Little-Known Secrets of Laminate Floor Installation

There are some aspects of laminate floor installation that aren't always obvious when the experts breeze through it on TV.

1. It is NOT a one-person job! Even in a small room, a row is likely to consist of at least 2 or 3 sections of plank, and these short joints all need to be supported while the row is being locked into the previous row.
2. Unless you are using high-end laminate, the tongue and groove system which holds the whole system together is made of fiberboard, which is essentially pressed cardboard.
3. The small print on the package will say that each piece of laminate plank is good for 6 repositions.  This can sound like a lot, but if things aren’t coming together, you can easily use up your 6 tries.
4. When you’ve overworked the interlock, often the tongue or groove of a plank will shear off, rendering the plank useless.  These planks can sometimes be saved, however, by carefully reattaching the sheared-off lip with wood glue and letting it dry overnight.
5. If you run just a few inches short on the underlayment fabric, you can avoid going out to buy more for just that little space by substituting newspaper folded to the thickness of the underlayment. They shouldn't be more than a few inches wide.