Help - laying laminate flooring and I can't get it right

[TrogL]

I've got hardwood floors that are relatively level, but old, scratched, stained, chipped...you get the picture. So I'm laying laminate on top of it (with foam underlay). It's about an 18' by 18' room. No instructions came with it, but I've been asking around and also got a kit that had some tools and instructions (that I've since mislaid).

The layout I'm using is...

|   long    ||   long    ||   long    ||tiny|
| half ||   long    ||   long    ||  medium |

My problem is that nothing ever seems to line up perfectly, and if you're out the slightest amount the problem gets amplified in the next row. The kit supplied a double-L shaped tool called a "puller" and a plastic block that apparently you're supposed to use to tap the boards into place, but both have been damaging boards and I get it really nice and lined up in one spot and the far end's out. I get the far end fixed and the other end's out of whack.

What am I doing wrong?

[datasuspect]

1. i know there is at least one home improvement guru out there

kick

[malta blue]

2. Try the DIY forum - but IIRC, you have to start from the

center point of the room and work out - that is all I know.

Good luck!

[Whoa_Nelly]

15. I thought with laying laminate, one started on the side with a section board laid true

Thought it was tile that you started with in the center... :shrug:

[TrogL]

16. Instructions usually say start left to right

probably 'cause most people are right-handed.

[Inchworm]

3. I'm thinking reeeal wide baseboards :P

It's be a while for me. Try the DIY - home Improvement Forum. I hear they are schmart over there.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=287

Get before and after pics! :)

:hi:

[TrogL]

9. can't post there

I keep forgetting to send my membership cheque (no credit card)

[Inchworm]

10. mzteris made a thread for you

Sending help to the Lounge :)

Someone will answer I'd bet. (if they havent already)

:)

[Orsino]

4. I hated installing laminate...

...but it does work, lining up perfectly across a ten-foot-wide room. If the pieces aren't obviously warped, they should not be giving you the trouble you describe.

I guess I'm not being much help. Are you using the clamps and straps in the kit to hold the rows together?

[TrogL]

5. Clamps? Straps?

The kit consists of:

• instructions (mislaid but I've got the jist of it)
  
• puller bar (not sure what to do with it) looks like 7------L
  
• tapping block (just a square block of plastic)
  
• spacers (double-ended marked 3/16" and 3/8"), instructions say they're 1/4" - go figure)
  

This link (http://www.hometime.com/Howto/projects/flooring/floor_7.htm) mentions gluing (which would make sense) but the packaging says "no gluing required" and there's no glue in the kit.

First, measure the width of the room to figure how the last row of planks will end up. Do this before installing a vapor barrier and underlayment to avoid tearing them.

Make sure the last row of planks won't be too narrow (generally planks under 2" are too small). Otherwise, plan on rip sawing the first row to get the last row width to look right.

Oh, right. That didn't occur to me.

[Orsino]

12. Ah, yes. The glueless stuff. Much gooder!

After all my cussing with the glue, I had another part of the house done with the glueless, which had just become available. I was sick of flooring, though, so I hired someone to do it.

They made it look easy. Could it be that your planking has absorbed some moisture that is preventing precise fitting? That's all I can think of.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. A few things that helped me...

I just laid a floor for my Mom and it was a bit of a BITCH. I made the mistake of laying the boards so they were running parallel to the long side of the room -- WRONG. In doing that I had terrible problems with having the boards moving pretty significantly as I worked the length of the room. If you run the boards so they run parallel to the shortest side of the room, and to complete a single row before moving on to the next row, it will help with movement a lot.

Never end a row a distance from the wall and then start another row below it, thinking you will go back and just weave the end pieces in -- that allows for huge problems later.

Also, make sure your pieces are really "snapped" into place -- I was expecting a real "snap" when putting the boards together, but it was much different than that -- I had a very hard time knowing just when my boards were really together vs. looking like they were together.

patience, patience, paticen. Don't force the boards into place with the mallet/pull -- I chipped a shit load of planks that way. :(

I also had to use my foot a lot to hold down the planks I was trying to snap in place because they would not lay flat while I was working -- that ended up helping a lot, too.

Good luck!

[TrogL]

8. The room's pretty much square

...so there isn't any short side.

The boards don't "snap" even when they're absolutely flat. I consider them "together" if I can run my hand past the seam and not feel it. Any difference in height and the first time someone drags a chair past it they'll tear the laminate off - it's only a few microns thick.

What I'm thinking of doing is taking some heavy speaker columns and parking them on the finished bits so they can't move while I put the next boards in place. Otherwise I'm going to need six people to do this - three to stand on boards so they'll hold still and three to lift the next new row of planks into place.

[LaraMN]

7. What are you trying to "line up?"

You shouldn't have to tap so hard that the boards are breaking- or chipping.

I'm confused. It sounds frustrating. We did laminate flooring in my son and daughter's rooms this year, and I did a small landing area.

[PRETZEL]

11. I've done a couple of floors

what I was taught is that you use the end of the board you cut for the last row as the first board of the next row. That way you have cut ends not being part of the tongue and groove. They should snap in fairly easily and should meet with the tapping rod.

Anyway, good luck. Once you get the hang of it it's pretty fun.

[Catshrink]

13. Here's a YouTube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdkyZP_g6ZM

I think it makes it sound more tedious than it is. I've done almost my whole house.

This is another one, maybe better, from Shaw. Click the link that says "video of installation tips"

http://www.shawfloors.com/CMS/Articles.aspx?DN=1117,1109,29,4,Documents

[TrogL]

14. I think I've got it

I need to use wedges to hold the boards at an angle then remove them one at a time. I was trying to do the whole row at once.

I need to use something heavy (eg speaker columns or some kid) to hold the completed ones in place.