’s advantages.
Like most laminate, Tarkett’s laminate is pretty easy to clean and maintain. Regular sweeping or vacuuming should get the job done.
You can also mop the AquaFlor collections—just make sure that floors are able to dry shortly after. As for the non-water-resistant collections, we only recommend using a laminate-specific cleaner (because Tarkett laminate reviews agree that these floors really don’t like water).
Tarkett laminate flooring is exceptionally affordable compared to other types of laminate. The most expensive option only costs about $3 per square foot, a far cry from high-end products like Shaw laminate flooring (and don’t even get us started on the cost of real wood flooring).
Here’s a price breakdown:
All that said, keep in mind that we’re only talking about how much it is to buy Tarkett laminate flooring. You’ll still have to factor in the cost to install laminate flooring, which generally runs between $2–$7 per square foot.
One of Tarkett’s core values is sustainability. While we won’t go as far as saying that Tarkett laminate is eco-friendly flooring (it uses plastics and binders in its makeup), each floor is FloorScore-certified as low-VOC flooring.
What does this mean, exactly? Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are harmful chemicals that are found in many man-made products. In order to qualify as zero- or low-VOC flooring, a brand has to subject its products to third-party testing, hence Tarkett’s FloorScore certification.
And since it’s come up with other brands (ahem, Armstrong laminate flooring), we should note that Tarkett does not have any VOC scandals. You can trust that their products are safe, non-toxic laminate flooring.
Let’s first say this: aside from the Malibu collection, Tarkett’s faux textures aren’t as nice as those offered by the best laminate flooring brands. But, they’re still pretty good and Tarkett laminate flooring reviews tend to mention this.
The AquaFlor collections of Tarkett laminate flooring are definitely the best the brand has to offer. An AC4 rating is officially considered exceptionally scratch-resistant flooring, and while we’re not sure it’s more durable than say, the most durable wood flooring, it’s pretty darn robust.
Best of all, Tarkett laminate flooring reviews seem to agree for the most part. The downside is that there are only 5 style options available.
Outside of the AquaFlor collections, all other Tarkett laminate flooring collections have an AC3 rating. While this is an obvious downgrade from their AC4 floors, these floors are still rated for heavy residential traffic.
If you’re looking for the most durable flooring options, you’re better off looking elsewhere—but Tarkett laminate flooring should be fine for the average household.
And now for the bad.
We should preface these cons by saying Tarkett laminate flooring is meant to be a budget option, so they’re not necessarily trying to compete with premium floors. Nevertheless, here are Tarkett laminate flooring’s drawbacks.
If you’re looking for the best flooring for a bathroom or the best flooring for a kitchen, you might want to keep looking. Technically, AquaFlor is only water-resistant—it’s not true waterproof laminate flooring—and Tarkett recommends cleaning up spills and splashes immediately.
If you’re looking for actual waterproof flooring options, we recommend checking out Tarkett’s vinyl flooring—or better yet, check out products from the best vinyl plank flooring brands.
Despite offering 6 collections, there are only about a dozen different styles in total, all of which imitate popular wood floor colors and patterns.
We would say this is a result of the company being more of a budget brand, but many other brands of the same caliber, like TrafficMaster flooring, offer way more styles.
Outside of the AquaFlor collections, Tarkett doesn’t make any other laminate products that are approved for commercial settings.
Acclimation periods help a floor adapt to its intended environment to prevent warping after it’s installed. The top laminate flooring brands usually need 24 hours or less (if any time at all) to acclimate, but Tarkett laminate needs at least 48 hours.
This isn’t a red flag, exactly, but it is unusual—even for budget flooring.
We already mentioned that Tarkett laminate isn’t in the same price range as top-tier laminate. So: we’re going to compare it to some other budget brands (as well as one medium-to-high-end brand just for fun!).
Newton markets itself as a budget brand. But, to be frank, their products punch way above their weight class (check out our Newton flooring reviews if you want to see what we mean).
For about the same price as Tarkett flooring, Newton offers a much wider selection of styles, AC4-rated floors (aside from 1 AC3 collection), and many waterproof and water-resistant floors. In short, the comparison leans heavily in Newton’s direction.
Random aside: Newton is also one of the best hardwood floor brands (in case you’re looking at real hardwood products, too).
AquaGuard flooring is one of the rare exceptions when a big box store product is actually pretty great. For one, AquaGuard’s floors have an AC5 rating (the best rating laminate can get) and it’s fully waterproof. Now, it’s a bit more expensive than Tarkett, but the upgrades are also notable.
AquaSeal flooring is sort of like a budget version of AquaGuard. It has fairly mixed reviews but its waterproofing seems to be better than what Tarkett AquaFlor offers. So, if you’re looking for inexpensive bathroom or kitchen flooring, AquaSeal isn’t a terrible option. But otherwise, we’d say Tarkett laminate is the better choice.
Before we wrap up, here are some answers to Tarkett laminate flooring FAQs.
Tarkett doesn’t really challenge the status quo when it comes to its laminate.
Like most laminate products, it offers a base layer made of HDF board, a “decorative” layer that gives the floor its look, and a protective wear layer. However, Tarkett laminate does offer what they call a “balancing layer” that essentially protects the core from moisture and offers dimensional stability (for that last part, the word “guarantee” is thrown around).
Additionally, the Soundlogic 932 collection of Tarkett laminate flooring also includes a cork underlayment that offers enhanced insulation, quieter steps, and comfort (laminate is notoriously hard underfoot). Unfortunately, this collection is not sold in the United States.
Tarkett only makes floating laminate floors (and what is a floating floor, anyway?), which means they use a click-lock system (think Legos) and use gravity and friction (as opposed to glue, nails, or staples) for security.
The process is pretty simple and a favorite among DIY-ers, but there are floating floor disadvantages, too.
We don’t recommend this. Low-traffic areas like bedroom flooring are acceptable, but we strongly advise against installing Tarkett laminate as kitchen, mudroom flooring, or even laundry room flooring (because the moisture risk is too high).
Tarkett laminate simply isn’t up to the heavy-duty nature of these rooms.
We’re adding this one in here because many people (even experts) have trouble telling engineered hardwood vs. laminate apart.
The best engineered wood flooring brands make some of the best flooring products period. These are real wood floors that take advantage of modern technologies, such as waterproof coatings and dimensionally stable cores (basically, they’re resistant to temperature and moisture changes). Even mediocre engineered hardwood can probably be considered a high-end flooring choice.
The downside is that engineered hardwood is expensive. The cost to install engineered hardwood floors is more expensive than buying most laminate flooring, which again, is only made of wood byproducts (among other things).
If you want laminate that looks and feels just like the best hardwood floors: no. Tarkett laminate flooring does a good job imitating real wood, but other brands like Newton offer textures that are arguably more convincing.
The silver lining of buying Tarkett laminate over buying hardwood flooring is that the savings are, on average, immense.
No. You can find Tarkett vinyl at Lowes, but the big box store doesn’t carry Tarkett laminate flooring.
Yes, underlayments protect floors from moisture damage (and some options offer added benefits). Occasionally you’ll find products don’t need an underlayment, but we generally recommend one anyway because A) it won’t hurt your floor (unless it’s improperly installed), and B) it’s usually a small investment.
Sidenote: underlayments are often interchangeable. For example, you can probably use a vinyl flooring underlayment with laminate (and vice versa).
Tarkett doesn’t mention radiant systems (normally used for heating wood floors) in any of their documents, so our gut reaction says no, you cannot use them with Tarkett laminate flooring.
With rare exceptions, we don’t recommend installing floors over carpet.
Carpet matts under pressure (even products from the best carpet brands) and there’s no way to make sure this happens evenly. As such, you may find that your floors feel wonky not too long after installation.
Yes, Tarkett is actually one of the bigger names in the commercial flooring market. They don’t, however, make commercial laminate flooring.
Let’s be blunt: if you’re looking for the best laminate flooring around, Tarkett isn’t it. At the same time, Tarkett laminate flooring isn’t bad either—it’s just, well, average.
The best thing Tarkett laminate has going for it is its price. The top options only cost about $3 per square foot, which is certainly more wallet-friendly than Shaw’s $4–$5-and-up price tag. On the other hand, brands like Newton and AquaGuard offer notably better products for either the same price, or slightly more.
So in the end, we have a hard time justifying Tarkett as a viable flooring option. Ultimately, Tarkett doesn’t really do anything to justify choosing its laminate over other, more established brands.
And with that, we’re done! Oh, and for more flooring ideas, be sure to check out the articles below!
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Would not put Tarkett flooring in my home if they gave it to me for free. Substandard product, poor customer service, does not honor warranty.