DIY laminate flooring

Laminate - flooring, the basis is a fiberboard covered with a film. The top layer gives the laminate wear resistance, impact resistance and decorativeness.

A huge selection of different colors and textures contributed to the widespread dissemination of such building materials in Europe and the CIS. The price of laminated flooring is low, but often the cost of installing laminate is added to the cost of buying building materials.

In order not to overpay for repairs, you can use the step-by-step instructions for laying the laminate with your own hands and become the owner of high-quality flooring.

Materials and Tools

The key to excellent repair is well-chosen construction tools and supplies. You must have the following:

• A vacuum cleaner. Prepares the floor surface for subsequent work, as the floor must be perfectly clean before laying the laminate.
• Construction level. It will reveal all the curvature of the floor, which can subsequently ruin the appearance of the laminate.
• Laminate flooring. This layer will hide the unevenness of the floor, reduce the volume of steps and creaking.
• Masking tape. Useful for joining strips of the substrate.
• Spacer wedges. Laminated board - material that changes under the influence of temperature and humidity, in order to avoid deformations provide a gap between the laminate board and the wall or other mounted structures from 8 up to 15 mm.
• Hammer. From time to time, it becomes necessary to hammer already connected parts with a hammer.
• Construction knife. Universal tool, not a single repair can do without it.
• Roulette. It will help to establish the length and width of the room, as well as accurately measure the right amount of material.
• Jigsaw. The advantage of using a jigsaw is a neat and beautiful cut, but in its absence you can use another similar tool.
• Chipper (or wooden block). They are used when fitting boards, that is, it is with him that they knock with a hammer to avoid damage to locks.
• Pencil and corner. Mark the line of the correct cut of the laminated board.
• Screwdriver and hacksaw for metal. These tools find application in installing skirting boards and thresholds.

What surface can laminate be laid on?

According to professionals, any surface can become the basis for laying a laminated board, subject to the following conditions:

• The rough floor must be perfectly flat, the maximum allowable difference is 2 mm per 1 m.
• The surface is sure to get rid of dust and dirt with a vacuum cleaner.
• The old floor can be used as a base, in the absence of visible defects and squeaking.
• When using a cement screed as the basis, the surface is primed in order to avoid the separation of small particles of concrete.
• The base should be hard and completely dry, since the laminate is hygroscopic material.

The conclusion follows: almost all existing types of flooring can serve as the basis for the laminate. It is worth noting that concrete screed is a favorite type of foundation, due to its practicality, reliability and simplicity in preparation for flooring.

How to prepare the surface

The initial stage of work on flooring from a laminated board comes down to preparing a rough floor. It is worth taking maximum responsibility for this work, the quality of the future flooring depends on it.

To prepare the surface you need:

1. Remove old thresholds and skirting boards.
2. If necessary, trim the door frame.
3. Level the rough floor.
4. Eliminate the defects of the old floor.
5. In case of concrete screed, prime the surface.
6. To clear a surface.
7. Remove excess moisture.

Using a backing

Novice craftsmen often refuse to use the substrate due to cost savings. However, professionals claim that the substrate under the laminate is not only additional heat and sound insulation, but also a flat surface and shock absorption.

The substrate is used only on a concrete base, on floors covered with wood or linoleum, an additional layer is not needed. When laminate flooring, the following types of substrates are used:

• Cork substrates. Expensive, quality and environmentally friendly. Disadvantage - they are afraid of excessive moisture and temperature differences, it is impossible to use in wet rooms and in combination with a heated floor. It is best suited for children's and playrooms, for rooms with a large load on the surface.
• Polyethylene foam. Moisture-resistant, inexpensive and easy to use. Unfortunately, it is short-lived and has low depreciation, which is why it is used for flooring the substrate on a wooden base.
• Styrofoam. Reasonable price and ease of use, good sound insulation and surface leveling. In rare cases, they may lose shape. This material has the best price-quality ratio of building materials on the market. Such substrates are universal in use and can be combined with a warm floor.

Types of Laminate Locks

To date, all types of joints in laminated panels are adhesiveless, laying of such a floor with glue has sunk into oblivion due to laborious and economically disadvantageous repair work.

The following types of locks are distinguished:

• Lock system. The principle of connection is the tenon groove method. That is, a groove is cut out on one side of the board, and a spike on the other. Such technology is gradually becoming obsolete and supplanted in more modern ways, since such a lock requires certain professional skills and sufficient accuracy to operate. When flooring such a coating, it is necessary to finish the castle connection, in which the tenon groove system is often damaged.
• Click system. The lamellae are connected by entering one into the other at an angle, after which they press on the input panel and the lock latches. The advantage of this system is its easy installation and possible subsequent disassembly of the floor. The Click connection is considered to be more perfect than the Lock. Many manufacturers are trying to improve this method, the following are the types of locks based on Click-connection.
• Aluminum lock. An aluminum profile is inserted along the thickness of the panel, so the joint system is reliably protected from abrasion and deformation. Accordingly, the price increases for reliability and quality, if we talk about the minuses of such a castle.
• Lock 2-Lock. The peculiarity of this connection in the floating tongue on the side of the strap. Installation does not require experience and special skills; it is easy and quick to assemble such a floor.
• Megaloc Castle. A distinctive feature is the lock on the end of the panel, so that the flooring of such a coating is reduced in time by several times. The manufacturer assures that one ordinary person who does not have professional skills can cope with the installation.

How to calculate laminate flooring

Finding out the required number of laminated panels is best before traveling to the hardware store. Such a solution will save both time and money, and will allow you not to be distracted from the fascinating DIY styling process:

1. Measure the room. To do this, you need roulette. With typical rooms, everything is simple: measure the length and width, multiply and get the area of ​​the room (S). But if there are ledges, columns or other features in the room, they must also be measured.
2. Find out the parameters of the lamellas and calculate their area. In the same way, that is, multiply the length of the panel by its width.
3. Find out the approximate amount of material. Divide the total surface area by the area of ​​one lamella. Only round up.
4. Add panels to the resulting number that compensate for material loss during trimming. Usually take the material at the rate of 1 additional unit per 100 pieces.
5. Find out the number of pieces in a pack. Divide the number of slats required for flooring by the number of units in a pack. The result is the right amount of laminate packaging.

If nevertheless there are difficulties with the calculations, it is worth paying attention to the online services for calculating the laminate.

How to lay laminate flooring? Step-by-step instruction

1. Material purchase and placement in the repaired room, to establish the same humidity of the room and the laminate.
2. Surface preparation (cm. above).
3. Flooring substrate. The substrate is laid on the prepared surface and cut to the size of the room. It turns out a certain number of stripes, which are usually connected with masking tape.
4. Laminate flooring produced in the direction from natural light, this allows you to hide the shadow from the side joints.
5. The first board is laid with a lock to itself, with a spike to the wall. After this, spacer wedges are installed.
6. The next panel in the first row is connected to the first end. The last panel is cut with a jigsaw to the desired size.
7. A new row begins with a segment from the last row, but only if its length is at least 30 cm. This method of combining panels allows you to avoid additional loads on the locks.
8. Second and subsequent rows: first they connect the end locks, then the resulting strip is inserted into the lock and latched.
9. Each stacked row is knocked out with a hammer and chipper to eliminate gaps between the rows.
10. Under the door frame, the laminate is brought in this waythat there is no gap between the box and the floor, for which you need to file the door jambs from below.
11. The last row often needs to be cut along the board. To do this, the lamella is turned over and marked on the inside with a pencil, after which the excess is cut off with an electric jigsaw. All lamellas of the last row are made by the ends and stacked according to the above rules.
12. Spacer wedges are removed.
13. Thresholds and baseboards are installed.

Laying laminate diagonally

This method of flooring a laminated board is often used to visually expand the space. However, do not forget that this option is more expensive, due to the increased consumption of the lamellas themselves:

• Diagonal flooring involves following the same steps as parallel.
• A feature of this method is the choice of the starting point. Most often, they start moving from the corner of the room, but due to various circumstances and features of the room, it may be necessary to lay boards from the center of the room.
• Difficulty usually causes trimming of the extreme panels in a row. To saw the board correctly, you need to measure the distance from the top edge to the spacer wedges and mark it on the laminate board, then do the same measurements with the bottom edge. Getting points to connect and make a cut board.

Recommendations

Novice repair masters are not immune from many mistakes. In order to avoid loss of repair quality and self-confidence, the following are special recommendations:

• Particular attention is required to prepare the surface. It is better to clean it from dust and dirt again than to rebuild the floor again.
• Do not neglect the size of the gaps between the wall and the panels., the laminate may swell and become unusable.
• The base must be flat and smooth., this is a prerequisite for maintaining locks.
• Do not lay laminate floors immediately after delivery of building materials. Laminate is a moisture-absorbing material; at least 48 hours must pass for it to swell.
• Without a substrate, the floor will creak. It is better to trust the opinion of most professionals and use a layer of substrate, do not save on the quality and durability of the floor covering.

Laying a laminate floor with your own hands and without special skills is possible, you just have to strictly follow the instructions and use the advice of experienced craftsmen.