Purchasing your own laminator will allow you to create professional looking documents that are well protected for a fraction of the price you would pay to a professional printing company. There are a few steps to getting your documents laminated. Although you will want to follow your laminators instructions on how to protect your documents, you will want to make sure that you know the thickness and size of the pouches that you will be using.

There are several thicknesses to choose from and some of them are able to be used on certain laminators and not on others. You should make sure you know your laminators limitations before purchasing. The thinnest laminating pouch available to the average consumer is 1.5mil. Most of the laminators out on the market will not support this thickness, it will provide limited protection but is very easy to crease and warp, but it should prevent tearing and damage from spills.

The next step up from 1.5mil is 3.1mil. This thickness is usually used for big documents. 3.1mil laminating pouches allow sufficient protection for your documents, but it is still very possible to damage documents that are laminated with this thickness.

5mil is the next step up, this thickness will work great with small documents, as it will give sufficient protection, and it gives your document some substance.

7mil pouches is quite a bit thicker than what you will normally see in a laminated document, usually the only items you will see laminated at this thickness might be a badge or something similar.

Finally the 10mil laminating pouch thickness is the thickest of the bunch. It can be hard to find a laminator to support the 10mil. This is typically used to laminate large professional signs that need to have a very solid and stiff feel.

Chances are if you are going to be laminating standard letter sized documents or smaller you will want to use the 3.1mil thickness. Just make sure before you purchase a laminator that you know exactly what thickness each laminator can handle. Research your laminating machines capabilities and test out a few different options before you start laminating your important documents. One good thing about laminating pouches is that they are not that expensive, so you should be able to afford to test out some different sizes and thicknesses without making much of a dent in your pocket book. When choosing your pouch thickness there is a fine line between too thick and not thick enough, so make sure you have a clear idea in your head of how thick you want the document to be and go for it.