A few questions on my laminate wood floor project

[OnionPatch]

We're finally getting our floor project started. We've pulled out the carpeting from the dining room and living room, which is shaped like an L. The question is, do we have to empty the entire room of furniture, or can we do half the room, then move furniture onto that half while we do the other half? It's going to be extremely hard to empty the entire room, but we can if we have to. I'm guessing we have to empty the whole room. Maybe you can't keep the boards tight if you have furniture on them, or would they already be tight enough?

Also, once we get the floor down on the whole surface, can we put the furniture on before we add the baseboards? The baseboards don't really hold them in place or anything, right? So I'm guessing we can do that. I hope. (I do want to have a floor by Christmas...I have a six-year-old who MUST have a Christmas tree up for Santa!)

Oh, another question is this: We have found several small cracks in the slab. We do live in earthquake country, so that's pretty common. We should probably patch them, right? If so, how long do we need to let it dry before putting down the floor? Also, the little tack strips have nails in them that are pulling out some of the concrete when removed, leaving little indentations along the wall. We should probably patch those up as well. Does anyone know how to get those nails out without messing up the concrete? I was thinking of just cutting them off level :shrug: but the spouse frowned at that idea.

We're also ripping ceramic tile out of the kitchen. The hubby was being all gloomy-Gus and saying that was going to take forever and be a real bi%*@ to get out but I just used a crow-bar tool thingy he had (a "bully"?) and ripped out about 6 square feet in 30 seconds, so that's not going to be a problem after all. :D

[Warpy]

1. The planks lock together and then you tap them tight

with a rubber mallet and block of wood. The folks at the lumberyard/building supply place will give you the whole story. Pick their brains, that's one of the things they get paid for. They may even have a sample for you to practice on in the store, if it's a well managed store.

[OnionPatch]

3. Thanks. We got it at Home Depot

so we should be able to ask them all these things. There were instructions with the flooring, but they didn't mention the things I asked about.

[Warpy]

5. I should think there are few people with the luxury

of being able to clear a room completely to install it. Just make sure when you're moving furniture onto the installed flooring that you either LIFT it over the edge, protect the edge with a lot of padding, or prepare to sacrifice that row of planks. That edge is pretty fragile.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. I'm assuming you're using click-together laminate, not the glue up kind.

You can use the floor immediately. You can also do half the room as you suggested. You can also leave the baseboards for 'whenever'.

I hope you plan to put a vapor barrier on top of the concrete floors. Laminate needs that, for sure. I also hope you'll be putting in some cushioning. Laminate doesn't actually *need* it, but it helps **greatly** with noise. (With the padding it sounds much more like solid wood.)

The crack, if it is level on both sides, should be a non-issue and you can probably get by just fine with no patching needed. Same with the small chips and holds from the carpet tack strip. If the holes are even as large as a dime they shouldn't matter.

But, as stated by Warpy, above, check with the seller and see what they have to say. They know their product better than we do.

[OnionPatch]

4. Yes, it's the click kind

and we did get the vapor barrier, which is like plastic sheeting, plus the cushioning stuff that will go on top of it, so I think we're good.

Good to know about the holes and cracks. That would be a lot of patching but I guess I'd better ask the store so I know the warranty will still be good. I hope they agree with you!