Laminate flooring is one of the easiest floorings to install. It does not require any grout, mortar or adhesive. When you learn the basics and everything involved in laminate flooring, you wouldn’t need to employ an expert for the job because you would basically do everything by yourself in a few minutes.
Laminate flooring attaches itself without the use of nails and stays in position. It doesn’t fasten to the subfloor as it is a floating floor itself. While installing a laminate floor, it just feels like solving and trying to get a puzzle at the right place and doesn’t require much effort. It only takes a few minutes to install and you are good to go.
Necessary equipment/tools needed for installing laminate floor
- Utility knife
- Hammer
- Rubber mallet (if required)
- Measuring tape
- Tapping block or pull bar
- Straightedge
- Speed square
- Pencil
- Saws such as circular saw, jigsaw or handsaw
- Chalk box
- Table saw(if required)
Necessary materials needed for installing laminate floor
- Laminate flooring
- Underlayment and measuring tape
- Scrap wood spacers
Procedures
- Clear out all obstructions and carefully trim the borders of the room. Sweep the floor thoroughly prior to installation.
- Ensure that the floor of the area you want to install laminate flooring on is flat and smooth. You can also install laminate flooring on your old vinyl sheet so far as it is smooth and flat. For the base, you can use foam sheeting. However, if the surface of the floor is rough and dirty, you can make use of thin plywood prior to placing the foam sheets and then laminate flooring
- It is advisable to place the laminate planks on the floor of the area of installation and check how they would look like when they are finally installed. It is simpler to place the laminate flooring itself instead of measuring and computing. Immediately you are done examining the layout of the floor with the planks, pull them out and keep them at a place.
- Underlying the laminate with a foam layer before installation helps to prevent noise and makes walking around on the laminate simpler. Unfold the underlayment sheet and pull the edges closer so they touch each other. Then strongly fasten the seams with an adhesive tape or any tape as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Most underlayment sheets have a peel and stick edges inside them and hence you do not need extra adhesive tape to join them. Carefully cut the underlayment sheets using the utility knife so that it takes the shape of the wall and other obstructions and suit them perfectly.
- Then start placing the planks starting from the longest wall after trimming the edges that would face the wall. Begin from the right and move to the left as you work. Place a full plank on the floor and space them out (1/4 to 3/8 inches at least ) as instructed by the manufacturer so they don’t touch the wall and ensure the groove edge is at the front. Lay scrap wood in between the wall and the flooring so as to prevent the gap from closing up. Once you finish the first roll, plan out the next rows until you get to the last row.