Laminate Flooring During Your Home Remodeling Project
There are just so many choices you have when remodeling your home that you can find it difficult to keep up with the decisions that have to be made. If you love the look and feel of wood, you should consider laminate flooring, which is cheaper than real wood flooring, and will withstand many problems in the home, while withstanding a lot of traffic in the home at the same time. Laminate flooring is easy to install or you can have a contractor who has more time than you install the laminate flooring for your remodeling needs. 
Laminate flooring can be matched to just about anything in your home. If you have a great wood trim through out your home, you can find laminate flooring that is going to match that color. The laminate flooring colors can be used to match the cupboards in your bathroom, in the kitchen or the end tables in your living room. Laminate flooring colors and shades of colors are going to vary from store to store, and from brand to brand.
Laminate flooring can be installed where you previously had carpeting before. If you are thinking about getting rid of carpeting in your home, you will find that by ripping out the carpeting, and putting down a new sub floor you are going to be ready to install a new laminate flooring in your home. Often times a laminate flooring is going to be a light color, one that is going to make the rooms of your home, where you are installing laminate flooring, seem so much bigger. The laminate flooring installed in your home will be a great change, one that you will enjoy for years to come. Laminate flooring is often times going to last longer than vinyl sheet goods and even be warmer feeling than vct tile or ceramic tile in your home.
You can install laminate flooring over warm flooring if you want. Laminate flooring can be installed over radiant heating adding that much more warmth to your flooring. If you are remodeling your home, and you are worried about heat in the floor or the flooring feeling cold, consider installing radiant heating below the flooring, you are putting down. Radiant heating below laminate flooring is going to give your feet a treat, even in the coldest weather.
Laminate flooring can be purchased online or offline. You can see the many colors of this flooring online, in pictures, and then using the measurements of your room or rooms, you can order all the materials needed directly online. You don’t have to waste gas getting to the store, when materials can be delivered directly to your home. Laminate flooring materials will be heavy and often times will be delivered by truck, so you don’t have to rent a truck or borrow a truck to get the needed materials to your home to do the job. Consider adding laminate flooring to your home remodeling list, when you are reviewing the many choices you have in remodeling the flooring in your home.
How to install laminated flooring?
Trial layout
- For a cement floor, lay out the foam and seal the seams with duct tape. Likewise, for other types of floors you may lay the foam in the same direction as the planks, with no overlap. Then secure the laminate flooring planks with tape.
- Check the planks for damage. Don’t install damaged material, as it may void the manufacturer’s warranty.
- You should do a dry run of the first two rows. Lay the planks so that the tongue faces to the installer’s right. After you are through with the first row cut the plank to fit it. Then put spacers between the flooring and the wall. Be careful especially when dealing with walls that are not straight. Make use of spacers to keep the flooring straight.
- Use the leftover plank from the first row to start the next row. After you’re through, lay the remaining of the planks in the second row while ensuring that the rows are straight and that there are no gaps either on the side or butt joints. After the dry fit is accomplished, remove all the planks and start installing for real.
Actual laminate flooring installation process
1. First do a dry run, laying one row of boards with no glue to make sure everything lines up properly.
2. Start in a corner that’s not near the door, if possible. Lay down a row, groove side against the wall, without glue. Put distancing blocks between the boards and the wall.
3. If the wall is uneven you may have to cut the boards to fit it. Make sure to mark on the board exactly where it needs to be cut.
4. After you put the last board in place, use some kind of guide — a level or a 2×4 — to make sure the row is completely straight. Any unevenness can be adjusted with wedges.
5. Pick up all the boards except the corner one in the first row. Put glue on the short side of the board. Seal the end joints tight by pressing the boards together. Wipe off any excess glue promptly. The first two rows must be straight, or it will throw off the entire floor. The end joints must be very tight, too.
Thanks to engineered hardwood flooring and hardwood laminate flooring you will still be able to cover an entire room with hardwood flooring at a reasonable price.
