Installing a Laminate Floor
Here are some before and after pictures of a Laminate Floor that we installed in our house back in February.
As you are probably aware, removing your older carpet and replacing it with a new Laminate floor can make quite the difference. I have helped to install many Laminate and hardwood floors, and having recently purchased a house, I’m planning on writing a series of articles on Home Improvement.
Keep Reading Below for my Laminate Floor Installation How to.
The Apeman.org Laminate Floor Installation How to.
Tools Required:
- Laminate Floor Install Kit. (IKEA has a cheap one that works well. Half the price of Home Depot kit).
- A Jigsaw/Sabre Saw is the minimum, a table saw will work well too. You will likely need to rip a few boards to the proper width when you get to the last wall. And you will of course have to cut boards to length when you get to the end of a row. I used a Mitre saw and Jigsaw the most.
- A Rafter Square, big enough to go across your planks. You want to make sure that all of your end cuts are square.
- A Hammer for the beater block in the Ikea kit. This is used to join the short ends of the planks after the long edge has been clipped in.
- A Pencil.
- A Tape Measure.
1. First off, measure your room length wise and width wise to get the square footage, now add 5-10 % depending on your comfort level for scrap and screw ups.
2. Now you need to decide what type of Laminate floor you want to buy. The first choice that you will have to make is whether you want to use a glue together or click together. Most home owners opt for the click flooring because of the ease of install. Commercial installations still favour the glue together installs simply for durability.
3. Now you have to pick the pattern of the floor, and there has also been a fairly new addition to the Laminate flooring world, narrow plank flooring that comes in multiple lengths to give you that hard wood floor look. This is what we opted to install in the example above, it came in three different lengths per box (7 pieces each length). It has a top width of 12.3 CM (not including tongue and groove).
Note: Cheaper floors are going to have a more noticeable pattern. ie: Ikea etc. While the flooring is usually a good quality, it might give you that “over done” look that you see in many laminate flooring installs these days.
4. Underlayment. You will need foam underlay for installation on a sub floor (ie: plywood or osb underneath carpet). If you are installing the floor over concrete, you will need a vapour barrier below the underlay to keep moisture away from the laminate floor. You can get an underlayment+vapour barrier combo for quicker installation.
5. Once you have your flooring its time to move onto the prep work. But first, let your new flooring acclimate in the room that it is to be installed. This will help it to reach the temperature and humidity of the room where it is to be installed. Leave the flooring in its box and shrink wrapped for the manufactures recommended time. Use this time to remove any trim, do it carefully with a flat bar (if you intend on saving it), or goto town if you plan on replacing it.
Note: Since laminate flooring is a floating floor, it requires a gap between it and the walls around the room, this varies by manufacturer, but expect anywhere from 1/8″ to 1/2″ gaps. This might require thicker baseboards to cover the gap.
6. You want to install the laminate floor parallel to the longest wall in the room, or if it is a square room, perpendicular to where daylight enters the room. This helps to hide the seems and make the floor appear to be look realistic.
7. Depending on brand assemble the first three or four rows away from the starting wall. Once you have the first three or four together, put some spacers against the wall and push the flooring against the wall.
Tip: When you get to the end of the row, you may or may not have to make a cut. Save the cut off piece to start the next row with. This will help to minimize waste, and it will help to offset the the pattern. You do not want to have all of your seams lining up across the floor.
8. Have fun laying down the rest of the floor, it should be flowing like clock work at this point.
9. The end wall, is where you may or may not have to rip down the width of the Laminate planks so that they will fit. The best method in my opinion would be to use a table saw to rip the planks down. This will ensure that you get a nice straight cut. I was able to do this using a Jigsaw with a steady hand.
Tip: When cutting, go slow, this will minimize the chipping. I would take a piece and practice, you are going to have waste anyways, and nothing beats testing it out for your self.
When using a Circular Saw, run the saw along the bottom side (Good side down) of the laminate. With a Table Saw or Chop Saw run the Laminate through face up (Good side up). Jigsaw/Sabre saw cut with the Laminate face up (Good Side up). Cut edges can be quite sharp, so watch out!
That should be about it. Enjoy your new Laminate floor. If you have any specific questions, please post a comment below and I will do my best to answer you.
Stay tuned for an article on Installing Laminate floors onto stairs.
Hi! Thanks so much for all the time you put into this site for us DIY’ers! My husband and I put laminate in the dining room amd living room. We still have the rest of the upstairs to do. We noticed in some spots that the long side of a few planks are not level with the others we clicked them to, leaving a small ridge. Do you know what would cause this?
HELP – we are laying Ikea floors and everything went smooth until the last row, which we ripped with a circular saw. I cannot for the life of me get the row to “click” into place. What are we doing wrong? Seriously, I can take the 2nd to the last row out and click the final row in place, but when I try to finish the last row it will not click!!!!
Hi, Thanks for your help. I’m preparing to lay laminate flooring in 1 bedroom before I undertake a project in the LR. My bedroom has a door that is at 45 degrees to one corner of the room. At this time I plan to transition to a carpet outside the room. How should I plan to lay the floor. I plan to start at the top left and lay the laminate floors side by side. When I reach the last board on the first row..should I cut the board at an angle for the doorway and glue it to the transition. I’m having difficulty visualizing this. All help is appreciated !!
Aleta – It sounds like their may be a problem with your subfloor not being level, or if this happened a while after the floor was laid, that the planks did not have time to acclimate to the temp. and humidity of your home. I’d wait a week or two and see what happens. If you could send a picture, I could have a better look: apemanspaceman at gmail dot com
Gary – It sounds like your floor may not be level at the edge of the room. It there any debris in the way that may be cauing the planks to not lay flat side by side.
Sal – You should lay the floor parallel to the longest wall. Then cut the floor at a 45 degree angle to match the door, and put a transition between the floor and the carpet.
Good luck.
Thanks for all the great info. I’m thinking about using liquid nails or some other sealant to attach the quarter round to the baseboard. Any thoughts?
Hi Karen,
Liquid nails should work, just make sure that what ever you use, it sets up fast.
Cheers.
I’m laying a click together laminate flooring system in my basement – I started on the longest wall and I am making my way across the room. When I get to a point in the room, the flooring needs to go around a corner and then back on itself. The flooring (facing the direction I started in) will be clicking into itself from the wrong side. I don’t know if I have put this into words that you can understand or not – I hope so. I can’t be the first one to run into this situation – maybe the first who doesn’t know the proper way to deal with it though.
Any solution?
Hi there,
I came here to ask about my last rows being ‘backwards’, and I see that the most recent question is about just that. Same question as Scott. I started on the longest wall which is the middle point in a large room that is divided into a living room and a spare bedroom. Once I’ve gotten the living room done in a nice straightforward way, I have to now go ‘backwards’ to connect the spare room to the living room. Ideas?
Thank you!
Has nayone installed the Ikea Tundra laminating flooring in their home. I would like good and bad comments. Am interested in purchasing this flooring over the weekend but not sure. Any comments would be appreciated – good and bad.
Thanks
Lori,
I finished my room – I actually just laid the floor in backwards for the balance of my floor instead of changing the board direction. It worked easily enough. It still locks together – it just isn’t as easy to lay that way.
Good Luck.
Scott.
I laid laminate floor in the basement and the rec room has 2 separate rooms we did most of it and then we ran into the problem at the end where the pieces do not click into each other is there anyathing we can do without taking it all apart
How do you calculate the footage if you are laying the laminate wood floor diagonally? We know we need 9 cases to do it straight. We have 13 boxes left and would rather do the master bedroom on the diagnal than straight. We just don’t know what the waste calculation would be. Can you help us?
Thanks
how do we get around having a strip in center of an area that exceeds 25×40′? This would look bad,not to mention a potential for triping on the strip.
@brandy – Your floor may not be “true” / level near the wall. Does the last row sit higer than the row before it?
@melanie – You calculate the square footage the same way as if you are laying the floor normally, but you want to add extra for waste. I’d say 20% to be extra safe. I’d ask your supplier if you can return un-opened left over boxes of flooring, that should cover you. The laminate floor patterns change regularly, so buying extra now is safer than having to go back to the store for more.
@jdsledge – what is the flooring on the other half of the room? Ie: what would you be transitioning to?
nothing this is for the entire house of flooring. the bedroom is more than 25 wide then the family/living/hall/kitchen areas are more than 25 x 40. using this 25×40 rule we will end up with a strip down the middle of our house both directions, not good.
I am getting gaps in the middle of my laminate floors. I can’t close them without taking off the trim and knocking them back together? Is there some other way to fix this problem?
Thanks
Thanks for the article. We are installing new cabinets in our kitchen and debating between ceramic tile and laminate – the problem is, the room transitions to hardwood flooring on all sides – would it not be easier to transition laminate to hardwood, or am I better off installing ceramic tile and then have the ability to put the cabinets right on top of the ceramic, which I cannot do with the a laminate, and figure out how to transition? Or, is laminate realy the way to go for a kitchen re-do? Many thanks.
Marianne:
My preference for a kitchen is always tile. The only downside to tile is that if you drop a plate, it will break as there should be no give to the floor at all.
3 houses ago, I had laminate in the kitchen, and my dishwasher leaked, ruining the whole floor, and it was only a small leak. Had it been tile, a mop would have cleaned it up with no fuss.
Transitioning tile to hardwood would be no different in transitioning to laminate. I think the time will look better going to a hardwood floor as the laminate will definitely look “cheap” when placed right next to the hardwood.
Hi John: You may be able to rent a clamp that is used for installing engineered, glue together flooring. Its a strap with a metal hook on either end that is used to pull the floor together.
I’m seen installations where people have tried to click together a glue together laminate floor. Are you sure that your floor is the click type?
I have a situation where the new building I’m moving into is not level at the back. I have three rooms that from the ditch of the plumbing to the back wall slants down about 1 inch. I have already used the floor leveling concrete in two rooms. My problem is that the other area is at the back door. I cannot raise the backdoor and if I do it the same way as the other two rooms, the self-leveling concrete will run out the door into the parking lot. HELP!
Hi apeman, thanks for your website
The click laminate I just installed is shifting!!!
people have told me to: glue it,or use 1/4″ round, or lessen the gap, or another said put humidity in room (I really don’t want to run a humidifier)
I remember one internet suggestion said to have a minimum temperature of 65 degress( is this true- I never rarely have heat over 62)
I am in Ontario, Canada & am thinking of having no gap (I now have a gap of 1/4 or 1/2 “), but when it gets humid in summer I am afraid it might buckle
floor has been in for 2 wks now & sat for a week before install
Please help! I have a whole house to do
Thnx, Dan
Hi there great service with your questions with answers! Thanks!
Question, before I begin, I am laying laminate floor in a livingroom that continues into the kitchen. There are kneewalls that come from both the left and right walls that divide the two rooms with a 8 foot walkthru space. Can I lay flooring starting in both rooms at the same time and meet at the end of the kneewall and keep going? The kneewalls stickout about 6 feet from the walls. I think there would be some ability to shift and match them up, ya think? Thanks!
Recently laid a laminate floor in a 1930s house left the 10mm expansion gap all round, how do i cover the gap around the curved arcitrave and curved foot of the stairs ??
Thanks
This is a wonderful site…thank you!
We are installing laminate in a bathroom. We have to figure out how to cut the flooring for the water supply pipe going to the toilet, which cannot be disconnected to the floor, which is about 5″ away from the wall. If we have joined boards there, in order to cut a hole for the pipe, which would be the solution to THAT problem, we will end up with a 2″ board at the end wall. Being that the tile is 11 3/4″ wide, that will look stupid. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!!
re laying laminate;is it necessary to leave a1/4″ gap on all 4 sides of the room? thanks, bill.
I already have laminate flooring in my town home. It was put down by the guy who owned it prior. I notice errors of sorts at the edges and stairs. there are gaps at the door jams and he’s cut pieces of 1/4 round to place around the stair spindles etc. Can end pieces be taken up and done again without starting from scratch. I don’t think he used the foam under the laminate and hence the space at door areas. On the stairs he’s used 1/4 round at the edges too. I will post some pictures of what has been done and see if you can offer any advice. Cheap fixes and something I can perhaps do on my own…
We have laminate flooring in our kitchen. We are now planning to put it down in the living room and dining area. There is a large arch between the kitchen and these areas. My question is – should the flooring be laid in the same direction as the kitchen flooring? Someone told us it would be easier to join the two floors is the flooring in the living room went in the opposite direction. What is your opinion?
We have just purchased some click laminate flooring and are attempting to install it. It doesn’t seem to be clicking in very well so each time we try to add another piece the last one pops out. Is there a trick for this???
Thank you!
help! i am almost finished my hallway, but now have one remaining row to do. the row with the spindles beginning my stairway. they are iron and cannot be removed. they are also not exactly even in placement. what is the procedure for finishing this area? help!!
I had laminate installed throughout my condo. At a 4 way intersection there is some humidity buckling at times. The problem occurs on the plank with the longest run of about 40 feet. How can this be corrected? Should there be a transition at the doorways? Please advise?
I am laying laminate flooring and have a bay window to contend with. Years ago I was shown a tecnique that was something like you lay a board on top and push it up against the wall to figure out the angle to cut the laminate on. I don’t remember how to do it but it did work then. Does this sound at all familiar to anyone
I live in a 40 yr old home and just pulled all the carpet from the Liv rm, Din rm and stairs. There are planks of plywood with nails not screws to keep them in place. I can definately see some uneven areas and holes in the plywood and plenty of squeeks, what do I need to do at this point? If the floor isnt perfectly level will that effect the install of the laminate? If so, what will happen?