Pergo and other artificial flooring

[Glenn Corser]

Has anyone cut any of the artificial flooring available at a box store? I just did some experimentation with the cheapest stuff Lowe's sells (for some weird reason they were giving out free samples) and it seems to cut OK at low speed. It looks like some kind of fiber board with plastic veneer on it. The question is - does it have anything bad in it like chlorine, PVC, etc? It sparks and flares a lot, but I've been cutting a lot of Delrin lately and have become oblivious to anything but a bonfire.

[Dave Jones]

You'll probably have to go to the manufacturers site and look for the Material Safety Data Sheet to see if it puts out chlorine when burned.

[Joe Pelonio]

Unfortunately I found that most of these MSDS do not indicate the plastics in their composition, nor the contents of smoke when burned. Based on the MSDS you might assume they are OK but you don't know for sure. I ended up contacting the manufacturer of one high pressure laminate before doing a job and it was OK, but that doesn't mean they all are. Applying to black acrylic makes for nice laser cut lettering/logos for office walls. One of the "stone" finish flooring patterns would be nice for that too.