Buyers Guides

We have two products that are used for laminating your documents, cards and other paper products.

Firstly laminating film, which comes on rolls, is used for laminating a variety of different sized documents. It is typically sealed around the paper product or whatever it is that you need to laminate using heat.

and secondly laminating pouches which are a fixed size and have a specific purpose e.g. to cover id cards or security passes.

Different types of laminating film

Standard clear laminating film
This is the most commonly used type due to its low price. It is suitable for most documents, and is often used for school projects, low cost print runs etc.

Matte laminating film
Another commonly used film, this has a non-reflective finish which helps to reduce smudging.

Satin laminating film
This film helps to reduce glare and reflection, and has a soft sheen.

Lustre laminating film
Similar to the Satin film (above) but with a sparkling sheen.

Gloss laminating film
This is a clear finish that emphasises colour. It has better definition than regular film.

Ultraviolet Laminating Pouches
These are used mostly for outdoor laminating projects, for example, open air art displays. They are specially designed to filter out the suns Ultraviolet rays which helps to reduce fading on the documents.

Low-melt laminating films
Low-melt films are also available, which makes it possible to use hot laminators on documents which may be sensitive to heat, although cold laminators are still preferred.

What to look for when buying laminating film or laminating pouches

Laminating film sizes
Laminating film comes in a variety of sizes to fit different documents. It is often sold cut to size, for example, ID card sized laminator pouches.

Laminator pouches start in 54x86mm sizes which is basically credit card size and then go up to A2 size which can be used for laminating posters. Laminating film is usually on 30cm (300mm) rolls or on 457mm laminating film rolls. The rolls of laminating film that we sell tend to come in 75 metre or 150 metre long rolls.

Thickness of Laminating Film (measured in microns)
Laminating Film also comes in varying degrees of thickness, the thickness of laminating film is measured in microns, 1 micron is 1000th of a millimetre, so if you have a laminating fim that is 100 microns then it is 0.1 millimetres thick.

Up to 150 micron laminating Film
This is a cheap film suitable for one time applications where quality is not a big concern. For example, school sports team sides, lost pet adverts. This film requires a higher temperature to bond the plastic due to its thinness.

200-300 micron laminating Film
This is the most commonly used film, giving good protection and quality to laminated documents. This is perfect for laminating signs or posters to go on the wall in the office.

500 micron laminating Film
These are used when a lot of protection and stability is needed, such as teaching materials which are to be used over a long period of time.

Lamination Styles

Single-sided laminating
This laminates just one side of a document.

Dual-sided laminating
This laminates both sides of the document for greater protection.

Magnetic laminating
This plastic laminates the front of the document, and coats the back in a magnetic film.

Transfer adhesive laminating
This laminates the document on both sides, and also coats it in a peel off adhesive. This can then be taken off as required, allowing the document to be stuck to surfaces.

Over lamination
This is a film which is cut to shape and laid out over floors and walls, for example, to cover drawn-on artwork, store fronts etc.