How To Install A Laminate Floor After Choosing A Layout

2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 07:54

terms of Use
Surface leveling
Required material
Substrate selection
Layout selection
Planning tricks
Installation nuances
Elimination of joints
Laminate care

Using laminate flooring as a floor covering, you can quickly and efficiently install the subfloor indoors. Numerous lamellas can be selected for different configurations. Even a novice performer can perform editing. The main requirement is strict adherence to the technology of laying the laminate on the floor. At first glance, simple rules will ultimately lead to a beautiful appearance of the room.

terms of Use

Before starting repairs in an apartment or house and choosing a floor covering, you should think about whether the laminate is generally suitable for this room. In addition, conditions are imposed on the rooms themselves, in which there should not be high temperatures, high levels of humidity. During the operation of the laminate, if there is a desire to increase its service life, the room should maintain a constant temperature within 15-30 degrees, and the humidity should be from 40 to 70 percent.

When installing a laminate on the floor, the latter must be perfectly flat, without defects. For each meter, a slight difference in height is allowed within 2 mm. In case of deviation from the norms, work will have to be done to create a flat surface. For this, a concrete screed, self-leveling floor is arranged, or other options are used. If you deviate from this action, then the laminate will fail in a short time.

Conventional laminate flooring cannot fit over a floor heating system. This will lead to its early drying, deformation and other defects that will lead to the need to dismantle it. The maximum permissible temperature for heating the floor covering from below is 27 degrees. For electric underfloor heating, special types of laminate must be used that are marked accordingly.

In addition, you cannot bring the laminate into the room immediately after purchase and install it. He must "mature" for two days to get used to the temperature regime. In the process of flooring, fasteners such as self-tapping screws, glue, nails cannot be used, since all this is strictly prescribed in the instructions from the manufacturer.

Special sealants (Titan, Click Guard, Homax Click) can be used to treat locks. This will prevent moisture in a particular case from getting inside the lamellas.

Laying of the laminate is carried out only if a specially designed underlay is laid. These actions also increase the sound and thermal insulation qualities of the sub floor. In certain situations, a polyethylene film with a thickness of 200 microns is laid under the substrate, which helps to protect the flooring from moisture and steam.

Surface leveling

The service life of the laminate will directly depend on how the quality of the leveling of the subfloor in the room is made. There are corresponding building codes for this:

When using plywood or plank flooring for leveling, fasteners are deepened into the net, after which minor irregularities are sanded with a special machine.
After pouring the cement screed, it is best to treat it with a special primer (Ceresit CT15 or CT17). This will avoid dusting the concrete floor. In addition, there are cases of separation from the pouring after drying of minor sand elements. During operation, they will rub against the laminate, which will lead to constant squeaking and other extraneous sounds.
If there are cracks, crevices and potholes, all of them must be sealed without fail.

Laying laminate flooring

For this, a repair compound made of sand and cement is used. If necessary, special components are added to the solution to improve its quality. The recesses can also be sealed with a prepared self-leveling mixture. As soon as the fill layer has set, it can be sanded to remove minor errors.
When working with an old wooden floor, all damaged elements must be replaced with new ones. With a sufficient ceiling height in the room, plywood alignment is applied.

Before laying the laminate on the floor, the base is once again dedusted with a construction vacuum cleaner. Only after completing all these steps can you think about the subsequent stages of flooring in the room.

Required material

In order for the work to bring only a good mood and not distract, it was carried out as soon as possible, you should buy in advance all the necessary set of materials for laying laminate flooring and equipment. The main components: the laminate itself, which must get used to the temperature and humidity in the room, primers, polyethylene foam as a substrate for the flooring, wedges that allow you to create technological gaps, glue, baseboards and attachments to them.

Many people will probably be interested in the question of what wedges are and where they can be purchased at all. They act like crosses for ceramic tiles. In order not to spend money on their purchase, you can simply use the fragments of the laminate that remained after cutting the whole element. The size of the wedges is 10-15 mm. They create a kind of gap between the stacked rows and the wall, other structures inside the room.

Particular attention should be paid to the purchase of the laminate itself. It should not be the exact amount that is needed and obtained as a result of the calculation. It is necessary to buy with a small margin, so that it is possible to carry out pruning on separate fragments. The number of lamellas will differ depending on the manufacturer. It is better to look at the quadrature, and not at their number.

Now we need to think about the tool:

Construction knife.
A block of wood.
A hammer.
Corner, tape measure.
Pencil.
Jigsaw or hacksaw.

In necessary cases, a special tool is also purchased. Everything will depend on the list of work performed and the specifics of the premises itself.

Substrate selection

Contact with wet surfaces is not recommended for laminate flooring. When installing the floor covering on your own, you must remember the need for a waterproofing layer, arranged over the concrete surface. As a waterproofing, you can use a diffuse membrane or a polyethylene film with a thickness of 200 microns.

This layer will be required exclusively on a concrete base. If we have a base of plywood, wood, parquet, etc., then there is no need for a film. It is customary to call concrete floors not only cement-sand screeds, but also concrete floors, monolithic floors, slabs with round voids. All of them, when laying the laminate, will require a layer of waterproofing from a film.

It is worth noting that it has no role whatsoever whether it is an old concrete pavement or just laid. In any case, it will have the property not only to absorb, but also to release a certain level of moisture. If everything is done correctly, the laminate will be preserved during operation and will not be negatively affected. When laying plastic sheeting, an overlap of 15-20 mm should be left between the rows.

The functions of the substrate are as follows:

Protection of the laminate so that it does not warp or rub against the rough screed.
Soundproofing.
Leveling the sub-floor, eliminating minor errors.
Static floating floor.
Moisture barrier.

There may be times when the laminate is laid on top of high-quality linoleum bedding. In this case, he will be able to fulfill the role of the substrate. In addition to linoleum, EPPS is used in rolls or sheets, composite materials, an air bubble film having a thickness of about 3 mm. Laying a budget laminate cannot be combined with a cork backing. Although this material is actively used, if the funds can afford it.

The thickness of the substrate will depend on the thickness of the lamellas themselves. If the standard version is 9 mm, then a 3 mm backing will suffice. In other cases, you will have to look for options with a thickness of 4 or even 5 mm. All these recommendations can be read in the instructions from the manufacturer.

Layout selection

Laying laminate lamellas in the future should resemble brickwork. The joint should be located in the central part of the lamellas, not only of the previous, but also of the following rows. It is this arrangement that indicates the professionalism of the performer. When performing installation with our own means, sometimes no one pays attention to this. As a result, it turns out not quite a solid structure, and besides, it does not have an attractive appearance.

The options for laying lamellas are as follows:

Parallel to the front door to the room.
Perpendicular to the entrance to the premises.
Diagonally.

Laying laminate flooring

In order for the rules for installing lamellas to be observed, you must first draw a kind of scheme on which to display the elements. Everything should really correspond, the scale and dimensions of the laminate are preserved relative to the parameters of the entire room. The plan should reflect all protrusions and other architectural details. In addition, it is necessary to enter into it without fail damper indents along the perimeter of the room along the walls, which are 10 mm. The calculation is made according to the exact number of lamellas per row and the required length of the segment with which the gap is filled.

When cutting off one part of the lamellas, it should be saved, since there is a possibility that it will be suitable for filling the missing part in a row. It should be noted that the longitudinal ridge should be cut flush.

Planning tricks

During the planning and preliminary distribution of laminate lamellas, certain subtleties should be taken into account, which make it possible to make high-quality calculations.

It is practically impossible to make the very first row consist of full-length lamellas.

Laying laminate flooring

But in this case, it is necessary to cut off as much from the left end of the 1st lamella of the second row as is required for a qualitative displacement of the laying. This is usually ½ or 1/3 of the laminate lamella. Everything will depend on the editing process and the preferences of the performer.
The room may contain specific architectural elements (fireplace, bay window, balcony). Here you will have to start installing the laminate on the floor from their central axis.
When, when arranging solid rows, in the last of them the width is less than or exactly 50 mm, not only the ridge should be cut from the first row. The calculation is made with the aim that the outer rows (two) have the same width.

In order to make a high-quality cut of the lamellas, you should have an appropriate tool (jigsaw). The appearance will be damaged if you use a regular hacksaw in the work. Before laying the laminate on the floor with your own hands, you should study all the subtleties of the work and possible pitfalls.

Installation nuances

Installation will not always be easy and quick. In some cases, you will have to get certain skills and experience in order to do everything efficiently. This is due to the fact that it is practically impossible to find a room without various protrusions of communications, as well as decorative fragments.

When it is necessary to bypass the heating pipes, first turn the die over and attach it to the existing ones (laid). The corner will allow you to draw lines on the surface of the laminate, which will indicate the location of the heating pipes. After that, the laminate is applied to the side, focusing on the wall. This allows you to mark the distance from the walls to the pipe. The resulting sections, which intersect with each other, will indicate the places where the pipes pass.

The holes in the laminate are drilled with special drills called ballerinas. At the same time, it is worth paying attention to the fact that the holes are drilled a little more, by about 2 cm, from the required size of the pipe diameter in the room. In the future, everything is sealed with special plastic plugs that can be purchased at any hardware store.

The wall protrusions will also interfere with the easy installation of the laminate under the floor. In this case, the cutout is made strictly along the lamella and in the prescribed form. A jigsaw will also help in everything. It will be more difficult if there is such a site under the heating radiators. If possible, it is better to cut the cladding (drywall), under which the laminate is supplied. But the strength of the connection in this case will suffer. To maintain reliability, the joints of the lamellas are lubricated with prepared glue.

Elimination of joints

Between the laid lamellas and, for example, a door threshold, joints can form, spoiling the appearance and beauty of the entire room.

To get rid of them, thresholds are used. Direct rapids are the most popular. Metal variants are characterized by a long service life. For a curved joint, flexible sills are used. In total, there are several main types of thresholds used to eliminate the joints of the laminate and other elements in the room:

Single level. Allows joining lamellas located in different rooms. Alignment is done in the doorway.
Multilevel. It is necessary for joining laminate and other flooring options, which can be tiles, carpets, etc.
Angular. It is used for joining the laminate on the steps of the stairs.
Unilateral. When joining the laminate with decorative elements in the apartment (fireplace) or door.

Laying laminate flooring

Laminate care

The period of its operation will depend on the quality of laying the laminate on the floor. In addition, the maintenance of the floor covering will also have an impact on the long service life.

Do not bring to the point that there is a large amount of dirt and dust on the surface of the laminate. It should be removed as often as possible.

A vacuum cleaner or a slightly damp cloth will help with this. There are even special products on sale designed for high-quality care of the laminate (Loba, Chistyla, etc.). In addition, they create a protective layer on the surface that repels moisture and stains.

The integrity of the top layer will determine the degree of protection of the laminate from moisture. If damage or scratches appear, the coating will begin to absorb moisture. Do not use a lot of water on the laminate flooring during cleaning. It is also better to do without a washing vacuum cleaner, which can only do harm.

Do not use metal brushes to remove stains, shoe polish or grease. It will be practical and more profitable to purchase a special product that allows you to remove these spots.

All this allows you to get an answer to the painful question of how to lay the laminate on the floor. As a result, you can get a high-quality and durable floor covering at an affordable cost. It can last for a long time if you take proper care of your laminate flooring. The article was written for the site