How To Lay A Floating Floor Over Floorboards

Lay out the unopened boxes of laminate planks in the room.

How to lay a floating floor over floorboards.

Engineered flooring goes down over a thin foam sheet which provides cushioning and sound dampening. The planks glue together to create a floor that floats moves freely as a unit. That could create problems in doorways and at transitions to other floors. You need to leave a 5 16 inch gap between the flooring and the baseboard or wall around the perimeter of the room to allow the floor enough space to expand.

There are basically two options you can consider. However you ll want to keep track of how much height the new flooring adds. Lay down your padding. This is to prevent any residue left on the floor such as small rocks and sand from causing dimples in the flooring and to give it a cushion.

Click lock vinyl plank flooring also creates a floating floor but instead of having an adhesive connect the planks like gripstrip does the planks interlock with tongue and groove joints that easily snap together for a. Once your flooring is down install shoe molding to cover the expansion gap between the flooring and the base trim. Be careful not to pin the flooring down in the process. If the tiles are in good condition laying a laminate or another type of floating wood floor over tile isn t much different from laying it on a bare subfloor.

Trim these door casings with a flush cut dovetail saw if the flooring doesn t fit underneath the casings. To lay 20sqm of flooring at about 30 per sqm will cost about 670. If you are installing the flooring below grade or in a room like a basement with high humidity or moisture lay down a vapor barrier before you install the flooring. Most padding and plastic is all in one but if yours is not then cover the plastic lining with a foam floor padding.

If laying a floating floor over a new slab leave it for one month per 25mm thickness to ensure the concrete has completely cured. Floating floors are an easy mess free way to install new flooring without necessarily having to remove the existing flooring. This will allow them to acclimate to the room s temperature and humidity. To install a floating floor diy you ll need to buy a floor laying installation kit 25 underlay 45 duct tape 5 and the floorboards.

Shoot 1 1 4 inch finish nails through the shoe and into the base trim. They should acclimate for at least 48 hours. Finish the molding to match the trim not the flooring.