How to install floating or laminate flooring

Okay - Laminate flooring is one of the best and most cost effective products available for home improvement. If you are looking to make a dramatic improvement to a room and you don't have much money or experience with tools or anything beyond painting - laminate flooring is the way to go.

Laminate flooring is sometimes called click flooring or floating flooring. A standard project is super simple... You yank up all the existing flooring and expose the subfloor (generally plywood or chipboard), lay down the special underpad, then snap together your flooring material until the floor is completely covered.

Tools required:
- Table saw to cut down the length of your laminate boards.
- A circular saw or mitre saw
- The special laminate knocking block they sell in the building supply stores (technically not required, but well worth it).
- A rubber mallet (a regular hammer will also work).
- A prybar like the one shown here http://www.tool-net.co.uk/data/index.php?ToolID=311035

It never hurts to attend one of those free workshops that building supply stores hold. Laminate flooring is big business for them, so a laminate flooring workshop is held almost every week.

Anyhow, here's the basic process...
Terms I will use:
- The female edge.. the laminate material's grooved edge
- The male edge.. the laminate material's tongued edge.

Generally speaking, you will want to start along the longest straight wall of your room. The first row of laminate is super easy. With female edges towards the wall, start in the corner and snap the pieces at the short edge all the way to the far wall... (knock the short edges together using your knocking block and mallet). Unless you have a very odd room, your final piece will not fit. Measure carefully and use your mitre or circular saw to cut a piece down to size. BE CAREFUL... make sure you cut the piece so that the short female edge is on the piece you are going to use and not the scrap piece. If you cut it the other way around (with the male edge on the piece that has been measure to size) the whole piece is scrap... The newly cut end piece may need to be snapped into place with your prybar. Use a piece of thick cardboard to protect your wall from damage when using the prybar.

Okay.. So you've completed your first strip. If you stare at it and squint, you can already imagine how the whole room will look. The laminate piece should be staggered (like bricks on a brick wall). So you start your next strip by cutting down a piece of laminate. I suggest cutting the piece in roughly in half, because the piece with the short female edge may be used later in the job to complete a row. Place your first piece of your second row down, with the cut edge towards the wall, bring it up to the first piece of your first row and lift it slightly to match up the tongue and groove, push it down and bingo, you've made your first "click" (this may take some practice). Now, use your knocking block and mallet or hammer to carefully knock this newly laid piece to match up with the short edge from the first row.

Wow... We're almost there. It's about to get super easy. Next, lay a full piece of laminate down, click it to its neighbouring long row, then knock it to lock to its short edge neighbour.

Now... it's basically a process of repeating this process until you have your room completed. The final row is tricky because your have to measure the required width carefully and cut the final pieces along their lengths, then use a prybar to snap them into place. Strong potential to mess up on this final row, so take your time.

Other important tips...The edges of your laminate pieces are important. Handle the material carefully. If an edge is damaged, the piece is basically toast. You may be able to use these scraps as edge pieces or to complete rows (by cutting off the damaged edge). Because your completed project will be nice and uniform, that broken edge you ignore will be very noticeable.

Use quarter round to finish all the edges... This will hide all the rough edges of your project.

Questions, corrections, or tips? Please post a comment!