Installing Laminate Flooring
One of the easiest floors on the market today to be installed by the do-it-yourselfer is laminate flooring. Installing laminate floors can be done easily, quickly, and inexpensively. Laminate flooring has become very popular in home remodels, and in a rental property, due to the fact that it can be replaced easily and cheaply.
To install a laminate floor, first you’ll need to remove all prior flooring in a particular room. Having a clean floor is important to keep any excess noise down. The last thing you want to do is walk on her laminate flooring in here crunching from below from dirt and sand that was left behind.
The next step in prepping your room for installing the laminate flooring, is to undercut the jams of each doorway in the room. To do this lay a piece of laminate flooring against your doorjamb, and mark on the doorjamb how high the laminate is off the ground. Next you will need to take a doorjamb salt, and undercut the jams so that the laminate will slide underneath your doorjamb’s. Next, vacuum up all remaining saw dust and dirt.
After your floor has been prepped and is clean, it is now time to lay down the laminate flooring Pad. There are different qualities and brands of padding, and these different paths are different prices for good reason. Some padding is definitely better than others and will be quieter when walked on, giving your laminate floating floor anymore real wood feel. Make sure to tape all seams of the padding, to ensure that it is a solid moisture vapor barrier.
Is best to run the laminate flooring, long ways along the longest run of the room you are laying it in. Start by putting 3/8 inch spacers against the longest wall in the room, and lay your first row of laminate flooring and press it firmly against spacers. You want to make sure that you have 3/8 inch space on the left and the right sides of the room as well. Simply work your way out of the room. If you have any trouble with laminate plank’s going together, there is a laminate installation kit available at Lowe’s and Home Depot that comes with a tapping block that will allow you to tap the laminate planks together without damaging them.
Once you have made it to the doorway in which you will be stopping your laminate, is important that you make a transition from one flooring to the next. This is usually done by way of a T-mold transition piece. This T-mold should be glued down to the sub floor below. After you have completed laying all the laminate flooring, next you must install core around trim along all the base boards to ensure that the laminate flooring stays down.
