Has anyone laid their own laminate flooring? Tell me the dos and don’ts!

[HelpMeDecorate]

So I bought my first house last year. It’s just me and my teen DS. Always lived in rental so little opportunity to redecorate.

Have decided to tackle my boy’s room first so we can test our DIY skills. So far I have prepped and painted all the walls, stripped the skirting and pulled all the carpet, underlay etc up to bring it back to the wooden subfloor.

I’ve done a lot of research on how to lay the floor (but still so torn on the actual flooring!).

Has anyone done this themselves? Is it realistic that I can do this myself? And if so, tell me all the things to consider that the guides don’t tell me please! Whether that is how to lay it, or choice of floorboard, underlay etc.

On my shopping list is a mitre saw, waterproof foam underlay and tape, a little flooring kit that has spacers and one of those knocking blocks, new skirting, decorators caulk, and the floor obviously! Whenever I can make my mine up!

Wear knee pads. I did my first wee flat myself and it wasn’t large but my knees were agony by the end.

Oh and you need edging. You have to leave 0.5cm expansion gap so you need beading unless you’re putting the skirting board on after.

I’ve done plenty over the years, for the best finish remove the skirting boards and your expansion gap can go underneath the new skirting and you don’t need any additional caulk or finishing trim. There are waterproof laminates which I would recommend if you can afford it as any moisture that isn’t quickly cleaned up can quickly swell joints if not. We have hired a laminate floor cutter which makes the job easier as well , you don’t need spacers between boards as the boards click together. There are some good videos on YouTube. Also lay the packs flat and do not stand them on end before laying as this can cause warping

Great call on the kneepads, have added to the list!

Im not gone on the beading look, so I’ve ripped off the skirting that was on there and will replace after I lay the floor. It seemed less fiddly to replace the floor without the skirting?

Excellent, thank you, I’ll have a look at waterproof boards, didn’t even occur to me to look for that as I’ve been comparing tbh! Also didn’t think to just hire the saw… but it’s only £100 and I’m hoping to do some panelling downstairs, and maybe more flooring if I don’t cock this job up 😅 So maybe I’ll get use out of it?

Good shout on the storage, have also read to leave them in the room for a couple of days to acclimatise to the temp.

The proper way to do it is remove the skirting boards, and refit them afterwards to cover the expansion gap.

Using edging to cover the gap is the quick bodge way
of doing it.

Yes you can do it, I did mine off the back of online tutorials. I may add the first one I did was less smart than the later ones (done four whole properties over time)

definitely a good idea to get the power sliding mitre saw, it is such a useful tool if you have a whole house to do.

i have a sliding hammer block “woodcraft hammer pulling ledge” which is a game changer for getting tight joints, especially when putting the last row in which is difficult as no space the swing a hammer to tap it. However this is currently £62 on amazon which is very steep, I paid less than 30, admittedly in 2021.

if you plan on doing more than the one room, it looks much better if you run the floor continuously through doorways and avoid joining strips. If so, remove the doorstop, lay floor under and then trim and replace the doorstop, rather than trying to cut out the shape of it.

https://amzn.eu/d/03nEfQ2Q

Get one of these for measuring around doorframes and pipes. Will save many wasted floor boards!

DH did ours.
take the skirting off, and use a thick underlay would be my advice.

Make sure to stagger the joints. Having them even every other row looks weird!

You might want to consider buying a Compound Mitre Saw, instead of a laminate floor cutter, much more useful for other jobs.

Yes definitely sliding compound mitre saw, I have the evolution one from screwfix which was cheap but good enough (do check the blade alignment though to get square cuts- there are videos online of how)

The floor is the easy bit. We did it 25 years ago and it’s still going strong for the people who live there now. We didn’t do the skirting, and just accepted it would be basic. You’re ahead of the game, taking the skirting off. The floor will be easy, just practise the mitres and finish on the skirting. Plan all the tricky bits first.

Did you photograph the skirting before removing it? Sometimes it’s helpful to see how it originally went round the corners/into the door frames etc.

My dh always says money on tools is never wasted but we have over the years bought tools and then sold them on gumtree afterwards - that can work out cheaper than hiring especially if you are doing several jobs using the same tool.

Yes absolutely you can do it. I did my bedroom as an early teen using my paper round money. It’s not really hard particularly if you have done your research like you seem to have done. The thing I didn’t do so great on was having not great edges up to the skirting board. The house I’m in currently has the same problem and they have fit these weird mini skirting or something which I hate. Get a good line to fit and caulk it would look much better!

Measure twice, cut once.

Thank you so much and I’d love to ask your advice (and everyone else’s!) on the doors you mention, it’s not something I’ve thought about at all.

Currently the bedroom opens onto the landing, which is carpet. Attached is an image of what’s currently there, it’s the strip with the carpet gripping spike things. And then there’s an en-suite in the room as well, with the same strip, but leading into tiling.

What’s the best way to tackle these do you think?

Ooooh, cool! Thankfully don’t have radiator pipes to cut around, but a good few corners as room is a funny kind of L shape!

I didn’t photograph the skirting actually, but I did damage a couple of pieces when I was taking it off (Sooo many nails!). So the plan is… replace all the skirting in this room with new, and then when I’m doing other rooms, I’ll try and be more careful taking it off, but I’m keeping the old skirting for bits I need to replace.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have laminate in a child’s bedroom. It’s cold and very noisy!

My dad said the same thing, I think it will be worth buying it, if I find I run out of uses, I can then sell it. It’s not terribly expensive either.

That little weird skirting is the beading! My parents actually have it and I’m not crazy about it either. I can not believe you did this as a teenager! I’m late 30s and it’s so daunting! 😅

And I would keep carpet in the upstairs rooms as well if it was totally up to me, much prefer carpet underfoot! But DS has specifically requested hard flooring…so hard flooring it is 😅

I'd get vinyl flooring.