Can you advise me about laying laminated boards?

Question

I'm going to be laying new laminated boards on my bedroom floor upstairs. Different shops advise on whether to cover floor boards with plywood sheets first, then put a vapour barrier down, then underlay before laying the laminated flooring. The floor baords are mostly even and about 15 years old. Do I need to cover the floor boards and have a vapour barrier?

Answer 1

Several things to consider here. If the laminate has backing on it you will not need underlayment put down. Some laminate flooring already has the backing on it. Other types require that you buy and place the underlayment on the floor (comes in rolls) first.

"OTHER" Considerations:

How are you planning to fit the flooring around the door casements, and the baseboards.

If you want it to look professional, you need to cut the door casement molding off about 1/4" inch from the floor. Then the flooring can fit under it. If not you end up with space around the door frame that looks bad.

As for the baseboards. You can leave them in place and cut the flooring so that it is close to the baseboard. The  when the flooring is down you can add shoe (1/4 round) molding to cover the edge of the flooring.

Personally I prefer to carefully remove the baseboards and then replace them after the flooring is down. Mush cheaper and I don't have to measure and cut trim.

Answer 2

AS SAID NO VAPOUR BARRIER NEEDED UPSTAIRS USE THE SPONGE UNDERLAY

ONE WORD OF WARNING DONT BUY THE CHEAP TYPE THEY LOOK WHAT THEY ARE  c**p

ALLOW FOR EXPANSION ON ALL EDGES 10MM MAKE SURE ALL EDGES ARE CLIPPED IN PROPERLEY AS YOU CANT GO BACK ONCE INSTALLED WITHOUT REMOVING ALL ITS NOT THAT HARD JUST TAKE YOUR TIME AND GOOD LUCK

CAN BE A BIT NOISY UPSTAIRS

Answer 3

You wont need a vapour barrier if its an upstairs room, the vapour barrier is to stop damp coming up and warping the flooring (like in a basement installation).  Be warned though, even though they say it's easy to install (it isn't) l would get some one to help you.  Good Luck.

Answer 4

putting down a fibre board underlay might be an idea it acts as sound proofing and boards can be noisy, and will deal with slightly uneven floors, also easier to lay than plywood

IKEA seem to be the best value BUT they do a thickness different to other shops so get enough - not shown in catalogue or displayed in stores so ask

the floor laying kit is very handy and worth the outlay - again IKEA

first 2 rows can be h**l (because they keep shifting and unclicking) but after that ok, plan where the joins are going to be especially around the door

Answer 5

No need for a vapour barrier... but most of those laminated floors use a soft foam underlayment sheet, which you really do need to use.  First of all, go over the floorboards very carefully and drive down (or remove) any protruding nails.  Then, start at one end of the room and begin to lay the laminated boards.  I would suggest laying the laminated boards perpendicular to the existing floorboards, for a more level and stronger floor.  A hint for you is that you need to be careful when locking the new boards together--if their core is made of sawdust-board or chip-board, it is easily damaged, so be careful when tapping them together!!  Use a solid wood 2x4, for example, to cushion the hammer blows.

Answer 6

You don't need vapor barrier but make sure you use the underlayment. As far as for the plywood, if your floors are in good shape(no sagging, big gaps in the seams ect.)you should not have to have plywood, if they are you can use luan plywood.