Smart Tips for Preparing to Install Plastic Laminate Flooring

Plastic laminate flooring appeared just before the turn of the century. For a while, it was considered a gimmick and nothing more. Most builders would not take it seriously. All that has changed, though. Now it is one of the most popular forms of flooring in the world.

If you are working with one of the flooring companies in Glasgow, you should always use them for a more professional installation. In the event you want to go at it alone, here are some smart tips for installing plastic laminate flooring.

Remove the Shoe Moulding

If there’s some shoe moulding running along your baseboard, this should be removed. Leave the baseboard moulding alone, though. It is what always should be done with any floor, including Karndean flooring in Glasgow.

Remove the shoe moulding using a pry bar. This shoe moulding will be replaced during the installation. When you do put it back, it will cover the expansion gap between the baseboard and the planks of laminate.

Undercutting the Casing

One challenge any flooring installer has is making sure their flooring fits around doorways. You will have to trim and undercut the parts of the floor that go close to the doors. This is especially true with door casings and side jambs, where the flooring will have to slide underneath.

Make this easy on yourself by putting a piece of rubber underlay in front of the casing. Put a scrap piece of floor on top. This will demonstrate how high the cut needs to be. Use a saw or oscillating multi tool to cut across the top of the floor scrap and the casing. This tactic can be used to cut any other casings and side jambs you need.

The Subfloor

The subfloor is the floor underneath the floor you normally walk on. Prepare this floor by knocking down any nail heads you come across.

Walk through the room and listen for any squeaks. If you hear any, it means something has come loose. When you get to a squeak, take a two-inch screw, and drive it into the subfloor. If you get it on the right spot, this will stop the squeaking.

It works best when putting the screws through any joists.

Measure the First and Last Row

Installers of Amtico flooring in Glasgow know they have to make the floor balanced by getting the same width for the first and last rows. Remember, you can only split planks in half. You cannot split them down any further.

Measuring this is easy. First of all, subtract the expansion space where you will have the small gap between each wall from the room’s total width.

Divide the width of one plank by the calculation you got from the room’s width minus the expansion space. Now you have how many full-width planks you need to cover the floor. Anything after a decimal point is a fractional width. If the width left over is less than half of a plank, rip down the first row and you will get a last row that has at least half a plank in it.