How to fit Laminate Flooring

by jason ashby

Laminate Flooring is easy to fit, so long as you follow the simple basic guidelines. With nearly all laminate flooring having a click system in one form or the other, it has never been easier or quicker to install the floor of your dreams. As with everything the key is preparation and having the correct tools for the job. Right you should have already purchased your products, so you should have:Laminate flooring, underlay, damp proof membrane, door profiles, scotia or beadingThe product should be stored unopened in the room for 48 hours prior to installation. This allows the products time to acclimatize. Here’s a list of the tools you will need.Pencil, tape measure, fitting kit (which should include knocking block, pulling bar, spacer wedges), hand saw, jigsaw and a mitre block for the beadingPreparationAt any doors you may have in the room you will want to check if they are going to need to be planed. Take a piece of underlay and also one of the laminate flooring boards. Place one on top of the other on the floor nest to the door and make a pencil mark along the bottom of the door. This is how much you will have to plane of the door. Now take the door off for re-hanging later. Now place the underlay and laminate against any architraves you have. Take a hand saw, using the laminate and underlay as a guide and cut the bottom of the architraves out. This will enable you to fit the laminate flooring under the architraves and you will get a much neater finish. Alternatively instead of doing this you can just use a filling compound.The surface of the sub-floor onto which the laminate floor is going needs to be level and clean. Make sure any old flooring coverings are removed and check for things like nails etc. After you have done this you need to give the floor a good sweep, it’s best to use a soft headed brush.Now the floor is nice and clean you can start. If you have a concrete sub-floor you will 1st need to put down a damp proof membrane (sometimes this comes built in with the underlay). Just roll out the sheet making sure any joints are overlapped and sealed with a water proof tape. The DPM should be allowed to rise up the walls 10mm. Now you can roll out the underlay. Where the two edges of the underlay meet, the edges must fit against each other flush and be taped to stop any movement. Where the underlay meets the walls, you should allow the underlay to creep up the wall about 10mm.Let’s start laying the floor.It is best to start along the longest, straightest wall. Cut the tongue of one of the laminate flooring boards and lay this edge against the wall, using the spacers to create a 10mm expansion gap. Continue to do this using the knocking block to get the joint’s tight, until you get to the last board of that row which will need to be cut to fit. Now you will need to measure the distance between the last board you laid and the wall. Once you have done this take off 10mm to allow for the expansion gap and us the measurement to cut the final board for that row. You will need to use the pulling bar to get the last board to fit tightly.To start the second row you will need to cut the laminate flooring board 2/3 of its length. (In other words if the board is 1200mm long you will need to cut of 800mm of the board.) Then use the 400mm long piece that is left to start your second row. This will give you staggered joints as required by the manufactures guild lines. Now you can continue to lay the laminate flooring using the knocking block to get the joints nice and tight.Start row three with a laminate flooring board that is cut 1/3 from the end of the board. Then continue in the same manner as the preceding rows. Making sure the end joints are staggered.When you come to the last row, once again measure the gap between the laminate flooring board and the wall, cut the board making sure you have taken off 10mm for expansion. Then use the pulling bar to fit the last boards in place.When you have fitted all of the Laminate flooring you can remover the spacer wedges.Finishing TouchesNow you can fit any door profiles you may have. Simply measure between the door frame and cut the profile so it fits in nice and tight. Please remember if you are nailing or drilling the profiles down ensure that you have no water or gas pipes directly under where you are fixing.If you are using beading to cover the expansion gap around the perimeter of the flooring it is usually best to tack this on with panel pins or similar small nails. In corners where two pieces of beading meet you must us a mitre block and mitre the corners to ensure a nice tidy fit.. To get a really professional finish in places where the beading just ends use a reverse mitre, returning the beading back into the skirting board.

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