Laminate flooring living room and dining room

[Andyc192]

It's gonna sound daft and I know I've put this flooring down before but small square rooms... I just done want to mess up.

Just wondering were is best to start from? If you can make it out in the picture I'm doing to rooms the same laminate as they are both open plan. Do I start from the top left by the window in the small alcove or from the middle? Bearing in mind the first peice I lay will be cut draught away. I also want to stagger the joints. Last time I messed up and most joints were bunches together in 1 area. ?? Help would be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Doggit]

I'd be inclined to start at the window at the bottom of the picture. Make sure you have at least a 300mm overlap on the joints. I take it you have spacers, and you'll be using quadrant to cover the gaps.

 

[Andyc192]

So anything less than 300 mm off cut is no good ??. Do I start by 1 side of the alcove and lay the next peice the other side of it ? . Yes I have spacers etc

 

[Doggit]

300 is the absolute minimum, but aim for 450 if you can. Start at the window wall, and work along it. You'll get to the end and have an offcut, but put that to one side for now. Start your next row, but aim to get the joins in the middle of each board on the first row, and this will give you more stability for the overlall floor. You'll have to waste half a board on the start of the second row, but you'll use that somewhere. The piece you cut off of the last board in each row, can be used as the start of the next row, as long as it give you your 300-450mm distance from a join on the previous row, and basically you continue to work each row in turn, selecting the best off cut (or cutting a new board) to get your joins staggered correctly. Keep in mind that it's best to have a bit more wastage than trying to keep it at a minimum, and that'll mean that you get the joins staggered better than you've done in the past.

Putting the spacers in along the window wall will allow you to give the boards a good wack so that they join tightly, but you can move the spacers allong the side wall down each row in turn so that you've got something solid to wack the boards against along each row.

There'll be a lot of videos on youtube to give you a more visual idea, but it's pretty straightforwad once you get going.

 

[Andyc192]

Thanks mate. I've done it now. Pretty proud of it.

 

[Doggit]

Well done, and best of luck on the next one.