Laminate flooring has become the floor of choice for many homeowners in the past few years. It is an easy and affordable alternative to hard wood floors and has the same effect. It needs very little maintenance (unlike carpet), it is incredibly durable, and it comes in a wide array of colors / styles. Since being introduced to the US back in 1982, laminate flooring sales has seen a growth of up to twenty per cent per year. Not only is laminate floor affordable, but it also cuts on labor costs as it is easy to install.
Here is a step by step guide on how to install it yourself.
Tools needed:
– a rubber mallet
– a laminate flooring pull bar
– tape measure
– coping saw
– utility knife
– hammer
– nails
– laminate flooring
– underlayment pad
Prepare your laminate floor
You firstly need to get rid of your last type of flooring and prepare the floor for your laminate. Pull up your old carpet and padding. Remove all of the tack strips around the room's perimeter. You may need to scrape the floor to get rid of any padding sticking to it. Vacuum and if there are any noticeable dips, level them out. On a concrete slab, or another self-leveling compound may be skimmed on it. Next remove the baseboards and use the coping saw to cut off the bottoms of door jams, case openings, etc. This will probably be 1/4 "to 3/8" dependent on the combined thickness of the laminate and underlayment pad. It is recommended to buy the thicker pad; it is well worth the added expense.
Measure how much laminate flooring you need
It might sound obvious but you would be surprised by how many people guess the amount of laminate they need to buy and end up with either too little to complete the job, or wasting money on excess. You need the square footage, to get this simply measure the area's foot right to left and then forward and back. Multiply those figures together and that is your square footage. It is prudent to add at least 5% to that figure for scraps.
Install your laminate flooring First roll out the underlayment pad. Connect the pieces together with wide, clear, plastic tape. How your laminate planks connect depends on the brand you buy but they are all rather simple; most simply snap together. Remember to stagger the joints.
Laminate flooring is a type of "floating floor", meaning that it is all connected to itself but not to the house, so leave 1/4 "clearance at each wall. out before installing the baseboards.
As you go along you will need a few gentle taps with your mallet and pull bar to snug things up.
Things get tricky as you go through doorways; the best solution is to use your utility knife to trim the snapping connections on the adjoining planks.