When a customer purchases laminate flooring, the first question to be asked is if the seller has any professional people who can install it efficiently without damaging any part of the house. In most cases, the seller should be able to provide the additional service of installation as well. If the user wants to install the flooring on his own. Some of the tips are-
Tips for Laminate Flooring Installation
1. Pulling Up the Carpet and Removing the Baseboard
First, the carpet in the rooms should be cut with the help of a utility knife. The cut should be very straight and should be made across the doorway. The carpet should be gently pulled close to the doorway and away from the side wall. After carefully removing the carpet, the baseboard should be removed carefully as well. This is essential for the efficient installation of the laminate flooring. The baseboard should be pulled away gently from the wall with the help of a putty knife to avoid damaging the wall.
2. Acclimate the Flooring and Determining the Overall Layout
While considering the laminate flooring, the look, the colors and the size of the flooring should be considered as well. Floors that are thicker come in with an extra warranty. The instructions from the manufacturer should be carefully followed to ensure that floor or any other part of the house is not damaged. Before installing the laminate flooring, the layout of the floor should be accurately measured. The math should be precise to avoid overshooting the budget or wasting laminate flooring material. One more point to note here is that the planks should be installed parallelly to the main view of the room to make the room look larger.
3. Prep Door Frames and Installation of The Underlayment
The frames of the door should be undercut while installing the laminate flooring. This is necessary for fixing the flooring and ensure that the flooring does not come up. After this, the underlayment of the laminate flooring should be installed based on the instructions provided by the manufacturer. During installation, the under laments should be taped to the seams.
4. Fixing the First Piece, Making the First Cut, And Snapping Two Pieces Together
The first row should be checked, and the first piece of the laminate flooring should be placed accurately. The first piece should be trimmed well because if it is not done properly, then the entire room’s décor will look out of place. After the first piece layout is determined, the laminate flooring piece is cut with the help of square. Once the cut is made two pieces are snapped together to provide a neat finish.
5. Transitioning Doorway, Joining Boards, Attaching Length, And Attaching Width
When the person installing the laminate flooring reaches the doorway, he should measure the length of the board that should go under the trim. A pencil should be used to mark on top of the board of the area that needs to be cut. When the next full piece is joined, care should be taken to ensure that the long edge is tight and short edge does not overlap with each other. The board should be rocked down while tapping the rubber mallet on a flooring piece that is spare. The gap close to the small edge should be tapped on the opposite side to avoid damaging the groove edge and the tongue.
One important point to be remembered while installing laminate flooring is that it cannot be installed in rooms that contain floor drains. The installer should meticulously follow the local codes of the building when the flooring is being installed.
