Laminate Flooring Against Brick Hearth?

[DerbyDad03]

Asking for a friend:

What's the best way to install the click-type laminate flooring along the face of a 10 foot wide brick faced hearth? It's being installed long side against the hearth.

He's working on a paper template of the grout joints, etc, but isn't sure he'll be able to cut the laminate precisely enough for a good fit. I mentioned caulk, but he said there's red brick, grey brick, mortar and brown flooring. Not sure if any given color of caulk would work.

He consider a transition piece as molding, but there would still be gaps behind that so he's not sure he'd like the look.

Any tips from those that have done it before?

Thanks!

[RickH]

A pair of dividers and a jig saw for that first board, if you put a felt-tip pen in the dividers it makes a better line on the pre- finished wood than a pencil.

[N8N]

I would think about either using caulk to match the mortar, or trying mortar in the seam. Haven't done this myself so I can't offer any exact advice. I do know that my dad had a similar issue in his basement when he finished it, but that was with tile not hardwood. I believe he just found some caulk the same color as the tile and that looked OK.

nate

[RickH]

Rockler wood tools sells a nice small wheel divider that rolls easily along the brickface to draw the line too.

[DerbyDad03]

The only wheeled divider I could find at Rockler is

Not sure how this would work on brick.

[rmorton]

Had the same question when installed mine about 2 years ago. My solution was to scribe as closely as possible and fill the small gap with a brown caulk. Most people don't even notice the small caulk strip because it blends with the floor.

[RickH]

They have them at the store I guess, it has wheels of various diameters that roll on the irregular surface like a toy car. It's just a niceity anyway, you could just scribe it with dividers then run the board through the jig saw.

[HeyBub]

Grout should work. And you can color it to match the brick.

If you end up contouring the laminate, it might help to use an angle grider (or some such) on the brick/mortar first to remove the more prominent irregularities. Or you could use the same angle grinder to undercut the brick so the laminate would fit UNDER the irregularities.

[dpb]

HeyBub wrote: ....

... Since it's a multi-hued brick, I'd suggest matching the existing grout instead of the brick.

--

[SteveBell]

The standard solution is to use a grinder to undercut the brick so the flooring slides under. It's dusty, and you'll burn through a couple of grinder disks, depending on how hard your brick turns out to be.

[Ed Pawlowski]

He must leave a gap for expansion so it is either caulk or a trim strip on the top for best results. A "perfect fit" can cause problems.