Laminate Flooring Guide

Laminate Flooring: Installation Tips

Laminate flooring is available in planks and squares of all sizes and shapes. There is a tongue and groove edge on all four sides of the plank in order to join them. Glue is usually applied to the tongues and grooves to connect the planks together.

Laminate flooring floats on the sub-floor. A special polyurethane treatment is done before the new laminate flooring is laid so as to stop the glue from sticking to the sub-floor. New advanced laminate flooring systems have come up with a mechanical locking method in which there is no need of glue. Several companies now also provide glueless, tie-together planks that need no adhesives.

Below is given a brief description of the different tools used in laying a laminate floor:

• Glue: A special type of glue is required to connect the planks
• Fillers & Sealants: The colored fillers fill up any fissures between the planks and the sealant is used to prevent entry of any moisture
• Straps: Straps are used to tie up planks together
• Wedges: V-shaped wedges ensure that only a minimum gap is present between the laminate floor and the vertical walls
• Pulling Bar: It is used to pull two planks of laminate together

All laminate floor manufacturers have their own guidelines and installation methodology. Most of the technicalities in the method of installation are different for each manufacturer. You should always check with your retailer for full instructions regarding installation. It is recommended to follow the manufacturer's installation process for the flooring you buy from him.

Even though each manufacturer has its own guidelines but there are some things common in all of them.

• You require a uniform and leveled sub-floor
• The sub-floor should be clean and dry
• The sub-floor should not have any voids greater than three inches
• There should be a gap of one-fourth inch along the complete perimeter of the floor 
• All laminate flooring should be given at least 1-2 days to acclimatize to their surroundings
• If installation is being done over an existing wooden flooring, lay the laminate flooring at right angles to the wooden flooring
• Concrete floors should be properly cured (minimum 6 weeks) and completely dried

Some manufacturers now offer two-in-one underlayment - foam and plastic bonded together. This arrangement makes it a perfect product if you have an existing flooring such as vinyl or ceramic.