Laminate floor installation is a job that you should be able to tackle yourself if you are reasonably competent at small jobs around the house like putting up shelves and fixing curtain rails to the wall.
Provided you buy quality laminate, it is generally much simpler than solid wood floor installation because of innovations in the design of the planks by the better manufacturers. They try to make things as simple as possible so that you choose their brand.
You will need some tools. (Guidance is give below but check with the packaging for the exact tools you will need for your particular brand of flooring). In any case the tools you need for laminate wood floor installation are not very expensive (and some of them you may already have) so installing laminate flooring yourself generally means that you will save a lot of money.
Methods
The main thing to be aware of (before you buy your flooring!) is that there are two different laminate flooring installation methods. Laminate may be fitted via the tongue and groove method which requires gluing or by a simple glueless click system. If you choose glueless laminate your life will be much easier when you come to install laminate floor! Cheap laminate flooring often requires the glue method but it is worth paying a bit more to be able to install your flooring with ease.
Tools
The main tools you need to install laminate flooring are the following
a rubber mallet
a tape measure
a coping saw
a laminate flooring pull bar
a profile gauge
Laminate floor installation kit (Click image for details)
Remove any old carpet and padding and level the floor if necessary by fitting plywood or hardboard over the existing floorboards or by using a leveling compound on a solid floor. Remove the baseboards (skirting board) if required and shave a small amount off any door frames, doors etc to allow the laminate and underlayment to slip under them. Remember the level of the floor will be higher once the laminate is in place and the doors need to be able to open and close with ease and without scuffing the surface of the floor.
Installing Laminate Floor
Each brand is likely to be installed in a slightly different way so if you want to know how to install laminate floor perfectly there is no one right way only the right way for your particular brand of flooring. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for best results. They are generally simple enough to follow, particularly if you choose the click system of installation.
In general, you will roll out the underlayment pad across the floor and tape it together where necessary to create a single layer. Laminate flooring is a kind of “floating floor” which is never actually fixed to the sub-floor. It requires small expansion gaps around the edges which are covered by the base boards when you put them back. If you prefer not to remove your base boards you would leave a gap around them and then cover the gap with wooden quadrant molding which matches the floor or the baseboards after you have laid the floor. Put spacers around the baseboards as markers for where to start the flooring. Click or glue the flooring planks together being sure to stagger the ends so that the end of one plank starts half way along the length of the other (like bricks). As you fit each plank gently push it into place with the rubber mallet or pulling bar. The tricky part is always when you have to cut the wood to fit around doorways and pipes. If planks need cutting, mark with shape with pencil after using the profile gauge to trace out the shape and cut carefully using a coping saw before fitting the plank into place.
