There are dozens of laminate flooring brands, but only a handful are as renowned as Mohawk’s laminate flooring. The company is one of the innovators of hard flooring products and has been around for the evolution from the early years of cheap-looking laminate flooring to the much-improved laminate floors we know today.
Mohawk Industries has over 200 laminate flooring options. Just for the sheer number of products, Mohawk laminate should be one of the top three brands you consider. Here’s why.
Company Overview
Founded in 1878 in Amsterdam, New York as a carpet mill, the company was originally named Shuttleworth Brothers Company until it merged with another Amsterdam-based mill – McCleary, Wallin and Crouse, eventually adopting the name Mohawk Carpet Mills.
From 1956 to 1988, Mohawk merged or was acquired by several companies, including Alexander Smith, Inc. and MHS Holdings. The company changed names from Mohawk to Mohasco, then back again to Mohawk Industries when it went public in 1992.
Today, Mohawk is a conglomerate that has acquired 34 companies with products focusing on carpets, rugs, tile, stone flooring, hardwood flooring, vinyl and laminate flooring industries.
Mohawk Laminate flooring products are categorized into three lines: RevWood, RevWood Select, and RevWood Plus.
- RevWood – Mohawk’s entry-level laminate flooring line all come in 7-inch thick planks, but you can choose from 5- to 8-inch thick planks as well. This line mostly has traditional wood finishes, but it offers over a dozen collections (including Kingmire, Reclaimed Chic, Carrollton, Chalet Visa, Havermille, Rare Vintage, Rivercrest and Wood Escape). Each collection has 3 to 12 colors, so imagine the number of options you have.
- RevWood Select – Mohawk’s Select line measures 12 mm thick and 7.5 inches wide. They are categorized into six collections (Woodcreek, Briarfield, Granary Oak, Boardwalk Collective, Rare vintage, and Fulford), each with 3 to 10 color options available. What makes the Mohawk Select line stand out is the advanced waterproof technology, where the planks are Hydrosealed to perfection. Even steam-cleaning won’t affect these planks.
- RevWood Plus – Mohawk’s premium line is available in different widths and 10mm to 12mm thickness. There are 8 collections within this line (Antique Graft, Hartwick, Western Ridge, Castlebriar, Southbury, Crest Haven, Sawmill Ridge, and the most popular “Elderwood”). Each collection comes in 4 to 5 color options. In addition to the Hydroseal waterproofing, RevWood Plus also boasts GenuEdge technology that gives the planks bevelled edges, making them look the closest to real wood.
Pros and Cons
Benefits:
- A TON of options: Aside from the basic wooden color choices, you’ll also have unique colors like “ebony” and finishing options (such as hand-engraved or embossed) to go through. The availability of colors in each price range also means people of all walks of life could afford Mohawk laminate flooring.
- Advanced waterproofing technology effectively blocks liquid from the blanks
- RevWood Plus looks like real hardwood flooring
- Uniclic joint system makes Mohawk laminate flooring very easy to install, even for first-timers
- Backed with Pet warranty
Disadvantages:
- The lifetime warranty isn’t lifetime. If you look closely at the fine print, any RevWood line is only covered for 20 years.
- You won’t find any faux tile or faux stone looks on any RevWood line.
Price and Hidden costs
RevWood is the most affordable line with planks ranging from $2 to $2.50 per square foot.
RevWood Select is Mohawk’s mid-range laminate flooring line that costs between $2.25 and $3 per square foot.
RevWood Plus is Mohawk’s premium line, so it is the most expensive, priced between $2.50 and $4 per square foot. Compared to other brands in the market, RevWood Plus is still in the mid-tier price range.
These prices may be lower or higher depending on which store you buy the flooring from. If you’re not planning to install them yourself, you should also consider the cost of bringing in a contractor to install the flooring for you.
Installation
Mohawk Industries built its RevWood laminate flooring with its patented Uniclic locking. If you’re going to install these planks by yourself, this Uniclic technology lets you “snap-together” each plank without using glue, screws or nails.
Mohawk spent years perfecting this snap-together technology so any laminate flooring project could take as quickly as a single day. For experienced contractors, this could mean additional time to accept more work. For do-it-yourself homeowners, installing Mohawk laminate flooring could be a weekender project.
Care And Maintenance
Mohawk produces its own floor cleaning products, which are recommended for laminate floors. To clean RevWood floors, you have to apply Mohawk’s cleaning product to a dry soft cloth, which you will then use for wiping the floor. (FYI, mopping laminate floors is a no-no!) Always finish cleaning by wiping the Mohawk floor dry.
Even if Mohawk advertises the RevWood laminate flooring as waterproof, it is still not recommended to let water stand on the floors for too long. If the planks get scratched or suffer from light damage, it is possible to repair them with fillers or colored pencils. However, bigger chips would require replacing the entire plank.
Mohawk Industries back the RevWood laminate floors with a limited lifetime warranty. This means the company covers the products 100% for up to 6 years, then 90% coverage from years 7 to 10, dropping to 80% from years 11 through 16, and reduced 5% coverage per year until it reaches year 20 and stops with 10% warranty coverage.
I also appreciate that Mohawk laminate flooring is backed by All Pet Protection & Warranty, the only pet-friendly protection system included in all Mohawk hard and soft surface flooring products.
Overall Opinion
Laminate flooring is perfect for homeowners in need of a revamp and love the look and feel of wood but who aren’t willing to deal with the hassle of real wood. Unlike the dreaded laminate floors of the past that turn yellow over time, modern laminate flooring is a lot cheaper and can truly compete with hardwood and other types of flooring.
Mohawk laminate flooring competes directly with other top brands Shaw, Pergo and Armstrong, but Mohawk trumps them all when it comes to the number of options. There are simply too many wood textures, colors and patented technologies Mohawk offers its consumers.
