Installing Laminate Flooring
We finished up a large project this weekend, and I thought we should share the fun with our readers (we are still working on making the pictures look normal, but you get the idea). The carpeting throughout our house is of an indeterminate color, and we believe that it is the original carpet from the construction of the house. Sarah and Pepper certainly did not help to keep the carpet looking its best, but it needed to go before they even moved in. I would love to have hardwood flooring, but it is not practical with an 84 pound dog and a cat who has issues with her food. Since our house was built in the early 1990’s, there are no surprise beautiful wood floors under our carpets—just sub-flooring!
New flooring of any kind is an expense, so we gave the problem some thought. When the hot weather arrived, so did a strange, shall we say “animal,” smell from near the fireplace. It did not take long for Pepper to become obsessed and add to the smell. So, we decided that we needed to do something about the living room right away and went with the idea of laminate flooring after doing some homework and pricing. If you would like to read about our homework and pricing adventures, please follow this link. If you would like us just to get on with it already, here we go!
Luckily, Sean's dad and his brother Chris came over to help us. Before they came, Sean and I moved out most of the furniture. We tried to avoid moving the couch out of the room, so we just slid it around the room. Perhaps some of you helped us move that couch from one place to another, so you understand! Sean ripped up the carpet and padding. Yuck! After removing the framework around the room that the carpet was nailed to, he also removed the baseboards. We had to make sure the floor was as clean as possible, but unlike installing linoleum, the floor does not have to be perfect for laminate.
The first step is covering the floor with a thin pad
of material that is supposed to act as a noise reducer. Our
living room has high ceilings, so we thought maybe we should buy
extra think padding. It is really expensive for the extra think,
so we tried the regular padding. You don't need to tape it to the
floor, but it should be taped to itself, if that makes sense.
This picture gives you an idea of how ugly our floor really is and what the padding looks like. After putting down the padding, Sean started a few rows of boards on his own, but immediately had to deal with the tiled fireplace. Chris and Paul came soon after he started, so then things really got moving. Ideally, this is a 3-4 person job, no matter what the commercials tell you. Sean and his dad measured and decided what (if anything) needed to be cut. Since this is snap and stay flooring, no glue is needed unless it is an area that might come in contact with water (in the kitchen or a bathroom); however, you do need to cut some pieces at the end of rows, around vents, etc. Chris and I took turns running back and forth from the garage with tools, laminate, etc. and also sat/stood on pieces that Sean and Paul were installing.
Each piece of the laminate snaps together, but you
have to be firm. The installation kit comes with a tapping block
and bar (we used it with a mallet) that ensures that the pieces
snap together. You should use the spacers that are included in
the installation kit to keep the mandatory 1/4 inch space around
the outside of the room. This is required to ensure that the
laminate has space to expand. The spacers also give you something
to line up the floor. Because the laminate is not glued or nailed
to the subflooring, it needs to have tension in order to lock
tightly. After the first row, this becomes tricky as you must now
lock row after row together without creating any gaps. This is
where having a friend comes in handy. Your helper can sit or
stand on the boards to make sure nothing moves that should not
move. That way your floor does not "float" around on
you.
As you can see (or can't see), it is hard to find any seams. This took a lot of patience and "tapping" on Sean and Paul's part. Sean is using the tapping tool in the picture, but you can also see the metal bar that is also used depending on the angle you are working with.
Overall, it took us 5
hours to install the laminate in this 15X15 room. We are still
putting in transitions and fiddling with the baseboards, but the
major work can be done quickly if you have help. It probably
would have been a 2 day job if Paul and Chris did not come to
help. We estimate that we saved, at the very least, 600-700
dollars doing this overselves. Poor Sarah had to stay behind the
gate while we were working, but we let her out to see her skate
across the new floor. She is trying her best to scratch it with
her antics, but so far, so good. We will need to get some rugs to
make sure she has traction, but we are pleased with the room. If
you are thinking about tackling this job yourself, you should
come down when we do the hallway and master bedroom. You can get
some practice and help us! 