Advice on laying laminate floors

P

pator

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Am planning to have a go on puting down laminates on upstairs bedrooms. Anyone any advise/tips?

In particular when you come to internal saddle boards (such as ensuite) do you runing the laminate right up to the saddle board in that spot? The main door and ensuite door are at right angles to one another so going to be a (minor) problem either way

Are the kits anygood/necessary?

Any general tips would be brill.
 
- Ideally take off the skirting boards and refit afterwards - it's a neater job
- don't lay the flooring right up to the walls/saddle boards ... leave a gap and cover with edging strip (you can get this is many places) ... it's easier to do it neatly this way
- don't hit the boards directly with the hammer
- 1 invaluable tool that you will need for doing it is a sort of S-shaped metal piece that allows you to hammer in place wood when it's up against the wall - if you don't have this it's impossible to snap in place the last pieces of wood - (there's a picture of one on this page - http://www.craintools.com/fs-laminatetools.html down near the end called No. 561 Pull Par)
- Make sure you buy enough packs of flooring ..allow for wastage and then a bit more - err on the side of safety - if you've not done it before it's possible that you'll mess up a few planks first.
 

Hi Pator,

I fitted laminate in the front room ....

1. I first made sure the floor was level
2. Then I put down the underlay
3. I planned my floor so that the laminate joints were staggered .
4. I left a gap between the wall and the laminate for expansion.
5. For the saddles I used a plainer and cut a slot under the saddle so that it was at the same level as the tiles in the hall.


Hope this helps,

Have fun

Zar-debt
 
Put down some a few months ago and more to go soon. Wouldnt be too stressed about it, its fairly strightforward.

Tips:

Make sure you have a good circular saw (or other electric saw) to make neat cuts.

You shouldnt pack them absolutely tight - while they shouldnt move too much given that they are laminate, its no harm to give them some scope - plus small joints makes it look more realistic (as does larger "plank" style boards - the boards with the photocopy of 3 miniture boards look a bit crappy IMHO).

Never cut off both ends of the one plank because then the rest is useless, if you leave one end with either the groove or the connecting verge you'll get to use it somewhere along the line.

If theres an awkward corner like the verge of a door recess then probably best to start from that side of the room, otherwise you are trying to shoe horn a small pit of a plank into a tight space without the wriggle room you would get if you started the row there.

As other poster said, dont keep starting at the same side and moving in the same direction, vary the position of the joints and size up the full line of the row in case will hit obstacle, i.e. see last point above.
 
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