Mirage Floating Floor: Mirage Lock
An Engineered Hardwood Floor installed as a Floating Floor

Mirage Lock (a product of Boa-Franc Inc.™) is the newest product in their line of hardwood flooring. It is a real hardwood engineered floor, NOT a laminate.. so the first question I know you're going to ask is ...

What makes something an engineered floor rather than a laminate and how does the "floating floor" fit in?

Well first let me suggest that a "floating floor" is only in reference to how a floor is installed, NOT how it is made. A floor that is allowed to float offers installation options not typically available for traditional nail down hardwood. Thus Mirage engineered this floor to allow it to float for two good reasons:

1. Ease of installation: for those clients that were interesting in installing a wood floor on their own, this product needs very few tools and only a little knowledge from your local Wizard of Wood to finish with a beautiful looking floor.
2. A real wood floor: This give you a real wood floor that can be installed in below grade applications, where a solid wood floor is not recommended. It can even be installed in most cases over a radiant heating system.

Thus you can have all the awesome decorating features of a solid wood floor, but easily install it in environments that were not feasible before.

So then lets go back to our original question. What is the difference between this engineered Mirage Floating Floor vs. all the laminate flooring that I see on the market?

A laminate floor has a decorative surface that is not real wood. It is more like taking a picture of a piece of wood and gluing the picture to some sort of backer board. Then layers of liquid plastic coating are added to the surface to protect the picture. As such you can get a set pattern repeated on every board, especially ones that are the same length. If the picture gets damaged there is not way to repair it!

An engineered product like the Mirage Floating Floor "Lock" is made with a real wood decorative layer. That is the key different between an engineered wood vs a laminate floor. Mirage Lock has 3 great advantages:

1. Real Wood Face: The top decorative face is a 2mil layer of dry sawn wood to create a natural variation of colour and grain patterns typical of red oak or maple.
2. The 2 mil thickness is much thicker than most, giving you longer life and more resistance to daily abuse. In fact it is thick enough so that the finish can be screened and refinished, or touched up for minor rub marks.
3. The wood is dry sawn rather than peeled, as is the case for a traditional veneer, to eliminate the problems of veneer checking in dry climates.
4. It is available in many of the same colours that you find in the classic Mirage solid wood floor, so it is easy to continue from main floor to the basement with the same decorating theme.

This layer of wood has been laminated to a High-density fiberboard (HDF) core to deliver maximum stability in above, on and below grade applications. It is backed with a real wood veneer to stabilize the "sandwich".

Why HDF?

1. HDF is a postindustrial recycled material, thus more environmentally responsible then say plywood.
2. This is a high density rather than MDF (medium density) fiber board that some use, thus greater strength for impact resistance AND integrity of the locking joint mechanism! It stays connected!
3. HDF is more resistant to humidity fluctuation (as compared to MDF). probably the leading reason for gaps appearing on floated floors, thus the floor stays flatter and the joints stay tighter.
4. Cuts cleaner and more accurate edges then the plywood that some manufacturers use, so the fit is absolutely bang on every time! Installs like a charm and no wood slivers that interfere with accurate mounting.
5. Allows the solid wood upper layer more flexibility to expand and contract naturally with climatic changes, without delaminating or cracking. This is particularly important in areas like Sudbury, where humidity fluctuates from 30-60% seasonally.

Why did Mirage chose the "Valinge" Lock?

1. Provides a more robust design that is less prone to damage, and in fact can be taken up and reinstalling in a different location.
2. Offers a more secure connection.
3. and most important is that the way the lock engages you do NOT use a hammer to tap them in, so the floor does not shift around on you during installation.. always a real pain! (you know what I'm talking about if you have ever installed a traditional floating floor system, everything goes out of square and you're shimming the walls etc.)... this is way easier!
4. and maybe even MORE importantly, it locks the end boards together for superior performance. It prevent "joint slippage" and the resulting gaps common in the traditional tongue and groove systems. A common problem particularly in high traffic zones.

Each board is 7/16" thick, 4 5/16" in width and approx. 14-32" long in 5 fixed lengths, so that it looks and lays exactly like a traditional solid wood floor. It gives you the classy appearance of a wide plank floor without the warpage concerns of installing such a wide plank flooring in Northern Ontario's dry winter weather.

The Mirage Lock™ Floating Floor is finished with their ultra-hard wearing Nanolinx antimicrobial semi-gloss finish, with UV protection added on the natural oak and maple floors. It comes in many of the same colours that are found in its classic solid wood line of flooring making it great if you would like to carry the same product from upstairs down into the basement.

I hope we will see you in our showroom to check out Mirage's newest product, Mirage Lock. It really is pretty cool!

If you visited us at the most recent home show, this is the product we laid in our both at the show.. and it survived the abuse of 15,000 visitors... and 4" of hockey ice

More Information:
Mirage Lock Factory Website

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