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Navigating the World of Laminate Flooring Installation: A Step-by-Step Laminate Flooring Installation Guide for Discerning Homeowners

If you’re looking for a flooring option that offers both style and affordability without sacrificing durability, laminate flooring might be the perfect solution for your home. For many DIYers, this is one of the most popular DIY laminate flooring choices.

Although traditionally considered a budget-friendly alternative to hardwood flooring, laminate flooring has undergone significant advancements in recent years. It now offers a wide range of design options and high-quality materials, from wood-look laminate to stone-look laminate and laminate plank flooring. This comprehensive laminate installation guide from our pro flooring contractor will take you through the world of laminate flooring installation, ensuring you make an informed decision for your home and understand how to install laminate flooring like a pro. It also shows you when to call on flooring contractor services and expert laminate flooring installation if needed.

Step 1: Choose Your Laminate Flooring Installation Type & Style

Laminate floors are rated by the Abrasion Criteria (AC) rating on a scale from 1 to 5. The higher the AC rating, the more durable the floor. Your residential floors should be rated between AC3 flooring to AC4 flooring to support high-traffic laminate flooring and better laminate flooring longevity. This abrasion criteria rating helps you choose truly durable laminate flooring for long-term performance.

Traffic

Flooring is a significant investment requiring careful thought when choosing the type and style for your laminate floor installation. There are several factors to consider, including how much foot traffic your rooms receive and whether you need high-traffic laminate flooring in busy spaces. Understanding this early in your laminate flooring installation plan makes the rest of this laminate flooring tutorial much easier.

Color

Your flooring should create a natural flow throughout your home, so it helps to think in terms of laminate flooring color tones. Lighter-tone laminate flooring works well as light-tone laminate flooring for an airier feel, ideal for open-concept homes and a smooth open-concept flooring flow.

However, medium-tone laminate flooring works well if you want a cozier feeling, while dark-tone laminate flooring is elegant and formal. Don’t forget about contrast.

High contrast tends to be overly dramatic, while going with no contrast might feel too sedate. If the flooring flows through your entire home, consider the colors in each room and aim for a cohesive flooring design. If you have the same color throughout the home, you can decide what floors complement that color best. However, if the colors vary from room to room, a neutral medium tone helps create a sense of room-to-room laminate flow throughout your space.

Texture

Laminate floors come in different textures. Handscraped laminate flooring creates a “restored” wood look ideal for rustic laminate flooring styles and traditional homes, while embossed laminate flooring mimics a natural wood feel and adds realistic textured laminate flooring. You can also choose smoother finishes for a sleek, modern laminate flooring look in matte laminate finish or gloss laminate finish depending on your design goals.

Type

You also have your choice of laminate types. Wood-look laminate is ideal for just about any room in the home, while laminate tile flooring or stone-look laminate is perfect for kitchens, laundry rooms, bathrooms, and entries.

It helps to see samples of the flooring in your home to ensure you’ll love the look and feel of your laminate floor installation, especially when comparing laminate plank flooring versus laminate tile flooring.

Step 2: Acclimate Your New Flooring

“Acclimating” allows laminate planks to adjust to the humidity and temperature of your home. Acclimate laminate flooring properly by letting it sit in the room before you begin. Your laminate should sit in the room where you’re installing them for at least 24 hours so humidity acclimation and temperature acclimation can happen naturally, reducing future movement.

Step 3: Prep Your Sub Floors for Your Laminate Flooring Installation

When installing laminate flooring, a level subfloor clear of debris provides the right base for your new floors. Proper subfloor preparation materials and methods are critical to a successful laminate flooring installation. To achieve this, follow these steps:

Remove your baseboards and molding.
Remove the existing floors.
Inspect the subfloor for damage and areas that appear uneven.
If you have uneven concrete subfloors, use a leveling compound or patching compound.
For wood subfloors, perform wood subfloor repair by removing damaged boards and jutting nails or screws.

Tip: If you need to level your subfloor, sand before applying your patching compound so you have a clean subfloor surface and a stable, debris-free subfloor.

Step 4: Lay the Underlayment for Laminate Flooring

Basements and high-humidity rooms require a vapor barrier before flooring installation. If you don’t need a vapor barrier, a foam underlayment helps even out floors while providing cushioning and a noise barrier. Choosing the right underlayment or underlayment/vapor barrier combo is an important part of subfloor preparation for laminate flooring installation.

Lay underlayment as follows:

Lay your underlayment into rows and trim it using a utility knife.
When installing your underlayment, each row should touch but not overlap so that planks remain even.
Seal the seams with duct tape to hold the underlayment in place and/or seal the vapor barrier.

Tip: To skip this step, choose underlayment/vapor barrier combos or laminate flooring with suitable underlayment attached.

Step 5: Measure and Adjust Door Jambs

New floors impact your door jamb height. Before installation, measuring door jambs for adjustments ensures a smooth fit:

Slide underlayment and a plank under your door jamb.
Trace a guideline on the jamb with a pencil.
Cut along the guideline with a jamb saw.

Tip: To skip this step, choose underlayment/vapor barrier combos or laminate flooring with suitable underlayment attached.

Step 6: Decide Where to Begin

You want your first planks to be installed either parallel to the longest wall or the spot in the room that serves as your focal point wall. Proper room layout planning at this stage sets up a clean overall look.
Tip: If you have a door on a short wall, use this wall as your starting wall so you have uncut edges for your threshold and a cleaner longest wall installation appearance.

Step 7: Measure for First and Last Rows

Measure using the following calculations:

The width of the longest wall, divided by the width of your laminate planks or tiles, to determine the width of the final row of planks you lay. This is your basic plank width calculation.
An expansion gap 3/8 inch is required along walls to account for expansion due to humidity and temperature changes.
If the last row is less than 3.5 inches wide, installing the width needed between the first and last rows is often best.
To calculate how much width you need to cut for your first and last rows, measure your plank width and add it to the width required for your previous row and then divide it by two. This allows you to make accurate cut plank adjustments for a more professional finish.

Step 8: Start Cutting Your First and Last Rows

Check the laminate manufacturer’s cutting instructions before you begin. Although you can use your choice of saws, including table saw, circular saw, or miter saw, we recommend a diamond blade for the cleanest cuts and less risk of damaging your blade and to achieve near splinter-free laminate cutting.

Make sure your calculations are correct (the old measure twice cut once rule).
Always cut finished side up.
Cover the finished side with duct tape to mark planks and reduce damage, such as splintering as you cut.
When cutting multiple planks, clamp them together to make even cuts and keep your laminate plank flooring consistent.

Step 9: Install the First Row

Place spacers (3/8 inch) along the walls to hold your planks in place and ensure your gaps are even. This maintains your expansion gap 3/8 inch and supports long-term laminate flooring longevity.

The first row of planks lies lengthwise with the tongue side against your first wall, following standard tongue-and-groove laminate planks or click-lock laminate flooring design.
The second plank tongue should slip into the grooves and snap in place when you press on them, forming a secure plank installation.
Measure the final plank length, less your 3/8-inch gap.

Step 10: Install the Remaining Rows

To continue your rows, use the last plank cut if it is over a foot long to start the next row. If it’s too short, cut a new plank that is at least a foot long. Staggering each row is a must to add stability and create visually appealing staggered seams.

As you lay the rows, stagger the seams to adjacent rows by at least a foot.
Angle each plank so it goes into the groove and press each plank into place, maintaining tight click-lock laminate flooring connections.
Keep planks nice and tight, following the manufacturer’s instructions for secure plank installation and durable laminate flooring.
Trim each end plank, including your 3/8-inch gap.
Follow the same steps for each row to complete your laminate flooring installation like a pro.

Step 11: Finish Installing Laminate Flooring

Remove your spacers and make sure the planks feel secure. Next, install your baseboards and finish with quarter-round molding with finishing nails. Depending on whether you have doorways or other flooring types adjacent to your new laminate installation, you might also require threshold molding or other transition finishes to complete your laminate floor installation.

Discover more in our "Ultimate Guide to Flooring Contractor Services" for a successful renovation!

About the Author:

Since 2014, Nick Patel and the team at SCV Floorsmith have provided high-quality flooring services to homeowners in Naperville, South Barrington, and the surrounding areas. With over 5000 projects completed successfully and more than 30 years of industry experience, you can be confident that SCV Floorsmith has the experience and expertise to handle your next flooring project.

LAMINATE FLOORING INSTALLATION: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE