Laminate flooring

I am going to have Lowes put down about 300 sqft of Pergo Laminate flooring. I have a quote from them and it seems reasonable.

They did not seem to specify any underlayment for the flooring. Should there be some ? If so what type should it be ?

Reply to
Ralph Mowery
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Yep, a plastic insulated underlayment at the bare minimum, depends on the condition of the existing floor.

Reply to
FrozenNorth

Oren posted for all of us...

+1 What's under there now?
Reply to
Tekkie®

The house has a basement and this floor is going in a room over the basement. The floor has carpet on it now which will come out and under that is some partical board type flooring. Over the floor joists there is a layer of either OSB or plywood. Hard to tell as I did not want to pull the fiberglass insulation back enough to get a good look at it.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Also depends on the laminate. Quite a few have the "underlay" already installed

Reply to
clare

All depends on the condition of your floor. That's something the installer should determine. If you're unsure of them knowing what they are doing, get a 2nd opinion from someone who can see the floor. It's impossible to tell you on a newsgroup when we cant see the floor.

I dont know what they use these days for underlayment. 20 years ago,

1/4" luan plywood was common. In the 70's 1/4" masonite was popular. I guess it depends on what works best and what is the cheapest. I had a relative who did flooring, and I used to help the guy once and awhile, when I was much younger. Thats why I know this. Most of what I did for him was staple down the underlayment. It takes a lot of staples.

Laminate flooring is a lot thicker than vinyl sheet goods or tile, so I'd think there would be less need for a "perfect" floor surface. But I'm not familiar with what you are using. Is it wood, or some sort of vinyl or composite?

Reply to
Paintedcow

Read the directions!

I installed Pergo in the kitchen when it was still glued together. In that instance (over a plywood subfloor) they required a special dense foam underlayment.

More recently, I installed the snap together Pergo laminate with a thin foam backing preattached. The instructions specifically said DO NOT USE ANY UNDERLAYMENT.

Central to all of this is the type of subfloor you're dealing with. Pergo covers all the bases and answers all your questions. If you don't have a copy of the instructions, go online and download a copy from their website.

Reply to
Unquestionably Confused

Never seen that before, but haven't installed any in 8 or 9 years.

Reply to
FrozenNorth

For laminate a plywood "underlay" is virtually never needed, recommended, or used. Generally speaking i thin plastic "felt" or high density closed cell foam is used. It is a vapour barier and a "lubricant" between the laminate and the floor below.

You need to remember too that laminate comes in all different qualities, from pure crap to pretty darn good, and from 5 or 6mm to 14 and 15mm in thickness..

I put 14mm laminate in my basement, over the 5/8" plywood subfloor which had been covered with carpet for about 35 years. It is 4 1/2 inch plank. I put 10mm laminate in my upstairs bathroom. It looks like ceramic tile and came in 1 X 4 ft sheets, 4 tiles to the sheet - with waterproof wax sealed joints. We used a similar product that looked like slate tile in my daughter's townhouse entrance. The sparks really flew from the carbide saw blade on all 3 jobs - wearing out a blade on each project.

I put prefinished ash hardwood in the living and diming rooms. The finish on that is a UV cured aluminum oxide layer that pretty well finished off another blade.,

Reply to
clare

I received an email from Pergo and they said the type I am putting in had the underlayment built in and I do not need any unless laying it over concrete, then more of a thin vapor barrier than anything. They did mention putting a vapor barrier under the house if a crawl space, but should not be needed if a basement is under the main floor.

They also said that my computer chair should be ok to roll over it. The tech sheet they sent me said they testedit to 25000 cycles and no effect. If I have enough left over I think I am going to make a pad about 3 feet each way and put it under the place where the chair is at just to make sure it will hold up.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

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