Laying laminate flooring 2 questions

Hi,

I have a couple of questions about laying laminate flooring due to quite a difficult room layout.

  1. I have a room layout as shown in the image at
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    . My question is where is the best place to start and in which direction should I lay the uni-clic laminate. I have read many different websites but all assume quite a simple box layout to a room. I am hoping with experience people will be able to give me a couple of pointers to make the job a little easier. Would option 1 or 2 be better or another.
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  1. As I have also read for a good finish is the best to cut the bottom from the door frame or other wooden room dividers and fit the laminate under the frame. I am happy doing this but am a little unsure how you get the piece of laminate under the frame and then click it in with the last piece you laid, especially as you need to slot the laminate in at about 30 degrees and then click it down into place. Am I missing something here?

I appreciate all you help here.

Cheers,

James Gralton

Reply to
JGralton
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First question is it a solid floor or are you laying on top of floorboards? If on top of floorboards then it is best to lay at right angles to the direction of the floorboards.

Otherwise consider the general aesthetic rules: a. in a rectangular room align with the long side b. parallel lines running toward a window look pleasing c. parallel line running away from the principle entrance can be pleasing.

In your case I would favour option 1 (thus satisfying a and b) But I would start at the far side of the room not the wall by the door. This is because it is more important the the planks look parallel to the far wall then you enter the room If they are not you will notice anmd be irritated forevermore. So start with the section of wall opposite the right-hand fireplace. Lay 3 or 4 rows and check the alignment along the whole room. If it isn't straight (because that wall is skewif) then trim the plank that goes against the starting wall so that the overall effect looks right.

short answer: with difficulty. If you are following your original option 1 then not much to it: just slot the whole first row together then slide it under. If option 2, should not be difficult as the door is at the start of the row. But if you choose modified option 1 above, then either ensure the last bit is short and can be slid in when clicked, or remove architrave from door and replace after, or just cut the laminate to clear the frame.

Reply to
djc

Thank you very much for the reply. I think I will go with you modified option 1. Just a question about by 2nd question.

These rooms used to be separate but were knocked into one with a piece of wall wither side and a RSJ. A little off point but there is a wood surround around this now which I want to get the laminate under as these are in the middle of the room I won't have the option of using a thin piece of laminate. My parents have the same and somehow the fitters managed to get the laminate under the wood so you can't see any joints. Any idea how they did this with the click in laminate?

Cheers,

James

Reply to
JGralton

Just a couple of observations really.

First, your option 1 is the conventional direction from the viewpoint of the finished product, but the more difficult in terms of laying. I did some laminate recently that went around the sort of obstructions you indicate (though quite a bit deeper in my case) and found the best way to get everything to fit right was run a few widths out from the protruding walls all the way down the middle of the room, then temporarily lay from the depth of each alcove to get a measurement for cutting the final board against the wall. Somehow, simply measuring doesn't always cover the situation and, even when replacing skirting over the edges, you don't have a lot of room for error, if you want to keep a useful expansion gap and have everything looking straight, when the walls may well not be completely true.

Second, one trick for getting this stuff to go under things is to carefully remove the 'bulge' off the tongue that clicks into the receiving board, then you have something more like a tongue and groove fit that can be slid under things. These then have to be glued together but it saves demolishing too much. This only need apply to the board that's going around the obstruction, although you may need to do the same at each end of it if it's in a run, to slide the adjacent boards into it.

Reply to
GMM

No matter what side you start one side of the room has to have the skirting,architrave taken off the walls and doors to fit the laminate. Its impossible to click it in place on the final run of planks unless you do as suggested ie cut the bulge off the laminate but this is more tedious work than taking off the skirting and architrave.

Reply to
George

In message , George writes

Rubbish! I lay a lot of laminate and have never had to remove architrave and skirtings.

Reply to
Phil

Pray do tell how you manage to get the last run of planks under the skirting and at the same time click it in place on the second to final run?

Reply to
George

course he didnt say he could do that

he said he lays a lot of laminate

he didnt say he was any good at it

catty

Reply to
felix

In message , George writes

Don't understand why you would want to put the flooring "under" the skirting as I assumed we were talking about "trimmed" edges.

Last run is cut and fitted first, under architrave which has been undercut previously, then lay second to last run. Expansion gap takes care of overlap on last tongue and you simply bang it home using a flooring bar.

Reply to
Phil

In message , felix writes

Seem to make a good living at it and I have never had a complaint so far.

Making 700 a week at the moment.

Reply to
Phil

as the op said,you need to lift one of the boards in order to make a join are you saying you hammer the boards together while theyre both flat?

cos when i tried that the board crushed

felix

Reply to
felix

In message , felix writes

Of course you should be able to hammer boards together when flat. If you can't, there's something wrong with the flooring or the tools you're using.

You need the proper tools e.g. flooring block and bar as a minimum. Never hammer the edge of the flooring as it will crush. A flooring block has a slot which goes over the tongue and prevents damage.

Reply to
Phil

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