How to Install Laminate Flooring | A Complete Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Man installing laminate flooring in modern luxury room

Laminate is one of the few flooring types a first-timer can install without special training. The planks click together, they sit loose on top of the subfloor, and you do not need glue, nails or a wet saw. If you are comparing styles, materials, and finishes, explore our laminate flooring options before starting your installation.

That said, most laminate floors that fail do not fail because someone clicked the planks wrong. They fail because of skipped prep work: an uneven subfloor, no expansion gap, or planks that were never given time to adjust to the room.

This guide walks you through the whole job, from checking your subfloor to fitting the last plank and the skirting. It also covers the parts that other guides skip, like cutting around a toilet pipe, what to do in rooms wider than 8 meters, and how to fix a gap that opens up three months later.

How to Install Laminate Flooring in 10 Steps

To install laminate flooring:

Let the sealed boxes sit flat in the room for 48 hours.
Clear the room and remove the old floor covering and skirting.
Clean the subfloor and check that it is flat, dry and solid.
Work out your plank direction and how wide the last row will be.
Roll out underlayment (skip this if your planks have a pad attached).
Place spacers along the walls to hold a 10 to 12 mm expansion gap.
Lay the first row with the tongue side facing the wall.
Continue row by row, staggering the end joints by at least 300 mm.
Cut the last row to width and pull it tight with a pull bar.
Remove the spacers and fit skirting, beading and transition strips.

Time needed: 4 to 8 hours for an average bedroom, plus 48 hours of acclimation beforehand. Difficulty: Beginner to intermediate. Cost driver: The flooring itself, not the tools.

What You Need Before You Start

Tools Needed to Install Laminate Flooring

You do not need a workshop. Most of this fits in one bag.

Essential tools

Tool	What it does
Tape measure and pencil	Marking cuts and checking room size
Set square or speed square	Getting straight cross cuts
Spacers (10 to 12 mm)	Holding the expansion gap at the walls
Tapping block	Closing joints without damaging the plank edge
Pull bar	Pulling the last row and end pieces tight
Rubber mallet or hammer	Used with the tapping block, never on the plank itself
Handsaw, jigsaw or laminate cutter	Cutting planks to length and around obstacles
Utility knife	Trimming underlayment
Knee pads	You will be on your knees for hours
Safety glasses and dust mask	Laminate dust is fine and sharp

Helpful but optional

A laminate cutter (a guillotine-style tool). It makes straight cuts fast, with no dust and no noise. Worth renting for a large job or if you live in an apartment.
A jigsaw with a fine-tooth blade for curves, pipes and vents.
A multi-tool or flush-cut saw for undercutting door frames.
A pry bar for lifting old skirting without splitting it.
A long spirit level or a straight 2 meter batten for checking the subfloor.

Tool kits: A basic laminate installation kit (tapping block, pull bar and spacers) is inexpensive and covers three of the essentials in one purchase. If you only ever lay one floor, rent the saw and buy the kit.

Materials Checklist

Laminate planks, plus extra for waste
Underlayment, unless your planks already have a pad bonded to the back
Damp-proof membrane (needed on any concrete subfloor)
Spacers
Skirting boards or scotia beading
Transition strips or thresholds for doorways
Silicone sealant and foam backer rod, if the room is a kitchen or bathroom
Wood glue or grab adhesive for beading, never for the planks

How Much Laminate Flooring Should You Buy?

Measure the length and width of the room, multiply them, and add 10% for waste. Add 15% if the room has lots of angles, a diagonal layout, or several doorways.

Example: A room 4.5 m by 3.2 m is 14.4 m². Add 10% and you need about 15.9 m². If each box covers 2.2 m², buy 8 boxes.

Two practical notes:

Buy all your flooring in one order so the batch numbers match. Color and texture can shift slightly between production runs.
Keep two or three spare planks after the job. If a plank gets damaged later, matching it from a new batch is difficult.

How Long Does It Take to Install Laminate Flooring?

A typical bedroom takes one confident person 4 to 8 hours of actual laying time. The planks themselves go down quickly. What stretches the job out is the prep and the cutting.

Room size	Laying time (one person)	Total realistic time
Small bedroom (10 m² / 110 sq ft)	3 to 4 hours	Half a day
Average room (20 m² / 215 sq ft)	5 to 8 hours	One day
Open-plan living area (40 m² / 430 sq ft)	10 to 14 hours	Two days
Whole apartment with several rooms	3 to 5 days	Spread over a week

Add to that:

48 hours of acclimation before you start. This is waiting time, not work.
2 to 6 hours to remove an old floor, depending on what it is.
Extra time for leveling. If you need a self-leveling compound, allow a full day for it to cure.

Two people are roughly twice as fast, mainly because one can cut while the other lays. A hallway with five doorways can take longer than a bedroom twice its size, so judge by the number of cuts, not the floor area.

Understanding Floating Floors (and Why It Matters)

Almost all laminate is installed as a floating floor. That means the planks lock to each other but not to the subfloor. The whole floor sits as one large sheet that can slide a few millimeters in any direction.

This matters for three reasons:

The floor must be free to move. If any part of it is pinned down, it will lift or bulge somewhere else.
You need a gap at every fixed object. Walls, door frames, pipes, kitchen units, stair posts. Everything.
Never glue, nail or screw the planks down unless the manufacturer says the product is made for that.

Laminate expands when the air is humid and contracts when it is dry. In a home with air conditioning running most of the year, the floor moves a little every day. The expansion gap around the edges is what absorbs that movement, and the skirting is what hides it.

If you have only remembered one thing from this section, make it this: leave the gap.

Step 1: Check the Room and Choose Your Plank Direction

Before you buy or open anything, sort out the direction of the planks.

The general rules, in order of priority:

Run planks along the longest wall. This means fewer cuts and fewer visible end joints.
Run planks towards the main light source (usually a window). Light travelling along the boards makes the joints less visible.
In a hallway, run planks along the length of the hall. A hallway laid across its width looks like a ladder.
In a narrow room, running planks lengthwise makes it look longer.

When these rules conflict, the longest wall usually wins for a beginner because it is the easiest to keep straight.

Check your walls are straight. Hold a plank against each wall and look for daylight behind it. Older villas and rendered block walls are often bowed. If a wall curves by more than 10 mm, you will need to scribe the first row of planks to follow the wall shape rather than laying them straight.

Check the doors. Stack a piece of underlayment and a plank next to each door. If the door will not clear the new floor height, you will need to trim the bottom of the door later. Note it now so it does not surprise you.

Step 2: Acclimate the Planks

Leave the sealed boxes flat in the room where the floor will be laid, for at least 48 hours before you start.

Do it properly:

Lay boxes flat, not standing on edge, and not stacked more than three or four high.
Keep them away from external walls, windows and air conditioning vents.
Leave the boxes closed unless the instructions say otherwise.
The room should be at normal living temperature, roughly 18 to 27°C, with the air conditioning running as it normally would.

Why this matters more in hot or humid climates: If planks are stored in a hot warehouse or a van, then laid straight into a cooled room, they will shrink after installation and gaps will appear at the joints. If they come from a cool store into a warm room, they expand and the floor peaks. Two days of waiting prevents a problem you cannot fix later without lifting the floor.

Some brands ask for 72 hours or more. Check your box.

Step 3: Clear the Room and Remove the Old Floor

Empty the room completely. Take out furniture, curtains that touch the floor, and any floor-standing appliances.

Remove the skirting boards. Slide a thin blade behind the skirting to break any paint seal, then lever it away with a pry bar. Put a scrap of wood between the bar and the wall so you do not dent the plaster. Number the back of each piece with a pencil so it goes back in the same place.

If you would rather not remove the skirting, you can leave it in place and cover the expansion gap with scotia beading afterwards. This is faster but the finish is slightly less clean.

Removing common floor coverings:

Carpet: Cut it into strips, roll them up, then lift the underlay. Prise up the gripper rods around the edge last. The pins are sharp, so wear gloves.
Old laminate or click vinyl: Lift the last row first and unclick each plank by angling it upwards. It usually comes up faster than it went down.
Sheet vinyl: Score it into strips with a utility knife and pull it up. Scrape off any leftover adhesive.
Ceramic or porcelain tile: This is the hard one. Break it up with a chisel and hammer, then scrape off the tile adhesive so the surface is flat again. Expect dust, noise and a full day of work.

Can you leave the old floor down? Yes, in some cases. Well-bonded ceramic tile, terrazzo, or sheet vinyl with no loose edges can stay, as long as the surface is flat, clean, and the extra height does not cause a problem at doors. This is a common shortcut over tiled floors and it saves a great deal of mess. Fill deep grout lines with levelling compound first, otherwise you may feel the grid through the floor over time.

Do not leave carpet, foam underlay, or anything soft underneath. Laminate needs a firm base or the joints will flex and eventually break.

Step 4: Prepare the Subfloor

This is the step that decides whether your floor still looks good in five years.

Clean it

Sweep, then vacuum. Any grit left behind will crunch under the floor and can wear through the underlayment. Pull out or hammer down any nails and staples.

Check it is flat

Flat is not the same as level. A floor can slope and still be fine. What laminate cannot handle is dips and humps.

Lay a straight 2 meter batten or long spirit level across the floor in several directions, including diagonally. Look for daylight underneath.

The usual tolerance is no more than 3 mm of gap over a 2 meter span (roughly 3/16 inch over 10 feet). Check your manufacturer’s figure, as it varies.

To fix problems:

Low spots: Fill with self-levelling compound on concrete, or plywood packing on timber. Let it cure fully before laying.
High spots: Grind down concrete humps. Sand or plane timber high spots.
Loose or squeaky floorboards: Screw them back down to the joists before you cover them. You will not get another chance.

Check it is dry

Moisture rising through a concrete slab will destroy a laminate floor from below. The core swells, the joints lift, and the damage is not covered by most warranties.

Simple check (concrete): Tape a 500 mm square of clear plastic sheet tightly to the slab on all four sides. Leave it for 24 to 72 hours. If you see condensation underneath or the concrete looks darker, the slab is still releasing moisture. This is a rough test only.

Better checks: A calcium chloride test or an in-slab relative humidity probe gives a real number. Flooring suppliers and hire shops often carry these. Ask your flooring manufacturer for the maximum reading they allow.

Timber subfloors: Use a moisture meter. Below 12% is the usual limit, and the subfloor reading should be within a few percent of the laminate reading.

New concrete needs time. A fresh slab typically needs around 60 days or more before it is dry enough, and thicker slabs take longer.

Always use a moisture barrier on concrete

Any concrete, screed or tiled subfloor needs a damp-proof membrane, usually polythene sheeting of at least 0.2 mm, or an underlayment with a barrier already built in. Overlap sheets by about 200 mm, tape the seams, and run the sheeting about 50 mm up the wall. Trim the excess after the skirting is on.

Timber subfloors over a ventilated void generally do not need a membrane, since trapping moisture there can cause its own problems. Check the instructions.

Step 5: Plan Your Layout

Skipping this step is why so many DIY floors end up with a 30 mm sliver of plank along one wall.

Work out the last row before you lay the first one:

Measure the room width, across the direction the planks will run.
Subtract 20 mm for the expansion gap on both sides.
Divide by the usable width of one plank (the width without the tongue).
Look at the leftover.

If the last row would be narrower than about 50 mm, cut the first row narrower too. Split the difference between the two rows. For example, if the last row works out at 30 mm, take roughly 60 mm off the first row and both end rows come out around 90 mm. That looks intentional instead of accidental.

Dry-lay a few rows first. Loosely lay two or three rows without clicking them fully together. This shows you how the pattern looks, where the joints will fall, and whether any plank runs into an awkward spot like the middle of a doorway.

Mix planks from at least three boxes as you work. Laminate is printed with a limited number of repeating patterns. If you work straight through one box at a time, the same knot or grain pattern will show up in a visible cluster.

Step 6: Lay the Underlayment

Underlayment cushions the floor, quietens footsteps, smooths out tiny imperfections and, in some products, blocks moisture.

Skip this only if your planks have a pad bonded to the back. Doubling up on padding makes the floor spongy and can break the joints.

Which underlayment should you use?

Type	Best for	Notes
Basic foam (2 to 3 mm)	Timber subfloors, budget jobs	Cheapest, minimal sound reduction
Foam with attached vapour barrier	Concrete and tiled subfloors	Most common all-round choice
Combination foam (higher density)	Apartments, upper floors	Better footstep sound reduction
Cork	Sound-sensitive rooms	Good acoustics, needs a separate membrane on concrete
Felt or fibreboard	Slightly uneven subfloors	Thicker, adds height, good for warmth
Pre-attached pad	Convenience	Fine, but you still need a separate membrane on concrete

If you live in an apartment, check your building rules first. Many require a minimum impact sound rating for hard floors.

Laying it

Roll it out in the same direction the planks will run, unless your product says otherwise.
Butt the edges together. Do not overlap them. An overlap creates a ridge you will feel underfoot for years.
Tape all the seams with the tape supplied, or wide duct tape.
Run it about 50 mm up the wall so the barrier is continuous, and trim it later.
Only roll out as much as you will cover in the next hour or two. Walking on bare underlayment tears it.

Step 7: Install the First Row

The first row sets the alignment for the entire floor. Take your time here.

Start in the left corner of the longest, straightest wall and work to the right.
Place spacers along the wall, roughly every 400 to 500 mm, and at every corner.
Face the tongue side towards the wall and the groove side into the room. On most systems this puts the groove where the next row will attach.
If the tongue sticks out and stops the plank sitting close to the wall, trim it off with a saw or utility knife.
Lay the first plank, then join the second to it at the short end. Depending on the click system you either angle it down or slide it in flat and tap it.
Continue to the end of the row and cut the last plank to fit, remembering to leave the expansion gap.
Start the second row with the offcut from the first row, as long as it is at least 300 mm long. This gives you a natural stagger and cuts waste.

How big should the expansion gap be?

10 to 12 mm (about 3/8 inch) is the standard for most rooms. Some brands allow 8 mm in small rooms and require more in large ones.

A reliable rule when in doubt: allow at least 1 mm of gap for every meter of floor width, with a 10 mm minimum. So a 6 meter wide room still uses 10 mm, but a 14 meter run needs closer to 14 mm.

The gap goes around everything fixed: walls, door frames, pipes, kitchen island bases, fireplaces and stair posts.

Step 8: Work Row by Row

Once the first two rows are locked together and straight, the rest goes quickly.

Stagger the end joints by at least 300 mm (12 inches). Some products allow 200 mm, but never less. Staggering is not only cosmetic. Joints that line up too closely create a weak line across the floor that can separate under load.

Avoid an obvious repeating stair pattern. Vary the starting length of each row instead of stepping every row by exactly the same amount.

Locking planks together:

Long side: Lift the new plank to about a 20 to 30 degree angle, push the tongue into the groove of the row above, and lower it flat. It should drop in with light pressure.
Short side: Once the plank is flat, tap it gently against its neighbour using the tapping block and mallet.

Tapping without damage:

Always use a tapping block. Hitting the plank edge directly will crush the locking profile and the joint will never close properly.
Tap lightly and repeatedly rather than hitting hard once.
Start tapping about 200 mm in from the plank end, not right at the tip.
If a joint will not close, stop. Something is caught. Lift the plank, check for grit or a damaged edge, and try again. Force breaks the lock.

Check as you go: Every three or four rows, sight down the length of the floor. Look for a joint creeping open or a row drifting away from the wall. Small errors compound. Fixing them now takes a minute, while fixing them at row twenty means lifting half the floor.

Keep a bag of planks or something heavy on the finished section to stop it sliding while you work.

Step 9: Cut Around Doorways, Pipes and Awkward Corners

Which way up should you cut?

The decorative face chips on the side where the blade exits.

Handsaw or miter saw: cut with the decorative face up.
Jigsaw or circular saw: cut with the decorative face down.
Laminate cutter: face up, and no dust at all.

Use a fine-tooth blade. A coarse blade will tear the surface layer no matter which way up you cut.

Door frames

Do not cut the plank to fit around the frame. Cut the frame instead so the plank slides underneath.

Lay a scrap of underlayment on the floor, then a scrap plank face down on top of it.
Rest a flush-cut saw or multi-tool flat on the plank and cut through the frame.
Vacuum out the debris and slide the finished plank into the gap.

Leave the expansion gap behind the frame. It stays hidden.

Pipes

Slide the plank into position and mark the pipe center on it.
Drill a hole about 20 mm larger than the pipe diameter.
Cut a straight line from the hole to the back edge of the plank, at a slight angle.
Fit the main plank, then glue the small offcut back in place behind the pipe.
Cover the join with a pipe collar.

Vents, thresholds and odd shapes

Make a paper or cardboard template first, then trace it onto the plank. It costs ten minutes and saves a ruined board.

Doorways between rooms

Stop the floor at the middle of the doorway, keep the expansion gap on both sides, and fit a transition strip or T-bar over it. If you are running the same floor through several rooms, do not click it through a narrow doorway in one continuous piece. That narrow neck is the first place a floor buckles.

Step 10: Fit the Last Row

The last row is usually too narrow to angle in, which is what the pull bar is for.

Lay a full plank directly on top of the last installed row.
Take a second plank, place it against the wall on top of that, allowing for the spacers.
Draw along its edge onto the plank underneath. That line is your cut line, and it already accounts for the gap.
Cut lengthwise with a jigsaw (face down) or a laminate cutter.
Slide the piece into place, angling it as far as the space allows.
Hook the pull bar over the far edge and tap the other end with a mallet to draw the joint closed.

If your wall is bowed, do not use one straight cut. Measure the gap at several points and scribe the plank to match the wall shape.

Step 11: Finish the Edges

Remove every spacer. Walk the perimeter and check twice. A forgotten spacer behind a radiator pipe is a common cause of a bulging floor.
Trim the underlayment and membrane back so it does not show above the floor.
Fit the skirting boards. Nail or glue them to the wall only, never into the floor. The floor has to be free to move underneath. The bottom edge of the skirting should just touch the floor without pressing down on it.
Or fit scotia beading if you left the skirting in place. Same rule: fix it to the skirting, not to the planks.
Fit transition strips at doorways and where the laminate meets tile, carpet or a different floor level.
Trim doors if needed. Take the door off, mark the amount to remove, and cut with the finished face up. Leave 3 to 5 mm clearance so it does not drag.
In kitchens and bathrooms, press a foam backer rod into the expansion gap and run a bead of 100% silicone over it before fitting the skirting. This stops spills reaching the plank edges.
Clean up with a vacuum, then a barely damp microfiber mop.

You can walk on the floor straight away. Many brands ask you to wait 24 hours before putting heavy furniture back.

Special Situations

Kitchens and bathrooms

Only use laminate rated as water-resistant or waterproof in these rooms, and follow the manufacturer’s wet-area method, which usually means sealing every perimeter gap with silicone. Standard laminate in a bathroom will swell at the joints within a year or two.

Do not install the floor underneath fitted kitchen units or a heavy island. Lay the floor up to them and leave the gap. Units sitting on top of a floating floor pin it down and cause buckling elsewhere.

Stairs

Laminate on stairs is not installed as a floating floor. Each tread is glued down and fitted with a stair nose profile. It is a different job with different tools and a much higher fall risk if done badly. If you are new to this, stairs are worth handing to a professional.

Underfloor heating

Only some laminate products are approved for underfloor heating, and generally only for water-based systems.

Check the product is rated for it before buying.
Use an underlayment with low thermal resistance.
Turn the heating off, or run it low, for 48 hours before, during, and 48 hours after installation.
Bring the temperature back up slowly over several days.
Never let the floor surface exceed the manufacturer’s limit, usually around 27°C.

Large or open-plan areas

Most manufacturers limit a single continuous floating area to somewhere around 8 to 12 meters in either direction. Beyond that, you need an expansion joint with a T-profile.

L-shaped rooms and long hallways that open into rooms also need a break at the narrow point. Check your instructions for the exact limits, because this is one of the most common causes of a buckled floor in villas and large open living spaces.

Apartments

Check your building’s rules on impact sound before choosing an underlayment. Some buildings specify a minimum acoustic rating for hard floors, and retrofitting after complaints means lifting the whole floor.

Laminate Flooring Installation Tips

Open and check every box before you start. Damaged locking edges are easier to deal with on day one than mid-row.
Set up your cutting station outside the room or on a balcony. Laminate dust travels.
Keep offcuts sorted by length. Anything over 300 mm will start a row.
Work with the light on. Angled daylight shows a lifting joint that overhead light hides.
Number the back of your skirting boards when you remove them so refitting takes minutes.
Cut a spare tapping block from a plank offcut. If your block wears out mid-job, an offcut with the groove facing the plank works.
Take a photo of the pipe and cable positions before you cover the subfloor. You will want it later.
Do not lay a floating floor across two rooms without a break at the doorway, even if the flooring visually continues.
Read the instruction sheet in the box. It overrides any general guide, including this one, and following it is often a warranty condition.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake	What happens	How to avoid it
No expansion gap	Floor lifts, peaks or buckles	Use spacers at every wall and fixed object
Skipping acclimation	Gaps or ridges appear weeks later	Wait the full 48 hours
Uneven subfloor	Bouncy spots, joints break open	Check with a 2 m straight edge, fill dips
No moisture barrier on concrete	Planks swell from below	Always use a membrane on any slab
Overlapping underlayment	Visible ridges underfoot	Butt the edges and tape them
Staggering less than 300 mm	Weak line across the floor, poor look	Stagger properly and vary the pattern
Hitting planks directly with a hammer	Crushed locking edge, joint will not close	Always use a tapping block
Nailing skirting into the floor	Floor cannot move, then buckles	Fix skirting to the wall only
Using only one box at a time	Repeating pattern is obvious	Mix planks from three or more boxes
Fitting kitchen units on top	Floor pinned down, lifts elsewhere	Lay up to units, not under them

How to Fix Problems After Installation

Small gaps appearing at the end joints. Usually caused by planks that were not fully tapped home, or by a floor laid before it acclimated. Try tapping the row closed with a tapping block from the edge. If the gap is only in the dry season and closes again later, it is normal seasonal movement.

Floor lifting or peaking in the middle. Almost always a blocked expansion gap. Remove the skirting and check the perimeter for spacers left in, a missed gap, or a screw through the floor. Also check whether a heavy unit is pinning it down.

Planks separating along the long edge. Often a subfloor dip under that spot. It may need lifting and levelling underneath.

Hollow or clicking sound underfoot. A low spot in the subfloor. Minor cases are cosmetic and can be lived with. Larger ones need lifting and filling.

Squeaking. Usually grit trapped under the underlayment, or a loose subfloor board that was never screwed down.

Replacing a damaged plank. In the middle of the floor, either unclick from the nearest wall back to the damaged board (tedious but clean), or cut the damaged plank out and glue a replacement in with the tongue trimmed off. This is exactly why you keep spare planks.

Caring for Your New Floor

Sweep or vacuum with a hard-floor head. Grit is what dulls the surface.
Mop with a barely damp microfiber mop and a laminate-safe cleaner. Never flood the floor.
Never use a steam mop. Steam forces moisture into the joints and swells the core.
Skip wax, polish, oil and abrasive cleaners. They are for other floor types.
Fit felt pads under all furniture legs and replace them when they wear thin.
Use a mat at every entrance. In dusty or sandy areas this makes a large difference to how long the surface stays sharp.
Wipe up spills quickly, especially near seams.
Try to keep indoor humidity somewhere in the 35% to 65% range. Constant air conditioning can dry the air enough to open joints slightly.

When Should You Hire a Professional?

Handle it yourself if the room is a simple rectangle, the subfloor is in good shape, and you have a weekend.

Get a professional in if:

The subfloor needs major levelling or has a moisture problem.
You are laying on stairs.
The layout involves many angles, curved walls or a lot of cutting around fixtures.
You are working over a heated slab.
The area is large enough to need expansion joints and you are unsure where they go.
Your product warranty requires professional installation. Some do, so read the terms first.

What Does It Cost?

Prices vary widely by brand, thickness and location, so treat any figure you read online as a starting point rather than a quote.

What drives the cost:

The flooring itself. Thickness (7 mm to 12 mm), the AC wear rating, and whether it is water-resistant all move the price significantly.
Underlayment. Basic foam is cheap. Acoustic and combination products cost several times more.
Subfloor prep. Leveling compound, tile removal or plywood packing can add meaningfully to a job.
Trims. Skirting, beading and transition strips add up faster than people expect on a multi-room job.
Tools. A one-off cost of a kit and a saw, or a rental fee.
Labour, if you are not doing it yourself, usually charged per square meter.

Doing it yourself typically removes the largest single line item, which is labour. Get at least two local quotes for comparison before deciding.

Final Checklist

Before you start:

Planks acclimated for 48 hours
Room emptied and old floor removed
Subfloor clean, flat within 3 mm over 2 m, and dry
Moisture barrier ready for concrete subfloors
Layout planned and both end row widths calculated
10 to 15% extra flooring on hand
Instruction sheet from the box read

While laying:

Spacers in place along every wall
Tongue facing the starting wall
End joints staggered at least 300 mm
Planks mixed from several boxes
Tapping block used every time

After:

All spacers removed
Skirting fixed to the wall, not the floor
Transition strips fitted at every doorway
Silicone sealed in wet areas
Spare planks stored somewhere safe

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to lay laminate flooring?

Around 4 to 8 hours of laying time for an average 20 m² room, plus 48 hours of acclimation beforehand and time for removing the old floor. Large open-plan areas take two days or more.

Do I need underlayment for laminate flooring?

Yes, unless your planks already have a pad attached to the back. On any concrete or tiled subfloor you also need a moisture barrier, either as a separate sheet or built into the underlayment.

Which way should laminate planks face?

Lay the tongue side towards the starting wall and the groove side facing into the room. For direction, run planks along the longest wall or towards the main window.

How big should the expansion gap be?

Usually 10 to 12 mm around the entire perimeter, including door frames and pipes. Larger rooms need more. Check the figure on your product’s instruction sheet.

Can I install laminate flooring over tiles?

Yes, if the tiles are firmly bonded, flat, and clean. Fill deep grout lines with levelling compound first, use a moisture barrier, and check that doors will still open.

Can I install laminate over carpet?

No. Carpet and underlay are too soft. The planks will flex and the locking joints will fail. Remove them.

Do I have to remove the skirting boards?

Not necessarily. Removing them gives a cleaner finish, but you can leave them in place and cover the expansion gap with scotia beading instead.

How much extra laminate should I buy?

Add 10% to your room area for waste, or 15% for rooms with lots of angles, doorways, or a diagonal layout.

Can one person install laminate flooring alone?

Yes. Most rooms are a one-person job. A second person mainly speeds up cutting and helps with long planks in large rooms.

How soon can I walk on the floor?

Straight away. Many manufacturers ask you to wait around 24 hours before moving heavy furniture back.

Why is my laminate floor lifting after installation?

The most common cause is a blocked expansion gap, either because the gap was too small, a spacer was left in, or something heavy is pinning the floor down. Second most common is moisture from below on a concrete slab.

What is the difference between laminate and vinyl plank flooring?

Laminate has a wood-based core with a printed and sealed surface layer. Vinyl plank is plastic through the whole thickness. Vinyl handles water better, while laminate usually feels harder underfoot and often has a more realistic surface texture. The installation method for click vinyl is similar to laminate.

Can laminate flooring go in a bathroom?

Only water-resistant or waterproof grades, installed with the perimeter gaps sealed with silicone as the manufacturer specifies. Standard laminate will swell.

What is the easiest mistake to make?

Getting the last row width wrong. Work out both end rows before you lay the first plank, and trim the first row if the last row would end up as a thin sliver.