Using Laminate Floor Underlayment

When installing laminate flooring you will have to inspect the surface that it will be installed over and decide if it is an appropriate surface to install over or if you need to apply a laminate floor underlayment. While the laminate floor manufacturers say that their flooring product can be installed without any surface prep or additional work you must use common sense when evaluating you the surface you intend to install your flooring over.

When you install your laminate floor underlayment you will need to make absolutely sure that no nail heads are sticking up or that any adhesive was allowed to dry on the surface. These two situations will cause a severely uneven floor and high nail heads may even cause the floor to rise in spots. Many flooring contractor use screws to secure the laminate floor underlayment to avoid this potential problem. You must also make sure that after the install the new sub flooring is swept clean of all dirt and debris, dirt can actually make its way up onto the floor over time causing an annoying dust problem that may last a long time. When you install your underlayment try and make sure the largest joints will run opposite the laminate flooring joints, this will guarantee that there will be no laminate floor joints directly over a sub flooring joint. If this happens an uneven floor could result after settling and shifting occurs. After the final installation of the new sub floor it should be level with no low spots to affect the final look of the laminate floor installation.

Numerous material can be used as a laminate floor underlayment and the most common are thinner fiber boards and plywood. Thinner material works best on floors that just need to be leveled out and if holes need to be covered then But whatever material you choose make sure that the floor you will be installing over is flat and free from low spots or other damage and the material you choose was appropriate for the job.

Learn more about Wood laminate flooring and be sure and read all our laminate floor care articles that are available Here

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