Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Quick install question.

Hello all,

I am in the planning stages of installing laminate in a living room with a joining hallway. One side of the hallway is a common wall with the living room.

Currently there is carpet in the LR, HW and joining bedrooms. I will be removing baseboards and installing new.

I believe i will start against the longest wall which is the hallway / LR common wall. My question is this:

If I just lay a row against the starting wall (which has three door ways) and undercut the door jams, the first row will not really go into the door way enough to tie in with carpet in middle of doorway. Do I rip a 2-3 inch strip the width of the door way to click to the row against the wall to bring the floor far enough into the doorway?

Does that make sense? In other words, if I just laid the first row and didn't do anything in the doorways, I would have to bring the carpet out to the edge of doorway to tie in. That doesn't seem right.

thanks and hope that's clear as mud!

Marshall

I'm not a professional expert, however, I have installed several thousand SF of laminate in my home. If I understand your question, you're trying to figure out how to get the laminate to extend into the doorway opening to reach the neighboring room's carpet, hardwood, etc. If you cut the first plank into a "T" shape, the top part of the "T" will reach into the doorway to the adjoining floor coverings. Make sure that you undercut the door jambs so that the cut sides of the "T" will be hidden beneath the jambs and their trim, (maked as "J" below).
_______________
________J| doorway |J____________
| |
| |
|____________________________________|

I'm not much of a computer draftsman, I hope my above attempt at drawing helps explain this. Also, I assume that you are using some type of transition molding to cover the top edge of the "T" where it meets the other room's floor covering. Most of these transitions (from the laminate flooring mfr.) use a "U" channel that the molding snaps into. You will have to measure and calculate this into how far the top of the "T" should reach into the doorway. I hope this helps. Joe E

Yes, that does make sense.

But, if I cut the planks that were going into a doorway like a "T", then every other plank on that wall would have to ripped so it came out the same distance from the wall as the "T" piece correct?

not a big deal I suppose, just making sure we're on the same page.

I'm doing only about 400 sf, but with about 5 doors, some carpet transitions, some tile transitions, going around a fireplace hearth, going around some built in bookcases..........the job is looking pretty daunting.

Yes, you're correct that all of the other planks in the row that has the "T" piece(s) would have to be ripped down so that their back edge (edge farthest from the doorway) would line up with the back edge of the "T" piece(s). That is, if the planks are running parallel to the doorway. I had to do this where I had several doorways in my hallway. Remember to make the top part of the "T" a little wider than the actual door jamb (left-to-right) so that the cut edges of the "T" will be hidden beneath the undercut door jamb and its molding. It just hit me that I've been referencing "T" and it is really more like an upside down "T", where the skinny vertical part of the "T" is what fits into the doorway, and the horizontal part of the "T" is the rest of your plank. I hope this makes sense. Don't under-estimate how important preplanning is on a flooring job. Where and how you start directly affects how and where you end up! You are doing the right thing to think this all through before you start cutting and laying planks. I'm sure your flooring mfrs instructions also advise you to verify the room dimension from the starting edge of the first plank to the ending edge of your last plank, to make sure that your last plank doesn't wind up being too small. Be sure to factor in the "T" part that extends into your doorways. Joe E

joe:

Thanks a million.