A new floor in your home is like a blank canvas that you can build a whole new look around. A great way to do it is with a floating floor. It’s hard-wearing and there’s a huge range of styles to choose from. Laying a new floor is very DIY friendly job so you can transform your home for less.
Prepare the old floor
Before you start laying your new floor, there’s a bit of prep work to be done. Use a hammer, chisel and pinch par to pry the skirting boards from the wall. Take care that you don’t break the skirting so you can re-use them when you’re finished. Another option is to make new skirting boards part of the makeover! If you’re laying over an area that was carpeted, make sure any staples or nails that were holding the carpet down are removed.
Set out your new floor
A bit of planning before you start laying will make all the difference to the look of your job. Choose the longest run of flooring boards, which may be the longest wall of a room or down a hallway, as your starting point. If you just start against the nearest wall, the line of boards might get crooked at the point where it is most obvious. Set up a stringline along this line.
Start laying!
To cushion the floating floor it sits on foam underlay. Roll it out, taping it together at the joins. Start laying the boards along with your stringline, clicking the ends together as you go. If you’re using a wall as your starting point, cut the tongue off the boards on the first row and lay this side to the wall. Use plastic spacers to leave a 10mm gap to the walls to allow for any expansion. Where the end of the row meets a door, cut the last board to length, not forgetting to leave a 10mm gap to the wall.
Make the transformation
Continue laying rows of boards, occasionally checking that your first row is still on the stringline. The boards simply click together but may need to be persuaded together with a gentle tap. If this is the case, use an offcut of board to protect the edge from the hammer blow. Stagger the joins between boards on adjacent rows to avoid a long line of joins across your floor. Use the offcut at the end of one row to start the next so there’s less wastage.
What to do at a door
Where your boards are running through a doorway, you will need to cut the door jamb and architrave so the flooring can just slide under them without having to worry about a gap. The easiest way to do this is with a powered multi-tool. Push an offcut of flooring against the architrave and jamb, sit the blade of the tool flat on the board then cut the architrave and jamb at this level. When you get to laying flooring here, simply the new boards under jamb and architrave, hiding the edge.
The door may also need to be cut to suit the new floor level. Use the board to mark the new floor level on the door, remove it then use your circular saw to cut a further 10mm up the door to give it a bit of clearance to the floor. Rehang the door.
Finishing off
Once the floor is laid and cut in at the edges, finish off by reinstalling the skirting boards, which also covers the gap between the floor and walls. In areas where it’s not practical to put skirting, such as against the kickboards of kitchen cabinets, use a small cover strip that matches your boards. Where the new floor meets a different flooring surface or an external door, transition the edge of the board using a cover strip made by the same manufacturer as your boards.
Still need more help? Follow our step-by-step guide…
Gather your supplies
• Roberts Lamilay Gold underlay
• Laminate flooring in your choice of colour
You’ll also need
Electric multi tool; cutting knife; power saw; rubber mallet; tape; cleaning tools; construction adhesive
Here’s how
Step 1 These floors are best laid by first removing skirting boards. This allows for expansion and contraction around perimeter of floor, which will then be hidden by skirtings. Rather than cutting around architraves, using electric multi tool, cut a sliver off bottom of architraves so underlay and flooring can slip underneath. Sweep and vacuum floor.
Step 2 Roll out underlay and cut slightly long. Make sure foil edge is clear of underlay, then roll out next piece parallel, with its edge butting foam and foil underneath. Stick together using provided adhesive strip.
Step 3 Trim underlay to walls of room. It doesn’t need to be super accurate, since underlay will be covered by flooring.
Step 4 With tongue facing out, put first flooring piece on underlay along 1 wall. Don’t worry too much about aligning at this point – the floor can be pushed into place once the first few boards are connected. Bring in a second board and clip to 1 end. Keep adding boards for first row.
Step 5 Before starting next row, using power saw along a square, cut 1 board at the end, stagger joints, then push in place. The profile is designed to go in at a slight angle and, when pushed down, they will click together.
Step 6 With each board clicked to previous row, push along to click to end of adjacent board. Take an offcut of board that fits profile of board end and, using rubber mallet, tap offcut against board end to achieve a tight joint. Once you have a few rows down, push in place so you have an approximate 10mm gap around perimeter of floor.
Step 7 Chances are you will need to rip the final boards to width. Do this using a fence attached to your saw, or by drawing a straight line and cutting by eye (the cut will be covered by a skirting board).
Step 8 Replace skirting and nail to bottom plate of wall framing. In full brick houses, you will need to plug walls in order to nail skirting, or simply glue skirting in place with construction adhesive.
Step 9 Where there is a step up, as here, cut a piece of flooring to suit height and, using construction adhesive, glue in place. You can finish top edge where end grain is visible with an anodised aluminium cover strip. Hold in place with tape until glue dries.
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