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laminate floor install help

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Omegachi

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I need to install laminate flooring in my house but I am not sure where to start. I have never install laminate floor before but after reading instructions and talking to people, I don't think its that difficult. I will be installing the laminate on concrete flooring, so I will need a moisture barrier (the laminate comes with a 1/16" thick padding under each piece). The question I have is, where should I start my install? I don't want to separate the rooms with Tmoldings even though this would make the install easier because I can start anywhere in the house. I am thinking it might be easier to start in the hallway first and go into the bedrooms and living room. Because if I do it the other way, starting in the bedroom or living room, I might end up having to cut a really small strip and have to lay that in the hallway and around the kitchen tiles. This is the layout of my home
laminate.jpg
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So for those of you who has experience with laying laminate/hardwood floors, where should I start my project?
 
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It's your preference.

I will tell you that we did a laminate in our kitchen, with the padding that came with. It SUCKED. Spend the money for premium padding under the floor - it's worth every penny.
 
We did our upstairs in a high-quality Armstrong laminate, and tbh after a year I'm not very happy with it. It has a lot less rigidity than wood, which in your case won't be an issue since you're going over concrete. It's amazingly moisture sensitive... which would give me pause before putting it in a basement. No matter how careful the install is you end up with some "bent corners" (looks exactly like the bent corner on a piece of paper), and lastly its not very dimensionally stable: it shrinks lengthwise when the air dries out, and expands again when the moisture content goes up.

When I met the guy who put it in, first thing he says is "Why you putting laminate down?" "Can't afford wood," I said. He grunted and walked away. Bad sign.
 
Do exactly as sixone said: Buy a premium underlayment. Get the install kit which has the proper tools for setting the ends/corners in place and it also has the end spacers you need.

I would start in the bottom right corner of the bedroom on the bottom right. You will have all of your "grain" running side to side instead of up and down. Take your time, borrow a good miter saw if you don't have one to make your cuts , and again, take your time. It is not difficult.
 
What they said+

I've done 4 installs (about 4,000 sq/ft total) and did not use transitions on them; with a quality laminate and new baseboards, it can look really nice.

Avoid the cheap/inexpensive flooring. Get the good padding, moisture barrier.

You will need a jamb saw, jigsaw and laminate blades; absolutely necessary if you're wanting to avoid transitions between the rooms. You'll also need a table (or circular) saw with a high tooth count blade (don't go cheap or you'll wear it out and get sloppy edges).

When installing, I removed all of my baseboards and put new ones back in; this is the only way to do it for continuous flooring since you have to accurately space the flooring and provide enough room for expansion and contraction (the ability to go under the drywall helps tremendously). Not removing your baseboards will look horrible if your floor floats too much and exposes an edge.

Since you want a continuous floor, start in the middle running left to right at the doorways and lay out where you'll end up at the top and bottom interior and exterior walls to make sure you won't have a really skinny piece; you can adjust about a half a board each way if you have to. If you're extremely lucky, you won't have a really skinny piece at any wall. If you do and have removed your baseboards, it's not as much of an issue and you can go pretty narrow if you have to.

Use knee pads.

Get the pull/pry bar, tapping block, etc. Either in the kit or separately.

Good luck!
 
No one mentioned this therefore they are all wrong, you need a chalk line.

You also need a grasp of geometry. I framed houses for years and I can tell you not to trust your walls to be square. If you use the walls as a starting point when you come out of the bedrooms into the hallways nothing will match up. It's been about a year since I installed laminate and I can't remember if it's possible to lay it in reverse or not.

If it is with the product you get I would measure out form the living room and bedroom and snap a line down your hallways then start from there. Working both ways until finished.

Don't sweat your cuts at the edges of the walls because usually your base and shoe will cover errors up to an 1/2 an inch with ease.

Also, don't listen about needing a high quality blade and table saw. I installed over 20 houses worth of laminate when I was a carpenter with a circular saw. Any ugly cuts are hidden by your baseboards and shoe. When installing your trim you will need a good miter saw with a good blade.

Take the time to learn to cope your baseboards and shoe. Miter the ends of your shoe where it meets door trim. If you do those things it will come out looking great. I die a little inside when I see and expensive house with 45 degree angle cut base and shoe.
 
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VulgarDisplay said:
Take the time to learn to cope your baseboards and shoe. Miter the ends of your shoe where it meets door trim. If you do those things it will come out looking great. I die a little inside when I see and expensive house with 45 degree angle cut base and shoe.
Click to expand...
Miter how?
 
Thanks for the tip guys.

Here is another question. Do I need to remove the sliding closet door track to lay the laminate under? or is there a way to leave the track in place and install the flooring around it but somehow make it look nice.
 
Reviving this since I still need help.

The laminate I bought comes with an underlayment on the bottom of each piece. Is this sufficient as an underlayment or do I have to get another one?
 
Hey there,

I wouldn't suggest going with laminate since we HAD it in our home and it did not work out for us at all! We went with installing oak hardwood flooring in our living room and with ceramic tiles in the kitchen. We had one of London flooring companies install it and we are delighted with the end result
 
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alangf56 said:
Hey there,

I wouldn't suggest going with laminate since we HAD it in our home and it did not work out for us at all! We went with installing oak hardwood flooring in our living room and with ceramic tiles in the kitchen. We had one of London flooring companies install it and we are delighted with the end result
Click to expand...

I imagine the OP made his or her decision already, seeing as the original post was 14 months ago.
 
Number 1. Deterimine which way your floor joists go and run perpendicular to those...this is so you don't get the roller coaster effect.

Once you determine which way they go (hopefully long ways down the halls, but they don't always work that way), I would start on the longest wall you have.

Take a tape measure and measure the distance between opposing walls in 3-4 different places where the distance should be the same. The numbers you come up with will be slightly different. Average those measurements and divide by 2 to decide the average middle line of the room. Make marks across the subfloor on where that middle line is...snap a chalk line across those marks. Then measure back to the wall you're starting on and come off it 1/2" or 1/4"...whatever the quarter round will cover....and mark multiple places...meausring from the center line...then snap another chalk line close to the wall as your starting point.

That's how I square a room when laying hardwood. Laminate typically is a floating floor, but you can still get out of square and run into trouble on the opposite wall. I'm typically no more than 1/8-1/4" out over 12-15' runs.

You can break up rooms by purchasing thresholds to go between rooms. It's advised since laminate is typically a room by room install.
 
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