# laminate wood floor install



## fishinfool (Jun 30, 2004)

my wife and i decided to install laminate floors and ended up with a higher end product, 12mm golden teak something. i took pictures along the way thinking i would start a thread and update it, but that didnt happen so ill post them up now with some notes for others that may want to do it. our room was about 280sqft with contractor grade carpet. we started out pulling the capret and pad (yuk) and prepping the floor. we didnt want to use quarter round molding, to me it screams after market floor and covering up cheaper work. 
we pulled all the baseboards carefully so we could reinstall them. we filled all the holes in the concrete from the carpet tack strips. 

unrolled the vapor barrier plastic to find out it was wider than i expected. our floor was 287sqft i think and this roll had 300sqft. we had to really think about how to install and cut this so we had enough to cover everything. the hardest part was getting it to lay flat and my little helper wasnt really helping this.


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## fishinfool (Jun 30, 2004)

*part 2*

we got the plastic down and started the first few rows. a box and a half into it we realized the first box was NOT the same color. it wasnt just a shade off, mix it in sort of thing but way off, so i had to pull up all of it and start over. we worked a little each night after our little girl went to bed. i used a table saw for all the cuts, looking back a miter saw would have been MUCH better, but its what i had and and dont have room to store a miter saw (really wanted one though)

we worked on it for a few evenings and finally got it all down. the trim from wood to tile took me a couple weeks. Things just kept getting in the way. kid, dogs, work, finally finished that up last night.

ill get some more pics tonight of the floor finished and trim. i still have to finish the NEW baseboard around the room (original idea was to keep it, but didnt like how it went back in)


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## fishinfool (Jun 30, 2004)

some lessons learned so far. use wedges or spacers along the wall. we had a few rows open up or slide right to the wall. 

use the safety guards with your tools, had a minor incident with the table saw trying to rip some base board (this is why i now have to install new stuff) cut the top of my hand and got three stitches. Very lucky! most table saw accidents end up with missing parts.

if you have low spots in the concrete around the wall, fill them with leveling compound or something. we had a crack running from the wall that was low and now when you step on that little area it goes down. i didnt level it, because it was less than the recomended gap wording on the floor packageing. 

dont buy the cheapest knee pads you can find. spend a few extra dollars on this part even if you will never use them again. my knees still hurt and this was mostly done a couple weeks ago.

Over all it was not a hard project, just time consuming. ill post op some finished pictures tomorrow. all i have left is to complete the new baseboard install and fill caulk the holes and top of the boards.


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## FISHINFOOL87 (Jun 21, 2010)

We are thinking about laying some laminate wood floor too. Where is the finished product picture looks like you were doing pretty good. I hope you didn't stop there!


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## bearwhiz (Jan 30, 2011)

I've completed two bedroom with laminate. I have a miter saw and it made things much easier. I'm ready to do more.


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## JohnAkaB (May 31, 2010)

I have always thought about doing this myself but worried about the unleveled areas in the house, if any, and the end parts where the trim goes on. I'll wait and see the finish


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## fishinfool (Jun 30, 2004)

*finished product*

didnt realize i had not posted finish pictures. actually i am still not 100% i have a few more piece of base board to replace, but they are out of sight, out of mind.

things i learned. 
- if you have or can get a miter saw (powered) would be best for cutting the flooring. i used a table saw and it worked ok. better than hand saw, but not as good as a miter saw.
-if you have lower areas try to level or fill them with self leveling thin type cement. i didnt do this in a couple spots i thought would be OK, but now wish i had.
-use the safety guards on your tools, had a minor emergency room visit with a few stitches.
-buy GOOD knee pads 
-mix up a few boxes of flooring as your going so you dont have sections of off color

here are some pictures of the finished product, the new trim going in and my results from the emergency room. the base board pic is before we finished the trim around the corner, just to show comparison of old and new.

the floor turned out good and like the product we used. we got it from lumber liquidators and they were good to work with on the box we had to exchange as the color was WAY WRONG (bad run from factory i guess).


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## Lucky (Sep 1, 2005)

DAYUM, that's gonna leave an ugly scar! Nice floors, though. Good Job!


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## SWC (Jun 20, 2009)

Nice job I put the same floor down in my living room too. I have yet to put down baseboards bc the wife is picky and wants the trim stained. I am remodeling our first house and waiting to finishthen will put it all up on here! Knee pads are a must.


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## cubera (Mar 9, 2005)

That looks like the exact same scraped flooring we put down. Color looks darker than it really is in bright light. Looks good but I must warn you, it is subject to looking like it has wear on it. Enclose pic shows where my office chair rolls and you can see how the top finish has been destroyed. Called their support line, and there is no way to bring this back to life.










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


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## TheSamarai (Jan 20, 2005)

If you dont have a miter saw, rent one. Makes the job twice as fast and helps to get the nice angles on trim pieces.


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