Laminate Flooring Installation (Floating System)

A floating floor is a way of laying, not a material. Laminate is the most common choice, but engineered wood, click vinyl and cork can be laid the same way. The method is similar, but the details differ:

• Laminate has a core of compressed wood fibre with a printed decorative layer on top. It is usually roughly 7 to 12 mm thick. Surface toughness is shown by the abrasion class (AC rating). For homes, people usually pick a higher class for hallways and a lower one for bedrooms. Laminate does not like water, especially at the joints.
• Engineered wood has a top layer of real wood. It is thicker, heavier and more sensitive to moisture and sunlight, but if the top layer is thick enough it can be sanded and refinished.
• Click vinyl is thinner and water-resistant, so it also suits kitchens and damp entrance halls. Because it is thin, every bump in the subfloor shows through more easily.
• Cork feels warm and soft underfoot, but heavy furniture dents it more easily.

Think about height as well. The floor and underlay together raise the surface by a few millimetres to over a centimetre. If your doors have no spare clearance, they will need trimming. Where the new floor meets tiles, the height difference decides which threshold strip you need.

Most problems with floating floors start underneath them, not on top. The subfloor needs to be:

• Dry: a new screed needs time to dry, and its moisture should be measured before laying. The floor manufacturer states the limits.
• Solid: it must not crumble or flex.
• Flat: a deviation of around 2 mm over 2 m is usually accepted, and often less for vinyl.

Old carpet, vinyl sheet and adhesive residue come up first. Larger bumps are ground down or filled with self-levelling compound, and a dusty, absorbent surface gets a coat of primer. On concrete and screed, a damp-proof membrane goes down first: polythene sheet with overlaps taped together. The underlay goes on top. Some underlays have the membrane built in. On timber floorboards a membrane is usually left out, but follow the manufacturer's instructions.

The underlay reduces footstep noise and evens out small irregularities. Thicker and softer is not automatically better: an underlay that is too soft lets the boards flex, and the joints wear out sooner. With underfloor heating you need an underlay with low thermal resistance that the manufacturer explicitly approves for heating. In a block of flats, a good underlay is also a courtesy to the neighbours below you.

The packs of boards are left in the room where they will be laid, usually for at least 48 hours, so they adjust to its temperature and humidity. Then the layout is planned. Boards usually run along the longer wall or in the direction of light from the window. End joints in neighbouring rows are staggered by at least 30 cm, and the last row should not end up too narrow, which is why the first row is often trimmed.

The first row goes in with the groove side to the wall and spacer wedges that keep a gap of around 10 mm from walls, door frames, pipes and other fixed objects. Boards are clicked in on the short end first, then the whole row is tilted down along its length. Around radiator pipes, holes are drilled slightly larger than the pipe, and the cut-out piece is glued back behind it. Door frames are usually undercut so the board can slide underneath.

On large areas, in long hallways and in doorways between rooms, the floor is often split with an expansion profile. The manufacturer says where one is needed. Finally the wedges come out and the skirting boards and threshold strips go on.

The job is quickest in an empty rectangular room with a flat, dry screed and boards laid in straight rows. It takes more time and skill when there is:

• An uneven or damp subfloor that has to be fixed first
• An old floor to take up and dispose of
• Lots of corners, alcoves, pipes and door frames
• A pattern such as herringbone
• A staircase, which needs separate stair profiles
• Underfloor heating that has to be run through a warm-up cycle before laying
• A furnished room where furniture has to be moved

• No expansion gap. A floor pushed tight against the wall lifts and bulges when humidity changes. Kitchen units screwed down through the boards, or skirting nailed into the floor instead of the wall, block it in the same way.
• A filled gap. The expansion gap is never filled with sealant. It stays empty and is hidden by the skirting.
• An uneven subfloor. Boards over dips flex, creak and the joints crack.
• No membrane on concrete, or laying on screed that has not dried out.
• Laminate in the bathroom. Standard laminate does not belong in wet rooms. If you want a wood look in a bathroom, water-resistant vinyl or tiles are the more sensible choice.
• Joints not fully closed. A small gap grows over time and fills with dirt.

If your subfloor is flat and dry and the room is simple, you can lay the floor yourself. You need a laminate saw, tape measure, square, spacer wedges, a tapping block and a pull bar for the last row. Read the manufacturer's instructions first, because click systems vary between brands.

1. Leave the packs in the room for at least 48 hours.
2. Remove the old covering, vacuum and check flatness with a long straightedge.
3. Roll out the membrane with overlaps and tape the joins.
4. Lay the underlay edge to edge, without overlapping.
5. Measure the room and work out the width of the first and last rows.
6. Lay the first row with wedges against the wall.
7. Click in the following rows with joints staggered by at least 30 cm, using the offcut from the end of one row to start the next.
8. Cut holes for pipes and undercut the door frames.
9. Cut the last row to size, keeping the expansion gap, and close it with the pull bar.
10. Remove the wedges, fix the skirting to the wall and fit the threshold strips.

Moving a radiator or changing pipework under the floor is not a DIY job. If you are replacing a floor in a flat, let the building management or owners' association know, mainly because of noise and waste removal. If the work would touch the structure, for example breaking out screed, check with your local building authority whether permission is needed.

• The floor does not flex or creak when you walk on it
• Joints are tight, with no visible gaps or height differences
• Joints in neighbouring rows are staggered and the pattern looks even
• There is an expansion gap around walls, pipes and door frames, and the floor does not press against anything fixed
• Skirting is fixed to the wall, not to the floor
• Threshold strips and expansion profiles are secure and you do not trip on them
• Doors open without rubbing
• You have some spare boards and the care instructions