DIY- Installing Laminate Floors

This weekend my Dad was in town for my cousins wedding. So we were busy with that Friday as well as with a Company Party for my work. We got to play a lot with that so Friday was really fun. Saturday, started out with no real plans. Brian, my dad and I are all worker bees and have a hard time sitting still. We thought of things we could do around the house and after doing a few small things Brian convinced us that installing the flooring we had purchased a few days before would be a great way to spend the day.

The guy at the flooring store told us it would be a 2 day project. And since none of us had installed this kind of flooring before I thought it would take at least that long. Brian ran to the store to buy a table saw ( that is one tool we did not have and it sure seems to be needed for a lot of projects). While he did that Dad and I started tearing up the existing floors. So how do you install laminate flooring you ask?! Well...

Step #1: Remove Baseboards

To do this you need to take a blade, like what you open packages with. Cut the top of the baseboard away from the wall. Then person #2 can follow with a kitty claw (its kinda like a crow bar) and pull the board away from the wall, person #1 will go over the top of the baseboard again and hit the areas they missed so that the paint does not pull away from the wall.

Step #2: Remove the nails from the wall and baseboards

Step #3: Cut the carpet into strips

This makes for easy removal of them as well as disposal

Step #4: Cut the padding into strips

Step #5: Remove all carpet and padding from the room

Step #6: Pull the nail boards off the floor

You can use a crow bar for this, remove any nails/ staples from the floor

Step #7 : Sweep, and you will do this step constantly from this point out

Step #8: Bring in the flooring

We purchased laminate flooring so that little kids and dogs would not easily scratch it, it was the snap kind so there was no glue or nails needed and the padding was already attached. We measured the room and decided how much we needed to take off the first row so that we were not left with a sliver at the end. Our measurements were prefect, we actually finished the room off with a full piece!

So from here we tried to be random we cut the starting pieces in 1/2, 3/4, and 1/4 then used its counter part on the end of that row. We decided to leave the tile in the entry since we live where there are snowy winters and the tile would hold up better to the muddy/ wet shoes and things that would be coming through. This meant we had to cut a few angled pieces to work around it.

The whole room took about 10.5 hours. It was about 320 sq ft. So not 2 days but still 1 very long day that left everyone involved sore! I am absolutely in love with the result.

This is the room before...

And this is the room after...

Now its time to change up the pillows and add some drapes and a rug! The room looks so much better already I am so excited to give it some final accessories.


What we learned: 

• The snapping feature was a little misleading. You snap it then have to bang a hammer against a block to get it into place. So that was a little more involved then we had anticipated. 
• Don't start a big project at noon, it makes it go late into the night
• Get knee pads next time
• Dad = new found confidence for Brian when tackling new projects
• And finally, there are practical laminates that look like hard wood