How to Install Laminated Hard Wood Flooring

Laminate wood floors come in a variety of shapes, colors and textures.

Laminate hard wood flooring can generally be installed in the same fashion as regular, unfinished hard wood floors. Nail-down laminated floors are easier, though, in that you don't have to sand, stain and varnish them after installation; they're just ready to walk on. As with all wood flooring, it's important to let the laminate floor boards sit in the room for a week or more before installation, so they can adjust to the local environment as humidity can change the size and shape of wood.

Things You'll Need

• Felt flooring underlayment
• Electric stapler
• Laminated hardwood flooring
• Tape measure
• Floor nailer
• Miter saw
• Table saw

Instructions

1. Cover the floor in felt underlayment, rolling it out in overlapping courses and securing it with a stapler.

2. Lay the first piece of laminate flooring along the side of the floor where you want to start, with the grooved edge of the board facing the wall and sitting 3/8th inch out from it. Secure the board by top-nailing with a floor nailer, shooting pairs of nails straight down through the surface every foot or so.

3. Set the rest of the boards of the first row in place, locking them together end to end by their tongue-and-groove edging and top-nailing them as before. Cut the final piece as needed, on your miter saw.

4. Set the next courses in place alongside the first one, connecting them by their tongue-and-groove edges and securing them by shooting nails through the sides, just above the tongue, every foot. Stagger the ends of the boards between courses so they don't line up. (You will have a choice of board lengths to aid in this.) Cut the ends as needed, keeping the 3/8th inch gap along all the walls.

5. Cover the whole floor. For the final row, length-cut the boards on a table saw so they fit against the ending wall with a 3/8th inch space left there. The spaces will be hidden by floor trim.

References

• BobVila: Wood Floor Installation.