Today, laminate flooring is one of the most popular flooring for consumers. It is warm, beautiful, economical, easy to style.
Installation of the laminate can be carried out on almost any basis: concrete slab, plank or
parquet floor, linoleum and even on pile cover (but the length of the pile should not exceed 5 mm). You can lay the laminate along the walls or at an angle to them.
It is used indoors and with normal, and with increased to 90% humidity. In the latter, a moisture-resistant laminate and an adhesive compound are used. When installing the laminate on an existing wooden floor or parquet, it is better to use perpendicular laying of the laminate board in relation to the floor boards.
Before installing the flooring from the laminate, it is necessary to withstand it in the room where the installation will be carried out, in the package for at least 2 days.
Installation of the laminate begins with an examination of the base, the irregularities of which should not exceed 4 mm by 2 m in length and which should be horizontal. In the case of more significant deviations or non-horizontalness, the basis should be prepared. Concrete - pour a self-leveling solution. Wooden - sand and replace deflection boards.
It is possible to lay the laminate on mineral bases, but it requires such a device to thoroughly vapor barrier with a plastic film, the panels of which are lapped (up to 20 cm).
For any reason, noise insulation or a backing made of eco-friendly cork or foam polyethylene is laid . The substrate and the laminate are laid perpendicular to each other.
Installation of the laminate is usually carried out from the left corner of the room from the window (joints are less visible joints along the long wall. Almost the entire laminate has lock joints (collapsible or latches), which makes its installation very simple. The next board is brought to the already mounted one, its spike is inserted into the groove lying down and the board is lowered. There is a click - everything is ready. Between the extreme boards of the laminate and the wall, a thermal gap of 10-12 mm is sure to be left so that during further operation the coating does not swell.
From the end side, at an angle of about 30 degrees, the next panel is inserted into the groove and latched, pressing it to the floor.
End seams in adjacent rows should be shifted by 30-40 cm, i.e. staggered. This will evenly distribute the pressure on the panel. Installation of the laminate is carried out in a "floating" way - the panels are attached to each other, but not attached to the base.
Quite often there is a need to put such a coating directly on the floor. Is it possible? Laying laminate flooring on the floor is possible and quite common. And in this case, it all starts with the preparation of the foundation. Not very large defects of the existing parquet are eliminated by a grinder. Shaky planks are glued or nailed, cracks, cracks are puttied. If the deviations are significant, and it is not possible to dismantle the parquet, sheets of plywood (on the level) are laid on top and fixed with self-tapping screws or nails. Then the substrate is spread out, the laminate is laid and fixed with a plinth.