How To Lay Out A Room For Laminate Flooring

A laminate floor becomes a unifying influence in the overall decor if it runs in the same direction throughout the house.

How to lay out a room for laminate flooring.

The best direction generally depends primarily on the shape of the house. Lay a loose plank of your new flooring upside down against the door casing over a piece of the underlayment and saw off the bottom of the casing. To lay laminate flooring first clear out any furniture in the room you ll be laying the floor in. They should acclimate for at least 48 hours.

For a small to medium size room it s easiest to use the flooring itself rather than measuring and calculating. Lay out the unopened boxes of laminate planks in the room. Use a handsaw to undercut door molding or casing. For example you will be able to look at this sheet and see how many inches it is when 10 planks are put together or 15 planks or 20 planks and so on.

Stack the opened planks of laminate in the room where they will be laid 48 hours prior to beginning the project. This will allow them to acclimate to the room s temperature and humidity. You ll also want to tear up any carpet in the room and remove the leftover tack strips. The key to learning how to layout a laminate floor is making a cheat sheet.

Next cut strips of underlayment to size and lay the strips down across the exposed floor. If you are installing the flooring below grade or in a room like a basement with high humidity or moisture lay down a vapor barrier before you install the flooring. You can lock the side joints together or simply butt the planks against one another. Arrange planks side by side across the room.

Test the flooring layout. Set the thermostat to the normal temperature for the room to allow the flooring.