Laminate Flooring Installation

Many may feel that laminate flooring is complicated to install. In fact, it is not, here are the 3 simple steps to laminate flooring installation:

The Base Floor Need to Be Leveled First

Most base flooring is not 100% leveled. There will normally have a degree of high-low unevenness on the flooring. To install laminate flooring, the rule of a thumb is to have a 3mm tolerance. The highest tip of the floor surface must not be more than 3mm of unevenness. This is because if laminate flooring is installed on uneven ground, it will definitely cause a “floating feel” and a hollow sound when you stepped on it. If the floorboard is uneven, the installer will need to “prepare” the existing base floor. What it means is that, the installer will apply cement screed or any self leveling compound to make the base flooring surface flat. If the base flooring is still very uneven, there is still a “ray of hope” before the owner give up the idea of installing laminate flooring. Let’s look at this “ray of hope” on the next point.

Required Laminate Flooring Underlay

After the base floor is leveled, 2 standard underlay items are required to be put on top of the base floor surface; they are the “plastic sheet” and PE Foam.

 To prevent direct contact between the moisture on the base floor and the laminate floor board, the plastic sheet will be lay on top of the surface first. Afterwards, is the PE foam, the reason of the PE foam is to create an overall stability and balance of the entire flooring when the laminate flooring board is installed on the surface.

 If the base floor is still ‘stubbornly’ uneven after leveling has been applied to it, we need to apply our “ray of hope.” In such situation, the laminate flooring installer will apply solid step underlay instead of normal PE foam underlay; Other than making the uneven floor more stable and stiff, the solid step underlay also helps to insulate sound when you step on the floorboard. This will prevent the disturbing occurrences of hearing the “hollow sound” when someone steps on it.

Click Interlocking System is Preferred

Ten years ago, when interlocking or click system is not yet invented, laminate flooring is installed with the “tongue and groove” technology. In simple terms, they are installed using glue and adhesive. This will be quite harmful to health and it sometimes will cause the floor boards to snap when the glue is dry up. Such installation methods are already considered as “old school” in the laminate flooring industry.

 Home owners will need to look for laminate flooring that comes with the latest interlocking systems, in which no glue will be required for the installation. Interlocking technology is simply joining two flooring planks together and overlay them on the floor. Such interlocking system is so strong that even if your hang a Land Rover with the two joint planks, it still will not snap or break the joints.

 Speed of laminate flooring installation is very much faster for interlocking systems. On average, a professional installer can install up to 1000 square feet of laminate flooring in a day. That is equivalent to the size of a 4 room HDB flat in Singapore.

Today, other than getting quality laminate flooring for your home, another most important thing to look for is the relevant skills of the laminate flooring installer. A simple knowledge of how laminate flooring is installed in a proper way may help to find a suitable laminate flooring contractor to assist you on installing that beautiful piece of  flooring in your home.