Bring Back Pat!!! Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 (edited) I sell flooring for a living. in general, laminate flooring is going to be the easiest for a DIYer to do. Especially now that they're all glueless.(you used to have to glue the tongue and grooves). Some things to consider: 1.Waste factor. If you're just doing a square room (living, dining, etc) you'd want about 5-8% waste, depending on your comfortablility level with your cuts. For halls, kitchens, baths, etc, rooms with obstructions, you'll want 10% or more. Nothing worse than getting 90% through and running out. 2.Subfloor. We sell two brands of laminate, and they're similar, so I assume most others are as well. Your subfloor needs to be very level. 1/4 inch in 8 feet in the 'standard'. This is because the floors are floating and not attached to the subfloor, any more deflection than that will put too much stress on the T&G joints and they'll break in time. 3. Moldings. The entire perimeter needs to have some sort of molding around it to allow for roughly a 1/4 expansion joint in all directions(varies by brand). Standard wood baseboard will work if it's allready there, just needs to be pulled and repaced over the new floor. Quarter round, thresholds, reducers, all these things could come into play when transitioning to another flooring material. 4. Square. The most important thing to keep track of while you're installing is that you're running square. If you start even 1/4 of an inch off on one end of a room, that multiplies by the time you get to the other end. Keep checking, double checking and you should be fine. All in all, it certainly can be done. Table saw would be ideal, skill saw at the least is needed. Buy the manufacturers install kit (tapping blocks, spacers, etc) They're all the saem really, but best to use what they want you to use. Good luck Edited March 15, 2007 by Bring Back Pat!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Irish Doggy Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 You gonna make it all 220? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big F'n Dave Posted March 15, 2007 Author Share Posted March 15, 2007 You gonna make it all 220? 220 or 221. Whatever it takes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefjay Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Get someone to help you. As long as that person is a little bit handy you should be able to do it plus you really need two people. Ripping means to cut the board vertically. That could be a tricky part, measuring out to see how your last board will end up in terms of width. You need a circular saw or better yet a table saw to "rip" the board. Took me about 2.5 hrs to lay about 150 Sq Ft with the help of my 6 and 8 year old. I still have to do some transition work between my wood floor and the carpet. Probably tackle that this weekend. I made some small mistakes but for the most part you would have to really look at it hard to notice them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 :robschneider: You can do it! :/robschneier: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sox Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 You'll need a cheap miter saw as well for the straight angle cuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatman Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 :robschneider: You can do it! :/robschneier: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idahov Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 I installed around 500 sqft of hardwood flooring when my house was built, and left the filling, sanding and finishing to a professional. I didn't know jack before I started. My back was killing me, and my arm was completly dead from swinging that F'n mallet to pound the flooring nails by the time I was done. I'm no Bob Vila, and I have no doubt you can do the laminate. Good luck and have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 (edited) i am looking at around 2000 sqft for the new store and the install they quoted me was close to $6000 F that I have never done it before but I at least know what a rip cut is...i will be laying that floor by myself...but hey dave if you get to yours before i get to mine you can come down and help with mine to make sure its done right or at least to make sure its not done wrong lucky for me Lumber Liquidators main warehouse for the US is about 3 miles down the road from me Edited March 15, 2007 by keggerz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 I installed around 500 sqft of hardwood flooring when my house was built, and left the filling, sanding and finishing to a professional. I didn't know jack before I started. My back was killing me, and my arm was completly dead from swinging that F'n mallet to pound the flooring nails by the time I was done. I'm no Bob Vila, and I have no doubt you can do the laminate. Good luck and have fun. i have done hardwood before and that mallet is no joke...i recall losing a finger nail on that job...never did laminate but it cant be any more difficult Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Back Pat!!! Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 I installed around 500 sqft of hardwood flooring when my house was built, and left the filling, sanding and finishing to a professional. I didn't know jack before I started. My back was killing me, and my arm was completly dead from swinging that F'n mallet to pound the flooring nails by the time I was done. I'm no Bob Vila, and I have no doubt you can do the laminate. Good luck and have fun. Next time rent a pneumadic gun and buy pre-finished. You can thank me later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idahov Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Next time rent a pneumadic gun and buy pre-finished. You can thank me later My Dad, who is a contractor and built my house, bought all the materials and rented the equipment for me. Shortly after I was done, and on my death bed, he mentions, "Oh, I guess I could have rented the pnuematic version." I about chit myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big F'n Dave Posted March 19, 2007 Author Share Posted March 19, 2007 Paying the guy to do it. He started late yesterday and will finish tomorrow. Looks great. After watching him for a brief time today, I feel certain I would've f*cked it up. I know me like the back of my hand. Good fold, BFD. Good fold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Neutron Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 I just spent all day shopping for laminate with the Mrs. We ended up going with this. We also opted to pay to have it installed. I'm sure my buddies and I could have done it, but the house would have been torn up longer. We also got carpet for the whole house and a new living room set. It's going to look like a new house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big F'n Dave Posted March 25, 2007 Author Share Posted March 25, 2007 I just spent all day shopping for laminate with the Mrs. We ended up going with this. We also got carpet for the whole house and a new living room set. It's going to look like a new house. Looks good, Jimmy. The new flooring here looks great. The little woman loves it. Also replaced an eight-foot behemoth of a sliding glass door with French patio doors. Painting going on left and right. We're going for the "whole new house" thing ourselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Neutron Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 The new flooring here looks great. The little woman loves it. Also replaced an eight-foot behemoth of a sliding glass door with French patio doors. Painting going on left and right. We're going for the "whole new house" thing ourselves. That's good to know - I hope my wife is happy with it. We'll be painting here all summer too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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