Creating floating floors

Floating floors do not have to be glued or nailed to the floor underneath them. They are laid on an underlay, which is why they are so soft to walk on.

With proper preparation and planning you can surprisingly easy install a floating floor yourself. Material and colours depend on your personal preference – timber, bamboo or laminated flooring.

However, before creating your floating floor you must have in mind that floating floors are not suitable for wet rooms, such as kitchens, bathrooms or laundries, because any spilled liquid (e.g. dog water bowl, cooking spill)may rot the bottom layer.

If you have decided to lay the floor on your own, prepare for the installation. Measure the room to find the total area you will need to cover. If possible, buy a little more floorboards and underlayment foam to account for mistakes and patch-ups.

With a concrete subfloor, there is less insulation and a greater possibility of dampness. If your subfloor is concrete, use the measurements above to get the estimates of a wood subfloor needed to buy.

Check floor for unevenness. Fill in unlevel spots or grooves with floor-leveling compound and sand bumps if any. Then, vacuum the floor to remove dust.

Roll out the underlay which supports the floor and deadens sound. Lay it in a single layer and cut it with a utility knife. Seal the foam edges together with duct tape.

Normally, the direction floorboards run on is along the long wall of the room, which is also the easiest place to start, but you may prefer a diagonal layout.

Place spacers of about 7 mm around the walls to prevent cracking, because floating wood floor tends to expand and contract as a unit with temperature fluctuations.

Then, start first row with tongue facing wall, so it fits snugly against the spacer. Continue snapping the tongue-and-groove pieces of flooring together. Lock ends tightly together, tapping with a block and hammer.When you reach the end of a row, measure length of board required subtracting the spacer’s width and cut using a fine-toothed handsaw.

Continue with the next row by attaching tongues to grooves. To strengthen the durability of the floor cut the first piece of flooring of your next row so that the end-joints don’t fall along the same plane.

When finished with covering the whole room, be sure to remove the spacers from the edges of the walls.Cover up the gap by installing shoe molding along the entire perimeter of the wall

Finally, cover join between floating floor and any other floor coverings with a metal cover strip.

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