How to Install Pergo Flooring for Beginners

Pulling bar, Tapping block and spacers.

Pergo, or laminate flooring, has grown popular in recent years, and installing it is a project that can be done by a beginner. But as with all construction or home remodeling tasks, careful, thoughtful work will yield the most satisfactory results.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• Pad of paper and pencil
• Mallet or hammer
• Spacers
• Pulling bar
• Tapping block
• Pull saw
• Enough product to cover the area you are flooring, plus 5 percent for errors

Instructions

1. Consider your project. Your end result is a room-sized floating floor. It's called floating because it is not nailed or glued down, but expands and contracts with the changing temperatures in your home. You must leave a 1/4-inch space between the floor and the walls on all sides to accommodate these changes. If you don't leave this allowance, your floor will bulge and buckle.

2. Measure the area you're going to cover. Have a friend help, and make sure you measure twice to avoid mistakes. Multiply length times width to get the square footage.

3. Choose the laminate flooring. The number of boxes you will need depends on which floor type you want. A box of Pergo flooring can cover from 16 to 20 square feet, depending on the pattern. If you are covering 500 square feet, you will need 26 to 32 boxes. At $40 to $50 per box, you don't want to buy more than you need

4. Prepare the room. Move any furniture and make sure the sub-flooring is good: clean, level, without rot. (If not, you may need to do some work beyond the scope of this article before you lay your floor.) Some laminates come with a pad and underlayment already attached. Others require you to lay down a sheet of underlayment. Some people skip this step and get stuck with extremely loud floors. The size underlayment you need is the same as the flooring.

5. Decide which direction you want the grain of your floor to run. Lay down a few pieces along one wall, then lay a few down the adjoining wall to see which you like best. Once you've decided, start in one corner of the room and put spacers between the board and the wall, one spacer on the short end and two or three on the longer. Grab another board. Put the tongue end of this board into the groove end of the board you laid down and carefully snap it into place by pushing down on the board you're inserting. When the two boards are flat on the floor, you may see a little gap. Set the tapping block against the groove end of the board and tap-tap-tap until the gap is gone. Make sure you are not trying to tap in against a tongue. Add all your boards this way. Unless you are lucky, your last board will be too long. Measure the distance between the board lying on the floor and the space to the wall, or where you want your floor to end. Cut with your circular saw and snap the board into place. For the little gap that's left, use the pulling bar. Put the edge of the pulling bar on the sawn length of the last board and lay the long bar part on top of the board itself. You'll notice a little tab of metal sticking up. Tap-tap-tap on this with the hammer or mallet to pull the board fully into place. Your first layer is done.

6. Finsh the layers. Space the planks the way bricks are laid, with an overlap between seams. To do this, cut off about one-third of the beginning plank and snap the remaining two-thirds onto the first plank you set. Make sure to place a spacer at the end of the plank and use the pull bar or tapping block to make sure the first plank is within 1/4-inch of the wall. Add the additional planks for this row, first snapping the long sides together and then tapping the ends to make a tight fit. When you reach the end of this row, you may again need to measure a cut a plank to fit the remaining space. Don't forget to allow for the 1/4 inch gap.

7. Lay the door jam area. If your door has woodwork around the door jam, lay a piece of flooring against the door jam and saw off the bottom of the door jam so you have just enough room to slide the flooring under it.

8. When you've reached your last layer, it may be necessary to cut each plank so it can be snapped into place and leave the 1/4-inch space between flooring and wall. As always, measure carefully before you cut to reduce the chance of errors.

9. Once your floor is laid, remove all the spacers. Failure to do so could cause the floor to buckle or bulge. Decide on baseboards and whether you will have a quarter-round trim. Make sure as you add baseboards and quarter-rounds not to interfere with the 1/4-inch gap between flooring and wall. The baseboards can cover the gap, but not eliminate it. Make sure baseboard nails go into the wall and not the flooring.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure you measure twice or three times to ensure accurate measurements. Wear safety goggles when using power equipment Read and follow all manufacturer instructions for best results.

References

• Home Depot
• Lumber Liquidators