{DIY} Installing laminate flooring

Laminate flooring is a wondrous thing. It comes in hundreds of styles and colors, looks great (if you pick the right product and install it correctly), can take a beating, is an eco-friendly product to use (little to no waste in manufacturing and glueless nature), and can be very inexpensive to use throughout the home. When we moved into our house last July, we knew we had to immediately rip out the old carpets and I knew I wanted hard flooring throughout. New carpeting glues, and in most cases, the carpet itself can off-gas nasty VOC’s, plus you can never really get it clean! The dirt, hair, dust, etc., etc., gets smushed down permanently into the carpet, and as a pregnant lady I didn’t want my new baby crawling around in that. I was all about the healthiest environment possible for me and my future child, as well as an easy-on-the-budget option, so we chose laminate for our new home. Plus Glenn had installed it a few times in other houses, and we knew we could save money by Glenn installing it himself.

Lucky for us, our 45 year old brick house was PERFECTLY square and solidly built. We have a rather large living room, and from one end to the other, the laminate was laying perfectly square — unlike the other houses that Glenn has installed laminate in. It just makes the job a million times easier, so that was a huge gift.  In some houses, by the time you get to the other end of the room, you’re cutting your end pieces at an angle and that is no good!

The brand that we purchased was Alloc (the color is Cognac Merbau) — both the flooring and the underlayment (foam barrier between sub-floor and floating laminate) — and it was a simple locking mechanism installation that is glue-free!  You lay down the underlayment, then the flooring and you’re done!

Here are the recommended tools that we used:

• Right angle/t-square, or some other tool to mark perpendicular lines
• Pencil – for marking your lines and cuts
• Chop Saw – for cleanly cutting your planks
• Jig Saw (optional) – for cutting angles or curves, etc.
• Small rubber mallet – for locking the planks together
• Razor blade – for cutting extra underlayment off
• And… — that’s it!

Laying the underlayment was simple — lay the roll down with a 1/2 inch coming up the wall (you’ll trim it later with the razor blade).  It has an adhesive strip on the long side that you peel off and stick to the top of the next layer.  This simply floats on top of the floor — no gluing or taping necessary.  Easy peasy – that was the pregnant lady’s job.  I had to feel helpful!!

Now to lay the actual flooring, you simply start at the left side of the room, right on top of the floating underlayment, and the left side depending on which way you want your grain to run (you always go left to right, that’s where the locking mechanisms are) — lock the short ends together and when you get to the end of the row, you flip the last plank right-side down to measure where to cut.  Lay the end that you will be keeping in this row against the wall (flooring side up towards you), lay your right angle on it where the second to last plank ends and mark your cut.  We used a chop saw to cut the pieces in one clean stroke, then you have your short piece for the right end and your starting piece for the next row!  Repeat, repeat, repeat.  The rubber mallet can be handy to help lock long rows in place — and an extra pair of hands is always helpful when you’re tackling a project on your own. Just be careful when knocking with the mallet – you don’t want to damage the locking mechanism of the planks.

Angles and curves can be a little tricky, but we found after a few runs, we could figure out the right cut — so it’s a good thing that the single boxes are inexpensive (about $25/box – covers ~22 square feet), and you should always buy a little extra (a good rule of thumb is 10%) to account for waste and mistakes.

I love the rich look of our dark flooring – I think it looks a lot more expensive than it actually was! – and it is holding up great after the first year. Always check the warranties (laminate has a shorter warranty than hardwood most of the time), but I can almost guarantee you will be very happy with your faux-bois floor. My steam cleaner cleans it up great, and I even have those ding-repair brown markers to fill it any injuries! Unfortunately, it does show dirty dog prints, but I think any flooring you have (light vs. dark) will show SOMETHING! It’s just motivation to keep those floors clean!