Pergo vs TrafficMaster Laminate: Telling Old Floors Apart

2026-10-24 · discontinued-flooring

Pergo vs TrafficMaster laminate comes down to brand origin, price tier and how much information is printed on the planks. Pergo is the Swedish brand that introduced laminate flooring and has been owned by Mohawk Industries since January 10, 2013; TrafficMaster is The Home Depot’s in-house flooring label. Both were sold side by side at Home Depot for years, so many homes with an unknown laminate floor have one or the other. The two brands rarely click together in one floor, even when the colors look similar.

The comparison below explains how the brands differ and how to tell which one is already installed before searching for replacement planks.

Brand background

Pergo grew out of Perstorp AB, a Swedish maker of decorative laminate panels for worktops and walls. During an internal brainstorming session called Idé-77 in 1977, the company proposed using its laminate as a floor covering. The first product, Perstorp Golv GL80, went on sale in Sweden in 1980. The name Pergo, a contraction of Perstorp and the Swedish word golv (floor), followed later in the decade. Mohawk Industries completed its purchase of Pergo on January 10, 2013. Mohawk’s closing announcement put the price at $150 million in cash, and the brand now sits within Mohawk’s Unilin flooring division.

TrafficMaster is a private label sold only through The Home Depot. Over the years it has covered carpet, carpet tile, sheet vinyl, vinyl plank and laminate. Shaw Industries is commonly named as a manufacturer of TrafficMaster products, although private-label flooring can be sourced from more than one factory over a product line’s life. TrafficMaster laminate was usually positioned as the entry-level choice in the store, below Pergo and other premium labels.

Pergo vs TrafficMaster laminate at a glance

How to tell which brand you have

The most reliable evidence is paper rather than the planks themselves. Leftover boxes in a garage or attic usually show the brand, the collection, the color name and a model number. Home Depot purchase history, either from an online account or a receipt lookup at the store, can also list the exact item.

Without a box, the back of a loose plank is the next place to check. Pergo planks often carry printed text or a logo on the backing layer, along with production codes. TrafficMaster laminate backs tend to show production codes with little or no branding. A plank can be removed from a closet or along a wall without disturbing the main floor, as described in our guide to reusing closet flooring planks.

Physical details help narrow the field further. Measure the plank’s thickness, width and length, note whether the edges are beveled, and look at the locking profile. Two floors with the same wood color but different thicknesses or click systems will not lock together, so these measurements matter more than the brand name when hunting for a match.

Finding replacement planks for each brand

Pergo collections tend to stay on the market longer and are well documented online, so a model number or color name often turns up on resale listings for years after the product leaves stores. TrafficMaster laminate colors were changed more often, and many are now discontinued with no direct successor. For those, searches in online resale listings, local buy-and-sell listings, local classifieds and Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations are the usual route. Our page on finding discontinued TrafficMaster flooring lists search terms that work well, and the TrafficMaster laminate flooring overview covers individual color names. Retired Pergo styles are covered in where to buy discontinued Pergo laminate flooring and the discontinued Pergo XP colors reference.

When an exact match cannot be found, a contrasting plank used as a border, a transition strip at a doorway, or pulling planks from a closet to patch a more visible area are common workarounds. See looking for discontinued Home Depot flooring for requests posted by other readers.

Whichever brand is on the floor, a match request works best with the label details listed in how to write a match listing and clear photos taken as described in photographing a flooring carton for a match. Buyers and sellers arranging delivery can refer to shipping leftover flooring boxes.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pergo better than TrafficMaster laminate?

Pergo was generally sold as the mid-to-upper option in the aisle, and TrafficMaster as the entry-level store label. That is a price-tier observation, not a rule about thickness or wear rating. Some TrafficMaster laminates and some Pergo lines share similar plank sizes, and ratings were printed per collection. Read the AC rating, thickness and warranty on the carton or listing for the exact product; do not assume every Pergo plank outlasts every TrafficMaster plank.

Can Pergo and TrafficMaster planks be mixed in one floor?

Usually not. Different manufacturers use different locking profiles and thicknesses, so planks from the two brands rarely click together cleanly. See the locking systems and leftover flooring table for Uniclic vs brand click vs GripStrip families. Using a transition strip between rooms is the safer approach.

What does “glueless” mean on a TrafficMaster carton?

On older TrafficMaster laminate boxes, “glueless” usually means the planks are meant to click together without glue. It is an installation label, not a promise that one TrafficMaster color will lock into another, and it does not make a TrafficMaster plank compatible with Pergo.

Who makes TrafficMaster laminate?

TrafficMaster is a Home Depot private label. Shaw Industries is often cited as a manufacturer, though the supplier for a given collection may differ. Check the carton or the retailer listing for the collection you have rather than assuming one factory made every TrafficMaster laminate.

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