How To Lay New Floating Laminate Floor

Doing so enables you to slide the new planks underneath the casing.

How to lay new floating laminate floor.

Install the underlayment or vapor barrier. Look at the board where it touches the subfloor and see if there are any dips bumps or otherwise uneven areas. A laminate floor is a floating floor meaning it is not fastened directly to the subfloor. Lay a loose plank of your new flooring upside down against the door casing over a piece of the underlayment and saw off the bottom of the casing.

To test for the flatness for laying laminate flooring on an uneven subfloor lay a 10 foot long 2x4 board. To lay laminate flooring first clear out any furniture in the room you ll be laying the floor in. Fill any low spots in the underlayment greater than 3 8 inch with floor leveling compound. These hills and valleys will eventually lead to unwanted bouncy spots squeaks and groans in the final laminate floor.

Lay out the unopened boxes of laminate planks in the room. They should acclimate for at least 48 hours. Lay moisture barrier thoroughly clean the subfloor so that there is no debris on the floor and that it is flat and smooth. If you are installing the flooring below grade or in a room like a basement with high humidity or moisture lay down a vapor barrier before you install the flooring.

You ll also want to tear up any carpet in the room and remove the leftover tack strips. Installing laminate flooring is a snap literally. It can be installed over any other tightly bonded flooring making it ideal for retrofits. Flooring manufacturers always recommend putting down underlayment before laying the laminate.

Next cut strips of underlayment to size and lay the strips down across the exposed floor. 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. When installing a floating laminate floor you don t need to use any adhesive nails or staples. How to install laminate flooring.