Joe. Are you looking to install the Hydroshield laminate in your home?

While I have not installed this product, I can tell you how to read between the lines of how they advertise it. With almost all laminate flooring products the issue with water damage is when water gets under, or starts under the laminate, or more common when water gets into the seams of each plank. The top layer, the "good looking" part of the laminate is pretty waterproof. With the lower end products the locking mechanisms are very easy to damage during installation, and even with just every day walking on the planks. In a perfect world, your floor would be totally flat so there would be no movement when you walked on your laminate floor. Since we don't live in a perfect world, your laminate is not on a perfectly flat surface. So as you walk the planks move, and they get damaged. Which leads to those seams being wider and easier for water to get through. Not that it matters really since even with laminate that not damaged on the seams, water will get in.

This whole 24-hour protection is just them playing the odds. I have installed and removed tons of laminate flooring that held up for 5-10 years without any issues. Thats due to them being the higher end products, great floor prep during the installation done correctly without damage to the planks. Added to mostly just luck, but being in homes where kids, and pets are not helps laminate hold up.

Part of the catch on how they can claim 24 hr protection is where they require the entire perimeter of the laminate to be sealed with 100% silicone which is 100% waterproof. Some laminate also requires some sort of foam filler along with the silicone. Now they might not line item charge you to have that stuff done during the installation, but you bet you the one paying for that foam, and the silicone, and that's not cheap. It's going to be close to enough that you could just say the BS and get a 100% waterproof LVP flooring.

If you're not into the LVP products for whatever reason, you may what to look into engineered hardwood. its a much better product then laminate, and in alot of cases cheaper too.

hope that helps.

I've soaked a Aquaguard water resistant laminate sample board in water for 30+ hours and it came out intact. I was able to align it with another sample board (of a different pattern) perfectly. Granted it's a short piece not the whole plank but I didn't see any sign of "water soaked up", the board still measured 12mm thick when I took it out of water. I was impressed.

olinpolo, drop the sample in a tub of water for a week. It will swell. Most people wont know they have a leak until a few days or weeks after the fact.

Floating LVP would be best. Products like Coretec, Novocore, Hydro Cork, Armstong Luxe collection etc would be best for comfort, noise reduction, 100% water proof and much more durable than laminate. The products listed above are vinyl plank with a cork backing. The Hydro Cork is a vinyl top and bottom with a cork center. This product is best for not allowing moisture to pass through the seams.

I’m installing hydro shield flooring..It’s decent at best...Some goes together ok and some does not...I didn’t buy it the customer did...I would guess it is on the cheap end....

I suppose we can't expect miracles unless we're going to buy rubber flooring. However I can say that I have it installed in my house. My Carpenter was lazy and didn't clean up the scraps on the deck after he installed. Then I was lazy and didn't clean them up either. After 6 months of sitting out in the cold, rain, and snow. Some boards were ever so slightly warped at the edges. I didn't buy it for the waterproofing, but overall I was pretty impressed.