Benefits to using laminate wood flooring for your next home project

The real beauty of using laminate wood flooring is that it looks like real hardwood floors when you are finished. Laminate floors also can be installed even if you have no experience in installation. It is also very easy to clean and in case of spills it just mops up. Unlike carpet that usually leaves a stain.

Discount laminate flooring is a perfect home handyman weekend project. It only takes a minor amount of preparation work.

The step before you buy your materials is to measure the area you want to have your new floor in and then add 20% to the total area.

 For instance if you have a room 10X20 you need 200 square feet of planks, now add another 20%, so now you need to order 220 square feet of boards. Laminate flooring comes in packages approx 22 square feet per box. So for this project you would need 10 boxes. I would buy one more package on top of this so that you have future planks in case of damage a couple years down the road. You may not get the same color after a year or 2.

First steps in installing laminate wood floors

When you bring your materials home do not use them right away. The manufacturers like Pergo and Armstrong recommend that you leave the flooring packages close to the room you are refinishing so that they have time to acclimatize to the temperature of your home. During this time you can start by ripping out the existing floor. If its carpet, just grab a corner and start pulling it up. Then pick up the underlay and pull out the nail strips. Remove any staples that stay in the plywood underneath. You could now lay the foam underlay for your laminate wood floor.

I replaced the carpet in our living room, dining room and hallway in about 3 days this was a total of approx. 500 square feet. I had never done this before and found it quite easy if I didn’t take on too much and try to get it finished in one day. You will do a much better flooring job if you don’t rush it.

Laminate wood flooring also comes in tiles which makes it easy to install in bedrooms. Because it requires perfectly straight lines I would get a professional installer to do it.

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