How to Lay a Wooden or Laminate Floor
- 1). Decide if you are going to use wooden or laminate flooring in your home. Consider the pros and cons of both wooden and laminate flooring.
- 2). Measure the area where you will install the floor. Buy at least 10% more material than what you actually need. This extra material can be stored in your home and may be used to replace damaged floors in the future.
- 3). Remove any old flooring or carpeting. Make sure to remove all parts and pieces of the old floor before installing the new one. Pry off the floor molding and the tack strips around the perimeter of the room with a utility knife. Scrape the leftover padding from the floor surface. Sweep the debris, dust and dirt from the floor with a broom brush.
- 4). Set the flooring that you purchased inside the room where you are going to install it and leave it there for at least 48 hours. This is important because the flooring material needs to acclimatize to the room's temperature and humidity level.
- 5). Clear the area where you are going to install the flooring. Level the floor with a leveling compound to smoothen the area.
- 6). Lay the foam underlayment on the floor. Spread the material in parallel rows without any overlap in between. Use clear wide tape to tape the rows together. However, do not tape the foam underlayment to the existing floor beneath. Wooden and laminate flooring are "floating" floors, which means they are not attached to the house. Wood is an organic material that expands and contracts in different temperatures, so it needs space to move or float.
- 7). Place wood spacers along the edges of the room. The spacers will assure that there is at least a ¼-inch gap along the perimeter of the room where the wood can expand. Spacers usually come with the flooring installment kit, but they can also be bought separately. They have to be installed between the foam underlayment and the wooden or laminate floor itself. The spacers will mount the barrier to the wall and secure it.
- 8). Position the first piece of the wooden or laminate floor. Start from one wall, making sure to use the spacers to create the expansion gap. Tap the piece of flooring into place with a rubber hammer to get a tight fit. Move along the wall to create the first row of your flooring. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for connecting the floor pieces together, as the method you use will depend on the flooring that you purchased.
- 9). Cut the pieces of your floor when you get to the other walls. The flooring almost never fits perfectly into a room, so you will need to use a pencil and ruler to mark the place on the flooring. Cut at the markings with a compound miter saw.
- 10
Install the floor molding along the edges of the room using a nail gun or a hammer to attach it to the walls. Floor molding can be either small, narrow wooden strips or wide, tall baseboards. Choose the molding that will fit your room and the type of your floor best.
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