ANyone installed laminate flooring?

[StirCrazy]

ok, I have done pretty much the 1/2 the whole house in it now, and did a lot of reading on it.

the thickness donesn't matter so much, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm there all good but what does matter is you buy a good quality in that size. there are two types, DLP (direct pressure lamanate), and HPL (High pressure lamanate) you want HPL if you can find it it is more stable and stronger, but more expensive. If all you can find is DLP then get 12mm or thicker which is also more expensive. My theory is the 0.99 lamanates are just there to get you into the store so you can see how ugly they actualy are. I have some of that buck/foot stuff in my dinning room that I have to remove and put differ stuff down. Previous owners installed it. it is already getting buckels at the joints, but we are going to do the whole upstairs in laminate so we are just trying to decide which one to go with upstairs, befor I start that. besides, I have to many other renos going on right now to worry about that haha

also what are you installing it on? If over cement, it is different than over wooden subfloor.

wooden subfloor, clean, amke sure you remove any staples/nails that are left over from carpet and any screws or nails that are holding the subfloor down are sunk properly, put your underlay down and install the lamanate. On cement you need to do some extra work. first you need a underlay then the padding. my basement cost me 500.00 to get the floor ground level (about 600 sqft). my laminate was 2.30/sqft on sale reg 2.89 (which is the cheepest you are going to get a good lamanate for, unless there is one heck of a sale) then you have to put your underlay. I recomend getting a good one. I got floor muffler for about 0.79/sqft and because I was in a basement below grade I needed a thermalbreak / moisture control layer which was a roll of dimpled ABS. all seams on the ABS and underlay were tuck taped and then the floor installed ontop of that.

that 600 sqft was split into two rooms, a big bedroom and the family room. the bedroom took about 6 hours to do as the stuf we used required the ends of the starter row to be glued togeather then wait an hour and the cutting around the closet took a bit. the family room which is twice the size took me about 4 hours and I had to do some fancy cutting around the fireplace. there are good instructions with the products and make sure you follow them.

remember you cannot install it under a fish tank, as it is a floating floor and only made for lighter furnature loads. the big problem is it will crack the locking joints if the weight is to much, so if you are going to put a big fishtank over it you want to buy the types with the aluminum locking joints and now were talking big bucks. Its not a good idea around the tank anyways as water that isn't wiped up right away can eventualy swell the material and buckel your floor. I did the bar/tank area in slate tiles, and the rest in lamanate.

for tools, you will need a saw for laminate, a miter saw with a lamanate blade works good, I also got a blade for my table saw as I had to do some long rips also. you will need a puller thing for lamanate flooring. Don't buy an instalation kit they are a rip off and there is only one tool in them you need (which is the puller thing that you can buy on its own.

so your wanting to go in a 1.00 sqft is going to be hard unless you gfet your laminate for about 0.65/sqft then your underlay (a cheep one) for about 0.35/sqft and don't have to buy any tools. this will give you a floor that you are going to have to pull up and replace in about a year (as my brother is finding out now) a more realistic number would be about 3.00-3.50/sqft upstairs, or 3.50-4.50 for a downstairs on cement.

Steve

[banditpowdercoat]

I'm doing it in a Mobile Home. So wood subfloor. And I can't put it under a tank? Some say I can, you say I can't What's the deal??? I need to know 100% before I commit to this. I can't just leave a non floored section for the tank. This will be a rental home soon, we won't be here for ever, and the tank comes with us, of coarse.

[Pescador]

You could keep enough flooring to finish it after you move out?

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by Pescador

You could keep enough flooring to finish it after you move out?

Hmm I could, leave the whole right wall unfinished where the tank sits I guess. Main thing is I want to get the carpet out from under the tank, it holds the water something bad LOL
Edit, chatting with wife, she says we can leave that section unfinished since it will only be a 4'x2' section between couch and wall, wont really see it. Bookshelf goes there any ways.... Whew, flooring still on, and made my job a little easier hahaha

[ponokareefer]

I've put laminate in our entire house with the $1 stuff, and it works well. As others have said, make sure you have the gaps against the wall. Also, make sure you don't force locking the pieces together, as locking parts will brake. Learned that the hard way.
Definitely don't put a big tank over the laminate. I went into a house where they had done this, and the section where it was done "sank".
One tip that I learned as I went along it to make sure the seams don't match up from one row to the next, as it doesn't look very aesthetically appealing. What I mean by this is, if the first piece in a row is a full length of laminate, start the next row off with a half piece instead so the joints don't come close to matching up. At the start of doing it, you'll have to make a few unnecessary cuts, but after a few rows, you'll have extra to do this with.

[The Grizz]

I have it under my 155 BF in my living room and under a 125 & 55 in my office. And mine is doing fine, I have underfloor heating as well. Use the best underlay that you can but this is the key, whether you have underfloor heating or not use the best underlay and I would suggest at least a 1/4" subfloor just to be on the safe side. As long as the room has the proper expansion on the other 3 side's of the room it will be fine, mine is. The living room is 640 sq' and so is my office.

[mike31154]

Ok, I'll be the fly in the ointment here. I'm also not a fan of carpet but dislike laminate even more. Hold out and spend a few extra bucks for hardwood and perhaps tile for under the tank. I know it's a mobile as you mentioned and you won't be in it forever and you're on a budget etc. Look around for deals, you could probably get some half decent hardwood for 2 to 3 dollars/sq ft. Might not be the best stuff for that price, but it's so much more solid than laminate and can always be refinished, a number of times if needed.

I'm in the midst of flooring renos as well and have pulled most of the carpeting in my place. I managed to score sufficient hardwood for most of the rooms at auctions held by an auction company from the coast that swings by Armstrong and Winfield from time to time. I think most of it comes from China, but I don't care, it looks fine and the price was definitely right.

My problem is, I'm slow but like to think I'm thorough. Things aren't getting done in a hurry, the living room is mostly done and I actually screwed the planks down instead of using a nailer. This meant pre-drilling and countersinking holes for every screw used to hold the flooring down. Also, since the planks I used in the LR are all the same length, I decided on a double herring bone pattern for putting them down. This meant I had to cut off the tongues and route a groove into the end of every few planks and cut plywood strips as tongues for the ends of the grooves that mated to these. A ton of work, probably anal, but the end result is worth it.

Here are a couple of photos. Actually the under floor electric heating I put in for under tile at the bay window, but you can see part of the hardwood as well.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Ok, I'll be the fly in the ointment here. I'm also not a fan of carpet but dislike laminate even more. Hold out and spend a few extra bucks for hardwood and perhaps tile for under the tank. I know it's a mobile as you mentioned and you won't be in it forever and you're on a budget etc.

problem with tile is no floor on a mobile is built up enough to prevent cracking over time. you need a deflection rating of 360 or higher. so now he has to add at least one layer of 3/4" toung and grouve plywood glued and screwed to the original flooring substrate and maybe another depending whats underneith. Hardwood is nice but for nice stuff your looking at 8bucks and up per sqft then you have to finnish it for a few hundred bucks to sand and varnish and the finnish you get will never be as hard as the surface of laminate so hard wood scratches way way easier. plus it has been mentioned befor that he has a moisture problem in his mobile.. installing hardwood is just asking for trouble in that case. so laminate or lyno are his best options for the practicality and price.

I would have used hardwood myself but it is not rated for below grade intalations, neither is enginered lumber so I went with laminat that was.

for upstairs I am looking for a good price on hand scraped plank which I am only going to use a oiled finnish. I have a dog so I don't want to be re-urathaining every year.. and I also want the old weathered barn floor look.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

I'm doing it in a Mobile Home. So wood subfloor. And I can't put it under a tank? Some say I can, you say I can't What's the deal??? I need to know 100% before I commit to this. I can't just leave a non floored section for the tank. This will be a rental home soon, we won't be here for ever, and the tank comes with us, of coarse.

if it is a small tank, you could, but a large tank.. I wouldn't. it is a floating floor and needs to expand and contract with the seasons so if you put a large weight on it and preven part of it from moving it will buckel and possably break the locking joints which means new floor time. Persoanly I would start on the opisite side of the room from the tank. install it around the tank andf just have enough to redo the tank area when it is gone. or just wait to do the floor till the tank is gone.

Steve

[cygmark]

I love the bamboo stuff its a little more pricey but it's tough as nails , no glue or nails needed, just some foam you get from rona or homedepot , comes in a big roll for $20, i install that stuff everywhere i liked how it held up so i installed it in my motorhome, and with the tep changes and moisture still looks amazing.