How to Install Laminate Wood Floors

Adding laminate wood flooring to your home is an easy affordable project. The laminate comes in many designs and colors, to fit any home decor. It can be a family project as well, because snapping the lengths of laminate boards together is simple. When we installed our laminate floor, it went very quickly as we had several grandchildren helping snap in the wood.

Things You'll Need

• Laminate flooring
• Floor liner, if laminate requires it
• Table saw or fine toothed hand saw
• Flooring installation kit
• Tape measure
• Square
• Pencil
• Small rubber mallet
• Baseboards or quarter round trim

Instructions

1. Make sure the surface of the floor is clean, dry and level. Lay down the liner, if your particular laminate flooring requires one. Several styles of laminate flooring are self backed and do not require the floor liner. Self backed laminate flooring is a quicker and easier installation process. It may cost a little more, but then you are saving money on the liner. The laminate panels need to set in the room they are being installed in 24 to 48 hours for them to "warm up" to the temperature of the room, especially if you pick them up in the winter, or in the heat of summer.

2. Begin with the first box. This is a floating floor and needs to expand or contract during different temperatures and humidity levels. Line the first board up along the wall with the tongued side facing the wall. Leave a gap of about 1/4" between the edge of the board and the wall. The installation kit contains spacers that will help you maintain the proper gap, so be sure to use them.

3. Lay the first row of panels out end to end, and measure and cut the last laminate panel to fit the required floor length. This cut piece becomes the first board to be laid out for your second row. Don't start this row at the same end you started the first row. Start it where you ended. This helps to create the staggered wood flooring look.

4. To snap the first panel of the second row in, hold the panel at a near 45 degree angle and fit the tongue into the groove. Gently, push down on the panel until it snaps in and is laying flat. Continue this process for all rows.

5. Use the pull bar and the rubber tapping block that comes in the installation kit, along with the rubber mallet to tap or pull each length of strip tightly end to end. They will slide in the groove as you pull or tap them. The ends that are butted up to each other should be tightly tapped together as you work. Continue each row, always using the piece you cut off to start your next row.

6. Add baseboard or decorative quarter round trim along the edge of the walls to cover the expansion gap. Only nail the decorative trim to the wall. The floor should not be secured in any way, as it has to "float."

Tips & Warnings

• Wipe the laminate floor down with a well rung out rag or sponge mop.

• Never let the floor get extremely wet.

• All of the spacers, pull bar and rubber blocks can be purchased separately, but it's cheaper and more convenient if you purchase the installation kit. The rubber mallet is not included in the kit.

• Be careful of how hard you tap the ends of the boards together, as the corners may chip, causing you to have to cut the piece off and fit it somewhere else.