How to lay a laminate: laying methods, schemes, work technology

How to make a floor that is reliable, beautiful, easy to install and at the same time inexpensive? These seemingly incompatible qualities are combined in a laminate. Therefore, this flooring is used more and more often. However, in order for the floor to serve for a long time, it is simply necessary to know the intricacies of the technology. For example, before laying a laminate, you need to check how even the base is. The maximum allowable deviation is no more than 1-2 mm per meter of surface. Only under this condition will it lie tightly, will not bend and creak. If the differences are greater, the lock may even break or the board may crack. 

If the base has irregularities, the dimensions of which exceed the allowable ones, it must be leveled. For cement floors, everything is simple – a leveling screed is poured. The laying of the laminate begins after the solution gains at least 50% strength.

If an old wooden floor serves as a base, it must be removed according to the technology, then a full-fledged cement floor should be made, with all the necessary layers (filling, hydro and thermal insulation, reinforcing belt and screed). It is possible to mount a heating system in this floor, and lay a floor covering on the warm floor. Only in this case it is necessary to use special grades of laminate that tolerate heat well. The cost of such a floor is high, and it takes a lot of time to install it. That’s why they don’t always do it. If the logs and boards are not damaged, you can level the wooden floor with plywood, and lay the laminate on it.

When leveling a wooden floor, all strongly protruding fragments are scraped off with a planer or with the help of scraping, the cracks are sealed with putty. Sheets of plywood are laid on the prepared old wooden floor (it is used more often, although any sheet material with a flat surface can be laid). They are fixed with screws to the floor: along the perimeter after 15 cm, in the middle in a checkerboard pattern.

The joints of the sheets are displaced – they should not match (see the photo below). So the load is transferred more evenly. One more thing – leave some gaps between the sheets – they should not be fitted close to each other. Wood changes dimensions depending on humidity and temperature. And these gaps will give the necessary freedom so that there are no “humps” and distortions.

Laying plywood on a wooden floor under a laminate is a common way to prepare the subfloor during renovations. If the wood has not been damaged, and the plywood is laid evenly, does not “play” and does not sag, such a base will last for years.

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Underlay under laminate

On a flat and clean base, the substrate is first laid. It hides those irregularities of 1-2 mm that are acceptable and makes the floor less “noisy”. It also serves for depreciation and better redistribution of the load.

The substrate is made of several types:

• Cork. Made from cork chips. It has good thermal insulation properties, absorbs sounds. Disadvantages: afraid of moisture and does not like heat. Therefore, its scope is premises without floor heating, with normal importance and minimal risk of a “flood”. That is, living rooms. Cork underlay for laminate flooring is used infrequently: expensive. If they put it, then more under the parquet board – for the safety of the flooring.
  

• Bitumen-cork on a cellulose basis. On a layer of cellulose impregnated with bitumen, small cork fragments are poured. This underlay is slightly cheaper than cork underlayment, but its main advantage is that it can be used to lay over an underfloor heating system.
• Made from polyethylene foam. It tolerates high humidity well, conducts heat poorly, is chemically neutral, resistant to bacteria, easy to use (available in the form of rolls), has a low price. Disadvantages: sensitive to ultraviolet radiation, quickly loses its shape, has a short service life, poorly “extinguishes” sounds. Therefore, this substrate is used under a cheap laminate: their service life is comparable.
  

• From polystyrene foam. It has a rather high density, due to which it smooths out irregularities, keeps its shape well, has good heat-insulating properties, and muffles sounds. Disadvantage: cannot be used for laying laminate flooring on underfloor heating. The price is between cork and polyethylene, it is the most acceptable and is used most often. It is produced more often in the form of plates, sometimes in rolls.
• Polyurethane foil. This type of substrate can also be used for laying under a laminate on a warm floor. It has the best features of all the above, as well as the best prices. But if you are going to lay an expensive laminate, then these are justified expenses: the life of this type of flooring largely depends on the quality of the substrate.
  

How to lay the underlay

The substrate for the laminate is rolled out (lay out) along the wall from which the laying will begin. In length, it should cover the entire floor from wall to wall. The lines of the joints are combined tightly, for convenience they are glued with adhesive tape. Sometimes the panels are fixed with staples from a construction stapler. This is faster, but staples are not very good to use – they can rub against the boards and make an unpleasant sound. The next layer is spread as needed – you don’t need to immediately cover the entire floor: it’s better not to walk on the substrate.

Laying schemes

In which direction to lay the laminate with your own hands? There are no strict rules, but there are recommendations. To make the joints along the boards less visible, the direction of the light should go along the board. It turns out beautifully if you lay the coating at an angle. But this method is more complicated and more waste is obtained. You can also lay it across the world – this is also practiced, and it does not threaten anything but more visual seams.

The main rule that must be observed when laying a laminate is the offset of the seams. The minimum transverse seam should be at a distance of 40 cm from the other. So the strength of the flooring will be greater: the boards will not disperse under load.

The layout of the laminate flooring should be designed with this rule in mind. The simplest for independent execution is a shift by half the board. Then every odd row starts with a whole, and every even row starts with a half (or vice versa).

If the length of one element exceeds 1,2 m, then you can shift the second row by 1/3, the third by 2/3 of the length (as in the photo above). It turns out a kind of “ladder”. In some types of laminate (expensive), the minimum row offset is much less – maybe 15 cm. This is indicated on the packaging or in the accompanying instructions.

You may be interested in reading about the technical features of the design of a wooden house inside or the design of the premises in wooden houses.

How to lay laminate with your own hands: step by step instructions

The laying technology is the same: there are only some features when connecting elements, depending on the locks. The procedure will be like this:

1. A substrate is laid on a leveled base, its joints are glued with adhesive tape.
2. Wedges or pieces of plywood 10-15 mm thick are installed around the perimeter of the room. Laminate boards will rest against them. In this way, a compensation gap is created around the entire perimeter of the room. It is needed so that the coating does not swell in the heat or high humidity.
3. Along one of the walls – usually opposite from the entrance – laying the first row begins. The first row has a spike to the wall (it can be cut off). The entire row rests on wedges that measure the gap. The last one also rests against the wedge with a side lock (it can also be cut off).
   

4. All elements in a row are joined to each other.
5. The last board often needs to be cut: not included in length. A wedge should also be on this side, because the size is 10-15 mm smaller than the distance to the wall. We mark it for cutting as follows: turn the board “face down” so that the desired side spike is on the right. We join this edge with a wedge, draw a line with a square that continues the edge of the installed board. We cut off the desired piece along the drawn line and install it.
6. If the first row started with a whole board, then the second one starts with a half, a third, etc. This is how all rows are assembled. In this case, the developed laying scheme serves as a guideline.
7. The last row often needs to be cut to width. Nothing complicated, the main thing is not to confuse which side we cut off: we leave the part on which the spike.

If the geometry of the room is correct, no difficulties. If there are distortions – you will have to cut. Questions may arise when finishing the threshold: the board near the jambs is not cut evenly, but in an arc, while maintaining a gap of 10-15 mm. Why in an arc? So under the door trim of any shape there will be no hole.

Laminate laying methods: two locks – two methods (video instructions)

Laminate laying technology depends on which of the locks on your flooring. They are made in two types – “click” (Click) and “Lock” (Lock). You will not get confused, because the system is written on the packaging of each pack, and pictograms are drawn on many of them explaining the principle of laying.

Hammerless Method – Click Lock

When using click locks, it is more convenient to collect the planks one by one. The system is named so because of the characteristic click that is heard when the spike enters the groove. With such a system, the side locks are first connected, then the longitudinal ones. It happens like this:

• the installed element is brought to the side to the mounted element at an angle of 45 °,
• with a light touch, the spike is inserted into the groove, knocking with the back of the hand;
• lower the board to the floor, it turns out to be connected to the side surface located to the left;
• so collect the entire first row;
• in the second row, the first board is installed in the same way, only with a longitudinal groove: we bring it at an angle of 45 °, insert it into the groove and push it a little until it clicks, lower it down;
• the next boards in the second row are first connected with a side lock;
• at the boards connected together by the sidewalls, the edge is raised a couple of centimeters;
• insert a longitudinal spike into the groove of the previous ones;
• with a slight effort they snap into place, knocking them out, if necessary, only with the palm of your hand.
  

How to lay a laminate with a click lock, see the video.

How to lay with a lock “Lock” (Lock)

Here the lock should be inserted from the side and the assembly method is different. You will need a piece of laminate with a spike and a light hammer (rubber mallet). The boards are laid out on the floor, corrected so that they lie exactly one relative to the other. They move it so that the spike is close to the groove, insert a piece of laminate on the other side and tap it with a hammer, achieving a connection.

The method is also simple, but requires caution: the hammer can hit too hard and break the lock. Then you have to use another element.

With this method, it is more convenient to lay a laminate, first collecting individual rows, and then connecting them. Schematically, this is shown in the photo below.

See the video for more details on this method. There is no sound row, but everything is clear.

The methods of laying the laminate described above can be made almost airtight, in any case, the amount of water that can get into the interstitial space is greatly reduced. To do this, use a special glue. They coat the spikes of the stacked boards. The composition retains its elasticity for 10 minutes, therefore glue is applied immediately before installation.

The disadvantage of this technology is that the coating becomes almost monolithic. If you need to replace one or more boards, this will not work.

How to cut laminate straight

You can cut laminate boards:

• electric jigsaw (most convenient);
• hacksaw;
• manual circular saw.

To prevent burrs from forming on the front surface when sawing, it should lie with its “face” up. In order for the cut to be even, guides are used – rulers (slats) made of metal or wood. When using a hacksaw, the ruler should not make it possible to “climb” into the desired half.

When cutting across, it is more convenient to use squares. It is pressed against the long side, the second serves as a guide.