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1.About wood flooring 2.About Bamboo Flooring
1.About wood flooring
What are laminate floors and how are they made?
A. Laminate flooring is a versatile, durable, attractive flooring with the appearance of a hardwood floor. Although laminate flooring looks like wood flooring, there is actually no solid wood used in its construction. Laminate floors are made up of several materials bonded together under high pressure. Most laminate flooring consists of a moisture resistant layer under a layer of HDF (high density fiberboard). This is topped with a high resolution photographic image of natural wood flooring. It is then finished with an extremely hard, clear coating made from special resin-coated cellulose to protect the laminate flooring. Laminate flooring is perfect for anyone wanting a durable floor for a fraction of the price and installation time of a hardwood floor, but with the attractiveness of real hardwood. This construction also makes laminate flooring more environment-friendly as it uses less wood in its construction and makes more efficient use of the wood fiber that is used
How do laminate floor panels lock together?
A. There are many types of edge joining systems used to connect laminate flooring panels together. Some laminate flooring connections snap together by hand while others require a light tap with a mallet and a tapping block. Still others use a combination of a “snap” click edge and a “bang” or “tap” click at the end of the panels. While most of the various systems work well to secure your laminate floor, it is important to read your laminate flooring installation instructions carefully. Familiarize yourself with how your flooring locks together before starting your installation. Some proven and popular laminate floor joining systems are: Uniclic, Kronotex’s Clic2Clic, Classen’s EasyConnect and Lamton’s InstaLock.
What are the advantages of laminate flooring over those of solid hardwood flooring ?
A. One obvious advantage is that of price; laminate flooring is typically half the cost of traditional hardwood flooring. Sometimes the savings are even greater, depending on the types of flooring in question. Additionally, laminate flooring is designed to be easy to install and is generally a good choice for most do-it-yourselfers, where solid hardwood requires a specific level of expertise. Installing laminate doesn’t involve nails, and more recently has done away with glue as well in many cases. Laminate flooring can therefore be installed fairly quickly and inexpensively. Laminate flooring is generally designed to be scratch-resistant and fade resistant, two areas where solid hardwood flooring is known to be more vulnerable.
What do I need to know before I start installing my laminate floor?
A. There are several things to consider before you begin to install a laminate floor. Careful preparation before beginning will make installing your laminate floor a quick and easy process.
Ensure that your subfloor is flat, dry, and smooth.
Always use underlayment under your laminate floor for soundproofing.
Laminate flooring and underlayment/vapor barrier can be installed over concrete, wood flooring, vinyl tile, linoleum, tile, or virtually any other hard, flat surface.
Take extra care when installing laminate flooring over radiant heating. Ensure that you read both the laminate flooring and radiant heat system instructions carefully before beginning.
Read your laminate flooring manufacturer’s installation instructions carefully.
Allow you laminate flooring to acclimatize to the room where it will be installed for as long as possible (min. 48 hours)
Inspect each laminate flooring panel carefully for defects or damage before installing it.
How to Install floor
Preparing the Floor
If you've got another type of flooring, this is the time to get rid of it. Pull up your old carpet and padding. Remove all of the tack strips around the room's perimeter. You may need to scrape the floor to get rid of any padding sticking to it. Vacuum it well. If there are any noticeable dips, level them out. On a concrete slab, thinset or another self-leveling compound may be skimmed on it.
Repair plywood subflooring if applicable.
Remove the baseboards. You may be able to save these if you are careful. Now use the coping saw to cut off the bottoms of door jambs, case openings, etc. This will probably be 1/4” to 3/8” dependent on the combined thickness of the laminate and underlayment pad. It is recommended to buy the thicker pad; it is well worth the added expense.
In order to know how much laminate flooring and underlayment pad to buy you will need the square footage. To get this simply measure the area's footage right to left and then forward and back. Multiply those figures together and that is your square footage. It is prudent to add at least 5% to that figure for scraps.
Install your laminate flooring
The first thing to do is roll out the underlayment pad. Connect the pieces together with wide, clear, plastic tape. How your laminate planks connect depends on the brand you buy but they are all rather simple; most simply snap together. Remember to stagger the joints.
Laminate flooring is a type of “floating floor”, meaning that it is all connected to itself but not to the house. With this in mind, leave 1/4” clearance at each wall. On the initial wall where you start, use spacers that you can pull out before installing the baseboards.
As you go along you will need to use your mallet and pull bar to snug things up. A few gentle taps will do.
Things will get tricky as you go through doorways; the manufacturer's instructions most likely will not tell you about this because it impedes sales to DIY'ers. In some circumstances the best solution is to use your utility knife to trim the snapping connections on the adjoining planks so that they can slide together. In this case, use a few drops of wood glue to keep them together.
Finishing up - Install the Baseboards
Once you're done with installing the laminate flooring planks you can get on your baseboards. If you've been careful with the removal you can reuse them. Otherwise, cut and install new baseboards. Miter and caulk all joints. Remember not to nail into the planks – this is a floating floor. If you find you have cut some planks too short and the baseboard doesn't cover adequately, don't fret; just install quarter-round at the floor line.
How do I repair minor scratches?
A. Minor scratches or nicks can be repaired with laminate floor repair paste. This can be purchased in most retail flooring stores.