You can easily lay DIY laminate floors in almost every room in your home, including kitchens, since it doesn't have to be glued down and doesn't involve grout or mortar. Planks can be cut with a hand saw, circular saw or flooring cutter, so you don't need many tools.
Laminate flooring is a floating floor material that isn't attached to the subfloor or underlayment. Laminate installation is much like putting together a large puzzle and should take no more than one day for almost any room.
Laying the Floor
The installation starts in the corner of the house and proceeds through the first room until the edge of the flooring extends beyond the walls. It then continues straight into the adjoining rooms unless you change direction with a transition.
If you are only installing vinyl planks in a single room, you will want to install transitions at the doorways. Transition pieces give a clean appearance where one kind of flooring meets with another.
Installation in a typical 10-by-20-foot room is four to five days with an extra day added for each additional room. Laminate flooring needs at least two to three days to acclimate to the environment of a room to prevent problems like particle board expansion.
wait for the floor to cure
Before you use your new floor or move into the room, make sure the floor is completely cured. Do not walk on the floor for 24 hours after installation. If you do, it will damage the installation, resulting in an uneven floor.
Cost to Install Laminate Floors: Labor Cost
The average labor cost to install laminate flooring is $1,500. Installing laminate flooring for a 1,000 sq. ft. floor costs $800 to $2,800 per square foot on average.
Professional installers can finish a 1,000 square-foot space in a day or two.
If you decided to install either hardwood, ceramic or laminate, you will need the transitions. These transitions are useful for two main reasons. Firstly, they ease the navigation from one room to another. They also visually divide rooms and different floorings.
The direction of your flooring boards has a huge impact on a room's overall appearance and can be a tough nut to crack. As a general rule, make sure to lay your floor in the same direction as the main light source in a room and in the same line as the most frequently used entrance.
Laminate flooring manufacturers often require their floors to be staggered anywhere between 6 to 12 inches, some manufacturers even want more.
Why Do I Need to Use Transition Strips? Transition strips serve two main purposes in a residential or commercial space. First, they're put in place to make navigating from room to room easier. They also provide a visual break between rooms and flooring materials that might otherwise be jarring and less than attractive.
Strip flooring can be installed in any direction in any room, however the convention is to run parallel with the longest wall in most situations. Rarely is this type of flooring run perpendicular to walls in a hallway.
Whether you're looking to have your garage floor, patio, basement or even your laundry room floor revamped with a custom, high-quality solution, One Day Custom Floor can help. And as our name suggests, we literally can do it all in one day for you. No chips, no peeling — just top quality flooring.
Installing a laminate floor costs $8 to $15 per square foot for labor and material. For the flooring alone, expect to pay between $2 and $6 per square foot. Laminate floors can mimic the look of stone or tile, but most have a wood appearance. The type of wood changes the cost.
Underlayment for laminate flooring is a must. Since laminate is a floating floor, it must be evenly distributed across your subfloor. Underlayment is what allows the floor to float, gives it stability, support, noise reduction, and supports the locking systems in between planks to assure the sturdiest flooring project.
You can easily lay DIY laminate floors in almost every room in your home, including kitchens, since it doesn't have to be glued down and doesn't involve grout or mortar. Planks can be cut with a hand saw, circular saw or flooring cutter, so you don't need many tools.
Depending on the quality of the flooring, laminate flooring can last between 15 to 25 years on average, or longer. Choosing the right flooring for your home is about more than just aesthetics, it's also about durability and strength.
Laminate flooring systems can also be an alternative to having a solid wood installed because of time constraints. Having laminates installed in a room that is around 500 square feet can be installed and completed in around one day.
The laminate floor installation is fairly straightforward and shouldn't take more than an afternoon for an average size bedroom. A larger living room can take two days.
The square footage of a room 12 feet wide by 12 feet long is 144 square feet. Find the square footage by multiplying the width (12 ft) by the length (12 ft).
Durability. Both vinyl and laminate flooring are extremely durable. Laminate usually lasts for up to 20 years, while vinyl flooring typically comes with a 15+ year warranty. However, you can't refinish or reseal laminate, while you can add extra layers of urethane to vinyl flooring to extend its life.