Help with direction of laminate flooring (image)

[RonNYC]

Hi,
I am currently helping a friend put down laminate flooring in his office area.

Once the carpet is removed, which way would I place the boards? There are no windows in the room.

I oringally wanted to place the boards Vertical and I would walk in with the boards facing me. After reading around I am unsure if myself.

I have attached two images. I will be doing the complete section, or two rooms.
Thank you for your time and help!!

 

[Snoonyb]

The orientation will define the size of the rooms, IE., placing them length wise will make the space appear larger, across, shorter or smaller.

 

[nealtw]

I would go side to side so if they ever want to add more they might do it with out a transition.

 

[bud16415]

I would go lengthwise and no transition strips between the areas.

 

[RonNYC]

Thank you for the information. I decided on going with length wise.

One more question about staggering of the boards.

I am thinking of using the cut off piece after each row on the next row, but not if the cut off board is less than 6 inches. Would that be the right way?


I’ll be posting some pictures of the completed project at the end of the weekend.

 

[bud16415]

That’s the best way to use the least material. And how I normally do it. just watch that the seams don’t fall close in line piece to piece.

 

[RonNYC]

Thats great. Hopefully last question before I get the project started and start ripping the carpet off. I was just laying the boards as a dry run and I come across a column.

Leaving about 1/2 expansion gap, I would have about 1 inch of empty space by the column.

I’m thinking there’s two ways to solve this. 1. I cut 1 inch thin piece boards to lay as my first row against the wall or
2. I leave it as layed out in the image and cut the board to fit around the column.

Thanks for all being so helpful.

 

[bud16415]

Cut the piece to fit around the column.


It is sometimes impossible to make it all work out best, but thinking thru in advance will help avoid a sliver piece on the other side of the room when you finish up.

 

[EricK]

I did a similar job at my house and got some advice from a gentleman that ran his own business. I'd like to pass it on to you because it was invaluable.

Open at least three boxes at a time and mix all the pieces together. This will ensure color consistency throughout your floor. (If one box happens to be from a different dye lot you'll notice if it's in one section of your house.)

Your first row is the most important. Everything you do will get built off of that. Make sure it is dead on accurate.

I am assuming the boards you have are various lengths. You will want to avoid any kind of pattern. Here are the steps he told me to take.

Pick random boards from your three boxes. Dry fit them making about three rows. Just lay them down. Make sure the seams from end-to-end are at least 6 inch apart from row to row. Once you like what the pattern looks like, or non pattern that is, staple or glue or afix them however they go together. Three rows deep works because it gives you an opportunity to see what the pattern looks like but it's also enough to be on your knees and lean forward and snap things together.

Personally, I don't like the look of the quarter round around the perimeter of the room. I removed my baseboards and apply to flooring leaving the Gap around the perimeter. Then I placed new baseboards on the walls avoiding the quarter round. That's just a matter of personal opinion but that I threw out that out there for what it's worth

Use these steps and you'll avoid any kind of pattern in your flooring and it'll turn out great.

I had never done flooring before and it took me a long time. But because of his help my flooring turned out beautiful. Hope this helps you.

 

[slownsteady]

Laminate is usually all the same length and should be run so that the next row seams are offset by about one-third from the previous row (half-way seams will look too consistent over the whole floor). Keeping that 1/3rd rule will determine how long the starter piece will be at the beginning of the next row.
Laminate is almost always a floating floor so don't glue, nail, or staple that first row. Use 1/4 inch shims against the wall to snug the first few rows into place. They will want to move until the floor gains enough weight (mass) to stay put. I found that the most frustrating part on my first installation.
Plan it so that you will not have any short pieces at the door ways
Pick a long, straight wall to start on - if possible.
Definitely work from multiple boxes.
Check the installation instructions for the max length without needing a transition. I can't tell from the pix how long the office is, but it looks long.

 

[slownsteady]

Oh yeah! And make sure the floor is flat and level before you begin.

 

[nealtw]

Bud mentioned the sliver at the end, check your total width and find what you are going to be left with and you may want to rip the first piece so you end with the same on both sides.
If that leaves you with a sliver on both sides just add the width of half a board to the sliver and you will have more than half a board on each side.

 

[bud16415]

The original laminate flooring I installed was T&G and did not have the snap lock feature they have today. It took a padding material under it and all the joints had to be glued. Getting the joints tight with glue in them required screwing a block to the sub floor and then tapping a wedge in between the block and the strip being glued. Glue would come out the joint and had to be cleaned of with a damp rag. This method was much more time consuming and more exacting but IMO ended in a superior floor for traffic areas or areas like kitchens where being water resistant is good.


I have asked around quite a bit if gluing the snap together stuff is ok and I get mixed answers. I put down laminate in our kitchen in this house. And did it in a hurry as we need to do a million other things at the same time. It was a high end product that has an aluminum strip that also locks it together and the pad came attached to the backside. I didn’t glue it together but wished I had now. If any glue is used without a pad or something between the floor you would have to put a piece of plastic in there so it could float.

 

[RonNYC]

I uploaded some images of the finished project. It was a great learning experience. I think it turned out pretty good. Thank you everybody for taking the time to help.

 

[nealtw]

Looks great, well done.

 

[bud16415]

Great job,

 

[slownsteady]

Looks good. You picked the direction to lay the grain, it brings you right up to that display. What's the blue stuff I see at the edges, and are you putting in baseboard?