How To Properly Lay Laminate Flooring

Lay out the unopened boxes of laminate planks in the room.

How to properly lay laminate flooring. If it isn t installed correctly it may not be able to protect your floor like it should meaning your floor might bend or crack prematurely. Installing laminate flooring is a snap literally. As i stated above underlay for laminate flooring is much more vital than some realize.

Slide the first two rows into their final position and repeat steps 5 and 6 above using the same alternating plank technique to complete the process. But instead of using the offcut to start the third row and creating a step laminate floor pattern set it aside for later. How to properly lay laminate floor underlayment.

To lay laminate flooring first clear out any furniture in the room you ll be laying the floor in. A laminate floor is a floating floor meaning it is not fastened directly to the subfloor. A floating floor that is not adequately staggered will look odd and not have the strength and structural stability of a properly laid laminate floor.

Then lay the second row and cut the final plank to fit. Install the underlayment or vapor barrier. They should acclimate for at least 48 hours.

The underlayment cushions the. You ll also want to tear up any carpet in the room and remove the leftover tack strips. And trust me you don t want to have to pay for and install an entirely different laminate flooring prematurely.

Next cut strips of underlayment to size and lay the strips down across the exposed floor. Installing the underlayment for a floating floor is one of the most important processes of the floor installation. This thin dense foam layer helps to absorb sound provides a thermal barrier makes it easier to walk on the laminate and helps the flooring bridge minor gaps and bumps in the underlying floor.