Laminate Wood Floor Installation
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Laminate wood floor installation. Sounds like a very difficult job best left to professionals, doesn’t it? Perhaps after reading this post, you may decide to undertake the job yourself and save yourself some serious money on your new wood floor. Like any do-it-yourself home improvement project, installing wood flooring takes attention to detail and the patience to follow a step-by-step process. Obviously, the first step is to read the directions. This is not a time to follow the “real men (or women) don’t need directions” philosophy.
We’re going to talk about installing a laminate wood floor because installing this kind of floor is the easiest one for beginners to tackle as the panels in laminate flooring snap together and are tapped into place using a mallet and wood block. Laminate wood floors also require no glue and that can be a difficult aspect of solid hardwood flooring installation.
Laminate Wood Floor Installation — Prepare the room
Think of this as wood floor installation 101. Preparation is always key. Make sure that your sub-floor is level and even. Even the most beautiful and carefully installed wood floor can’t compensate for a bumpy sub-floor underneath. You’ll need to remove old carpeting, if any. A light sanding to take off any residual glue will leave you with a ready sub-floor for your laminate floor installation. Whatever sub-floor you have, make sure you have swept up any debris or dirt before you begin your installation. You don’t need to remove other types of flooring like vinyl tiles or old wood flooring.
Remove all the baseboards, moldings and doors in preparation for the installation.
Prepare the wood floor for installation by acclimatizing it to where it will be installed for at least two days. This will give the flooring a chance to adjust to the particular levels of temperature and humidity in your home. Obviously, you will want to have the laminate floor materials inside the house for those two days. Take a few moments to inspect all the boards and make sure none are damaged. Once you install your laminate floor, you won’t be able to get a refund.
Here is a tool check list:
Carpenter’s square
Circular saw
Measuring tape
Utility knife
Hammer
Rubber mallet
Pry bar
Vacuum
Wood block
Protection for your eyes and ears
Pencil
Remove all the furniture from the room.
Laminate Wood Floor Installation — The underlayment
Lay the moisture barrier (sometimes called underlayment). This thin foam pad serves several purposes. It prevents moisture from the sub-floor from seeping into your new floor, it creates a sound barrier so that you have quiet floors and it also evens out little imperfections in the sub-floor. Your flooring manufacturer will be able to recommend the best type for your particular situation.
Make sure that you don’t overlap the underlayment as this will cause bumps that will make your floor uneven. Tape the edges of the foam together to keep them in place. Use spacers to make an expansion gap between the underlayment and the walls. For large rooms, use half-inch spacers. For small areas, a quarter inch will do.
Laminate Wood Floor Installation — Laying the boards
Aesthetically speaking, flooring planks are best installed so that the sunlight coming into the room is parallel to the way the boards are placed. Begin your installation in the corner of the room that is going to be most visible. For boards that will be up against the walls, you will need to cut off the ‘tongue’ part of the boards and use the same spacers as you used when you put in the underlayment.
Lay an entire row along the wall. It will be easy to put the planks in place as you simply insert one end of the board into the other at a slight angle and then push the board into place. For the most ‘genuine’ look, it is best to mix your planking from several boxes in each row. That way, you get the most natural look overall when you have finished your laminate installation.
When you reach the end of this first row, you will need to cut the last plank so that it fits up to the spacer. Remember, measure twice, cut once!
Beginning at the starting point of your first row, use a piece of board that is a different length than the one you laid first. Put the second row of planking into position and use your rubber mallet to tap the pieces together. Continue with this process until the entire room is done.
The final step in your flooring installation project is to put your baseboards back into place and trim your doors to accommodate the height of the new floor. Clean up and put your furniture back in the room. Sit back and congratulate yourself on your new laminate wood floor installation.
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