How To Install Glueless Laminate Flooring
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With the advancing techniques of glueless laminate flooring, do-it-yourself installation just became much easier. The convenience of no glue to dry allows anyone to complete the installation and immediately use the floor. Because the planks just snap together, you can remove them and reinstall them if you move, need to replace a damaged plank, or want to add a new decorative design. With the following installation tips, you can easily understand the specific instructions that come with your brand of glueless laminate flooring.
Prepare
1. Place each box of planks, unstacked, in the room in which they will be installed to help the planks acclimate to the temperature and humidity. Generally, this will take 48 hours, but check the directions with your brand.
2. Once you open the cartons, inspect each piece for damage. The opened planks should be installed in the same day.
3. Gather your installation tools: moisture barrier if needed, self-adhering moisture proof tape, underlayment, spacers, tapping block, pry bar, fine toothed saw, pencil, safety glasses, dust mask, level, measuring tape, and hammer. If you are installing the laminate floor in a kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room, you will also need a silicone sealant that is 100% mildew resistant.
4. If installing over concrete, complete a moisture test. If subfloor is covered with carpet, remove it.
5. Make sure the subfloor is level and clean. Fill in low spots or sand down high spots so nothing creates more than a 3/16" rise.
6. Lay the moisture barrier edge-to-edge, if needed. Join the seams with the moisture proof tape. The barrier should stick up at the edges by 2 inches (this will be covered by the moldings).
7. Lay the underlayment over the moisture barrier butting the pieces at the edges. The seams should be joined with the moisture proof tape.
8. Make sure the floor temperature is 60 degrees or warmer and the room temperature is 65 degrees or warmer. The humidity should be between 50% to 70%.
9. Plan to leave at least a 5/16-inch gap at the edges and around permanent fixtures to allow for expansion. If the floor is going to be more than 40 feet long or wide, you will need to plan an extra expansion gap. Any tongue that is at the gap should be removed.
10. Also, plan to run the planks toward the main source of light to enhance the appearance of the floor.
11. Check if the doorframes and doors need to be shortened for the depth of the floor and underlayment. Trim them as needed with a handsaw.
Laying the Floor
1. Leaving a 5/16-inch gap along the beginning wall, lay the first row and slide the short ends together. Since the outside rows should not be narrower than 2 inches, measure to see if you need to trim the first row so that the last row will not be too narrow.
Page 2: How To Install Glueless Laminate Flooring
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