Do you have some old photographs lying around collecting dust, or perhaps an old poster you got at a concert rolled up in a corner? Perhaps you have several memories and pieces of memorabilia lying around that you love and appreciate, but are too worried to break them out due to the chance of them being damaged.

Have you ever considered laminating them? Lamination film protects and preserves a wide variety of material. When applied to a photograph, you no longer have to worry about watermarks, scratches or other damage. Even items as large as a poster or map can be laminated. Lamination not only protects, but also adds rigidity and durability to documents.

The type of laminator you use depends entirely on the size of the item you are laminating and how many items you want to be able to laminate at once. There are two primary types of laminators, referred to as pouch and roll. Pouch laminators are more commonly found in homes due to their compact nature. Roll laminators are more commonly found in schools, businesses, print shops and other locations where larger items are laminated.

Pouch laminators use different size pouches to laminate photographs, business cards, report covers and other small objects. Pouches are available in several different sizes. Most pouch laminators use what is called a carrier to hold the pouch prior to lamination. This helps extend the life of the laminator and prevent jams.

Roll laminators use different widths of lamination film. The most common size of roll laminator is 27-inches wide. Some wide format laminators are as wide as 60+ inches and are designed to laminate banner ads. Roll laminators not only laminate large objects, but can also be used to laminate many smaller objects at once.

Both pouch laminators and roll laminators can use different thicknesses of film, referred to as a mil. A mil is one thousandth of an inch. Most roll and pouch laminators use film that is 1.5, 3 or 5 mils thick. Thicker film is also available, but the laminator has to be able to generate enough heat to laminate it. These thicker films come in 7, 10 and sometimes 15 mils thick. The advantage of thicker lamination film is added stability and rigidity. If the only concern is to protect the surface of the photograph or document, a thinner lamination film will suffice.

Don’t be too concerned about using a laminator. They have come a long way over the years and are a great way to preserve and protect your memories, promotional material and more.