Tips and Tricks for Installing Laminate Wood Flooring

I love laminate flooring. It's a quick, easy and relatively inexpensive solution for flooring needs. We installed laminate flooring in our kitchen last year and it's been a workhorse for us! Here are some tips and tricks that I wish we'd known when we were installing our laminate wood flooring! These tips will help make the installation of your laminate wood flooring go smoother and faster.

Tip: Be Sure Your Laminate Wood Flooring is From the Same Lot Number
Before installing your laminate flooring, buy all of it from the same lot. There can be minute differences from one lot to another. While these don't look like they'll make a difference, when you're installing laminate wood flooring from another lot it will be painfully obvious.

Tip: Be Prepared - Buy More than you Need
One of the most frustrating parts of installing our wood laminate flooring was finding pieces that were not usable in the original packaging. Many pieces had gashes in the flooring that would have been very noticeable at the seams. Many edges were already ragged and had small chunks missing. We couldn't install these. We wanted all of our pieces to be in great shape before we installed them! Thankfully we had extra packages so we could return all of the chipped and marred laminate wood flooring boards when we were done.

Tip: Check Each Package of Laminate Wood Flooring Before Installation
This goes hand-in-hand with the tip above. Every time you open a package of your laminate wood flooring, check all of the pieces before installing anything. If you find pieces that can't be installed, set them aside and get another piece from another package.

TIp: Have Your Tools Available Before Installing your Laminate Wooden Floor
Make sure you have all of the necessary tools handy before beginning your installation. You'll need a pencil to mark the pieces, tape measure (two would be handy), rubber mallet, spacers, utility knife, underlayment pad, a saw (electric would be best), and any other tools specified in your laminate wooden flooring instructions.

Tip: Remove All Furniture and Appliances from the Work Area
Our instructions made it sound like we could install our wooden laminate flooring without moving nearly anything. While this might be true in the lab, in our house? Bunk! We had a ton to move, and trying to move the refrigerator after some flooring had already been installed was awful! Take it from me, clear appliances, tables and other items from your immediate work area before beginning to lay the wooden laminate flooring.

Tip: Leave Expansion Room
Remember, laminate wood flooring is a floating floor. That is, the pieces need to be able to expand and contract. When you're installing your laminate wood floor, leave the necessary amount of space between the floor and your wall. If you don't leave the right amount of space when installing your laminate flooring, the floor could buckle months later, leaving you with a big mess to fix.

Tip: Anticipate Problems During Installation
When we installed our laminate wood floor, the most challenging area was working around our pantry. Our pantry door has molding around the whole door, just like you'd find in any regular door in your home.

We tried to use hand saws to cut the molding, but it turned into a big, giant mess. We ended up getting a special saw, like the MultiMaster, that had a flush cut wood blade so that our laminate wood flooring would lie underneath the door molding. Click HERE to see a picture of a similar tool cutting underneath door molding.

You'll probably be surprised to learn that we also used a dremel tool while we were intstalling our laminate wood floor. Many of the interlocking areas had small ridges that needed to be smoothed out before we could install them.

Tip: Remove Wall Moldings Before Installing the Laminate Wood Flooring
Remove the moldings before you begin installation. We tried to use a shortcut and install the floor without doing this. Instead of being a shortcut, we ended up with a mess on our hands and had to rework the installation of that area a second time. Learn from our mistake and remove the moldings first.

Tip: Minimum Length and Width Is Important
Inevitably, there will be pieces that need to be trimmed, whether they're too wide or too long. The instructions will tell you what the minimum width and length should be. We ended up trimming several pieces that didn't need to be trimmed just to meet these specifications. The dremel tool was handy to use for this.

You might think that the length or width doesn't matter. It does. Don't try to circumvent this - not if you want your floor to last.

10 Measure Twice, Cut Once
Thankfully, we only made a few mistakes with our measurements. Since laminate wood floors are installed in pieces, those pieces that were cut wrong had a second opportunity to be useful - in a different part of the room. We quickly learned the value of "measure twice, cut once."

The commercials make it seem so very easy to install laminate wood flooring. Installation isn't as easy as commercials make it sound, but I can think of a lot of home improvement projects that are a lot more difficult than installing a floor! Once it's done, you'll love your laminate wood flooring and will have the satisfaction of knowing that you installed it yourself. These tips and tricks will help make installation easier.