I’m a big fan of laminate flooring, no bones about it. It’s inexpensive, easy to work with, and is available imitating almost any natural wood species you could imagine.
I wrote an article on installing laminate back in July, 2007, shortly after being promoted to feature writer for the home renovation/repair topic at Suite101.com. I’ve got 177 articles posted there now, and from day 1, that article has been number one. Awesome.
That one article is currently garnering 444 page views per day, so yeah, I’d say there’s a whole lot of DIY going on. I followed up with an article on how to maintain these floors, but it doesn’t even come close. I can only speculate on what that’s saying.
This material does have it’s limitations, though. For example, since it’s a floating floor system, you can’t do anything to anchor it down. One reader asked me if she should lay the floor in her kitchen and then install the cabinets over them or the other way around.
I recommend the cabinets first and running the floor up to them. That way, the weight won’t impede floating, she’ll save on material, and future remodelling will be easier.
Last week, another reader clued me in on how he had solved the problem of installing bi-fold doors over laminate. First, use a trackless door (eliminates securing the track, which would impede floating.
Next, he figured out how to install the pivot bracket. Brilliant! Read how he did it.
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