Anyone laid laminate flooring themselves?

Thomas. PLease.

Thomas. PLease.

Thomas. PLease.

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I'm fairly handy with DIY, and have done lots of bits round the house. I've never put a new floor down. I've obviously watched a few youtube vids and it seems relatively straightforward as long as you're accurate with your cuts and leave the right tolerances for expansion.

Anyone here tackled it themselves? If so how was it, and what tips would you give?

I'm still torn whether to get someone in to do it, or saving the money and investing in a decent mitre saw and doing it myself.
 
Really easy job, did it when I first moved in and not many issues. Only thing I would say is you can keep the expansion gaps possibly a bit smaller than they recommend.

Also, laminate flooring looks better if you run it under the skirting/replace the skirting rather than scotia. I've done it both ways and obviously easier with the latter.
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
I'm fairly handy with DIY, and have done lots of bits round the house. I've never put a new floor down. I've obviously watched a few youtube vids and it seems relatively straightforward as long as you're accurate with your cuts and leave the right tolerances for expansion.

Anyone here tackled it themselves? If so how was it, and what tips would you give?

I'm still torn whether to get someone in to do it, or saving the money and investing in a decent mitre saw and doing it myself.
Click to expand...

I laid a grey laminate in our office just as lockdown started, make sure you rip off the skirting really give it a good sweep, pay close attention to the underlay and tape it up nicely and away you go... getting a nice finish isn't too tricky even for an amature like me:

 
Laminate is pretty simple especially if it's the clip in kind. Things to remember are to allow expansion at the perimeter (skirting off is best as per above).

Bare in mind unless you're laying it on a floating isolating layer it's going to increase sound transmission below (look out for restrictive covenants in apartments) and knee pads, knee pads knee pads.
 
Buffman said:
Really easy job, did it when I first moved in and not many issues. Only thing I would say is you can keep the expansion gaps possibly a bit smaller than they recommend.

Also, laminate flooring looks better if you run it under the skirting/replace the skirting rather than scotia. I've done it both ways and obviously easier with the latter.
Click to expand...

This.
 
Don't forget about any doors that enter in to the room, they may need the bottom trimmed.

Also another recommendation for the click stuff, you can lift it later and re-lay it should you need to (repairing, pipe access etc).
 
At my previous house, I laid laminate flooring in most of the rooms. Pretty straight forward job really, just make sure you plan out the best point to start from. Oh and definitely spend a little more on the better quality stuff.
 
Agree, not difficult. Did around 120sqm year ago, took a week.
Points to note in addition to what other said:
  • Get a lot of good blades for the jigsaw,
  • Take measurements twice,
  • Plan well where to start. It is possible to do quite large, continuous areas, even in several rooms and hall, which looks very needs (just mind expansion as other said).
 
Quality varies widely in manufacturers and how easily they click together.

There’s also a difference between laminate and engineered flooring. The cheapest engineered will be about £16-20 a sqm but it’s a million times easier to fit.

Remember your expansion gaps
Ideally place skirting on top, scotia looks horrible.
Consider your layout, traditionally the planks would lay at 90 degrees from your front door not across
Use a decent underlay sonic gold
 
Rather than getting someone in, save that money and use it to buy better flooring. Laminate is crap, go for engineered hardwood. Evolution mitre saw is cheap and perfect for this sort of work as well. You could have a much higher quality floor and a decent tool and money saved over getting someone in to fit laminate.
 
Re mitre saw
Yes it is a easy tool to use for cutting laminate BUT remember that laminate (not engineered wood)WILL take the edge off a saw blade lickety spit.In my experience in the trade anyway.Bear this in mind and i have `quality` blades needing sharpening after less than 1 room :(
I was usually using either fine blades in a jigsaw or downcutting blades mostly :)
 
It's a really easy job. Definitely falls in to the real of the DIYer. Just make sure you have a crosscut saw with a fine tooth tungsten tipped blade. Paint the edges of skirting or trim before fitting makes it easier later on when finishing.
 
I'm not very DIY but it's an OK job you get a slow fidley bit then an open area where you fly, Ive used the homebase white laminate, it's cheap, brings light and almost indestructible and stain proof (ie I drip red wine but cba to clean until the morning it just doesn't stain ) my edges hide behind wooden trim.


IMG-20200815-164138.jpg
 
Thanks for all the feedback, seems like it shouldn't be too difficult then. Is a jigsaw ok for doing long rip cuts? I tend to find mine wanders a bit despite best efforts at straight lines.
 
Thomas. PLease. said:
Thanks for all the feedback, seems like it shouldn't be too difficult then. Is a jigsaw ok for doing long rip cuts? I tend to find mine wanders a bit despite best efforts at straight lines.
Click to expand...

Steady hand takes a bit of practice, you'll get there. Definitely all doable with jigsaw, just don't wait too long before swapping blades, even good ones go quite quickly.
 
My only gripe, is that one of the floors I put laminate on wasn't mega flat, so I'd check that before starting. I also used the underlay that feels like thin polystyrene and it's not very good.
 
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