How To Flatten Laminate Flooring

My laminate floor is not laying flat by chris deziel the subfloor under a laminate floor has to be level.

How to flatten laminate flooring.

Because fiberboard swells when it gets wet a wet laminate board pushes against the one next to it. Use a wooden block to tap the next row of boards into the first. Therefore it is crucial to take precautions to prevent buckling. Unfortunately if it is difficult to pull up the laminate you may need to remove the sub floor in order to ensure a flat surface to work with when installing the new floor.

It is the responsibility of the flooring installer to assess and address substrate flatness before installation. When nailing down a wood floor the subfloor should be flat to within 1 4 in 10 or 3 16 in 6. Installation of a wood floor over the subfloor insinuates acceptance by the flooring installer. Laminate flooring provides an affordable and eco friendly alternative to standard hardwood.

Buckling laminate flooring is easy to fix if you know how to do it. Since it is a floating floor the planks tend to contract when it is cool and expand when it is warm. Laminate floors aren t the same as nail down hardwood floors. Hold the block securely with your left hand and hit the block with a hammer in you right hand.

If the laminate flooring. Don t panic we ll show you how to fix it. Buckling occurs when laminate flooring does not have enough space to contract and expand with temperature changes. Rather than fasten laminate to the subfloor installers connect the laminate planks together and float.

If the floor was installed properly there is an expansion gap around the perimeter than can absorb some of the movement but if the gap isn t there or if the baseboards are nailed to the floor instead of the wall the floor can t expand and swollen edges have no place to go but up. Is your laminate floor rising up.