How To Lay Out A Room For Laminate Flooring

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.

How to lay out a room for laminate flooring.

Test fit some laminate planks to see how they will lay out in the room. This will allow them to acclimate to the room s temperature and humidity. Test the flooring layout. Set the thermostat to the normal temperature for the room to allow the flooring.

Arrange planks side by side across the room. This is a list that shows you how many inches your laminate planks equal when they are put together. The best direction generally depends primarily on the shape of the house. The key to learning how to layout a laminate floor is making a cheat sheet.

For a small to medium size room it s easiest to use the flooring itself rather than measuring and calculating. You can lock the side joints together or simply butt the planks against one another. Stack the opened planks of laminate in the room where they will be laid 48 hours prior to beginning the project. A laminate floor becomes a unifying influence in the overall decor if it runs in the same direction throughout the house.

Stack the unopened packages of flooring material in flat rows in the bathroom two days before installing it so it can adjust to the room temperature. Lay out the unopened boxes of laminate planks in the room. 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. Use a handsaw to undercut door molding or casing.

You ll also want to tear up any carpet in the room and remove the leftover tack strips. 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.