66L72

How much should it cost to lay 305 square feet of Krono snap together laminate flooring. Is it something I should tackle myself . Floating floor, no glue or nails..........? perfect rectangle room 23.5x13'

Just curious if anybody might have done this.

cheers
bob

Gr8BigC

23.5x13'? That's an odd shape for a garage.

Cost? No clue what it is today as I put laminate into my first place back in 2003/2004. Cost shouldn't be that bad, and make sure to get decent underlay/underpadding. Without anything under the laminate makes the floor more forgiving if you're going to be standing a lot in the room. So long as you do not have drastic changes in elevation you'll be fine.
(I swore my condo floor must have been poured right before everybody left for the weekend as it was uneven all over!)

As for it being a do-it-yourself job? Definitely! With no nails, and no glue just get within 1/4" of the walls (for expansion), after a couple rows the flooring won't move when you connect the rest of the pieces. Finally, keep track of the pattern. With laminate you'll end up the same pattern, so take the time to make sure you don't have the same piece right beside each other.

Dodosmike

Yep, its a do it yourself kinda job. If you have cutoff/mitre saw and/or table saw it'll help with getting the end pieces the right length and the last row along the wall the right width.

When I did my floor I had 3 room, 10x10, 12x9 and 12x11 and 5 doorways. I started at "door one" and ran it "WITH" my line of sight, right through the 10x10 and through the 12x9 room door right to the far wall. No "orientation seams" at any of the doorways, straight runs into the rooms. This involved a bit more cutting on my part, but I like the look of it better.

Determine which way you want the floor to run, and go for it.
Use the foam type underpad as mentioned above.

Remove door trim if you can, it'll make life easier. Use a wooden paint stir stick (or 2 or 3) as spacers to keep the floor away from the wall, also as mentioned above. A dead-blow hammer will also make the job easier.

Make SURE you cut the flooring outside, Laminate gives off one H3LL of alot of dust! Trust me, you thank youself later!.

dodosmike

Airwilf

Re the post above: I did both upstairs & downstairs of our place-basically anywherethere was carpet.Home Depot/Rona etc sell a small back sawthat is designed to cut close to the floor for cutting door jambs & trim.Not expensive & saves removing the trim.Just my .02 worth,& yes,go for quality underpadding.

66L72

Thaks for the feedback guys. Much appreciated.

Dodosmike

PICS

and let us know how it turns out.

dodosmike

VETFEVER

If it's in a basement you need to take other precautions...

WATTACAR

As with most things you normally get what you pay for... Any reasonable installer will normally be about $2/sf. Possibly a bit less if the room is as easy as you say. The Krono products are not really known for their ease of installation, but with anything, you will usually find a groove with it. If you do decide to do it yourself, do yourself a huge favour and get one of the installation kits with the tapping block and pull bar. They are less then $20.00 and will save you a ton of time, chipped boards and curse words. As mentioned above, don't skimp on the padding. The #1 complaint with laminate is the clicky hollow sound it gives off. A good pad will resolve that. If it is over concrete it is imperative that you use an underlay with a built in vapor barrier, or at least use a 6mm poly sheet under it. Its really not a difficult thing to do but it will take a bit of time if you you don't it every day...

timmmmay

Here's much more cost-effective version of "dricore" stuff from the HD http://retail.armtec.com/en-ca/Produ...-Subfloor.aspx... If you're just putting laminate in the basement, this gives a great barrier for moisture, and gives room for airflow.

It'll be going down in my basement when the floor goes in.

Dodosmike

I did the dri-core thing under my floor. WELL worth the $ and the time to do it. Make sure there is VERY little or NO vertical movement of the panels. I found it was easier to install the second row of panels and shim them as I installed the 3rd row, if that make scense to anybody. Ive got pics somewhere!. Again, cut outside, dead blow hammer and a 3 ft chunk of 2x4 to install. Start with the tounge against the wall. If you can try NOT to have a dricore seam near a doorway for a room that your not laying flooring in, like a furnace room or utility room, that way you cant catch a foot or sock on the seam....and drop your wife's birthday cake on the floor, you'll thank me later.

HUmmmmmm cant find the dri-core install pics,,, but here is some of the floor I put on top.




Standing in "door 1, looking at doors #3 & #4. #2 & #5 are to the left and right, out of the frame.
You can see here that the floor runs in the same direction in all the rooms, "with" line of sight, as opposed to "across" the line of sight.




If I can do it, anybody can. BTW, that SAFE is one heavy "*****", even empty! Its on a chunk of upside down cheapy area rug so it can be slid anywhere on the floor, should I ever have the desire to move it, Don't know why I would, but I was thinking ahead I guess!

dodosmike

Dodosmike

You'll still need to cover with plywood or chipboard if your installing vinyl or carpet or hardwood. Laminate you can float right over top.
Plus if your putting a pool table or something heavy on the floor you'll need a wood subfloor under it.

Looks fairly simple to use. Might use this for the other half of the basement when we re-renovate in a couple years....thanks for the link.

dodosmike

timmmmay

Yeah - for anything other than floating floor, the plywood is needed. My local HD flooring guy showed it to me - as an alternative. While my basement floor is bone dry - I'm still going to use it, just to err on the side of caution.

66L72

It's all down. Took about 6 hours total. No problems at all. As was mentioned above....if Ican do this anyone can!

Thanks again for all the tips and info

VETFEVER

I bought a very similar product at RONA - it was grey in colour, nice wide rolls - way more cost effective than dri-core....