Is there such a thing as an easy to install laminate that looks good?

Question

Or should I forget about it and just pay to have hardwood floors installed?

Answer 1

Laminate wood floors are fairly easy to install. The most important part is preparation. It's imperative that you prepare the floor well. If you have some sort of deteriorated flooring now, you will likely have to remove it. Make sure that your floor is level and smooth. Take the trim off before doing any installation.

Once you have the floor clean (vacuum it well before you lay anything), smooth, and level, there is a backing material that you buy separately from the flooring. If you buy the better backing, your floor shouldn't squeak as much. Make sure to keep things clean through every stage of installation.

When you install the flooring, leave a gap of about a quarter inch around the entire room. The floor 'floats' and this can help you put difficult boards down. Try to have the gap even around the edges before you put the trim on.

For tricky boards, I find it useful to make a template with paper first and measure everything a few times before cutting. This takes a little bit of time and patience, but your floor will look nicer and you will have fewer waste boards. Also, use a piece of 2x4 to pound the boards together. This prevents damage to the edges of the boards.

I have assisted in the installation of regular hardwood flooring. It's hard on the knees, noisy, you need to rent a special nailing tool, the floors need sanded and sealed, etc... Laminates are vastly easier for a regular person to install (I'm a Respiratory Therapist, what do I know about carpentry?) and a pretty large area can be done in a day.

If you choose to go laminate, there are places like discount stores (i.e. Ollie's) that might have material available for cheap. My bedroom floor for five years was laminate from there and it worked fine. It even mated to the laminate we added through the rest of the second floor of the house (from Home Depot). My floor squeaked less than the other areas because better underlay was used in my room.

Answer 2

in my view, i does no longer flow by using all the paintings of placing the tile and grouting it without utilising the main suitable backer board. you will merely finally end up doing the project returned in some years. sure, mastic is very sticky yet laminate does not have "pores" for the mastic to get into to grant a solid bond. you will save a pair of greenbacks now with the aid of no longer utilising it yet spend a heck of so lots greater redoing the project. And to reuse tile you're able to get all the previous mastic off.....think of cleansing, chipping it off all those tiles one after the different. save your self particularly some grief and use the main suitable stuff.

Answer 3

Check with placed such as Home Depot.

Answer 4

laminate is one of the easiest floor covering to be installed i did my whole house without any experience in flooring if you are a handy person go for it you will save alought of money just buy the laminate insalation kit and your ready to go

Answer 5

I dont think so.