Can You Put Laminate Over Hardwood – Did you find concrete subfloors under your floor? In this step-by-step tutorial, you will be taught how to install concrete slabs on concrete.
One of the things we wanted to do during our new boho living room was to replace the floor. We have old carpet in there that was installed before we moved in.
Can You Put Laminate Over Hardwood
We’ve been going through the house and removing carpet as often as we can – including refinishing these hardwood floors and installing new hardwood floors in our bedroom so like the originals.
Preparing Subfloor For Laminate Flooring Installation
The living room is connected to the kitchen and bathroom. Both rooms have laminate flooring.
When we removed the concrete in the girls’ nursery we found hardwoods – we were very careful with the removal. We knew that one day, we wanted to add concrete floors to our living room and get rid of the carpet.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to install a concrete floor, and more specifically, how to install a concrete floor on concrete. Our living room is a converted garage (that’s what we thought) so the basement floors are concrete – unlike the rest of our home, which has small wooden floors.
This is how to install concrete floors on concrete courses that contain links, but nothing that I can’t say wholeheartedly. Read my full story here.
Laminate Vs. Hardwood Flooring: Which Is Right For Your Home?
Before jumping into the step-by-step tutorial, let’s go over some frequently asked questions
Yes, concrete floors can be installed on concrete and this is the method we show you in our tutorial. Laminate flooring can be installed on flat and level floors, including wood sub-floors, hardwoods, tiles, concrete and more. It is not recommended to install a concrete floor on a soft material, such as a carpet, because it does not provide enough support for the floor.
Installing laminate flooring is a very easy do-it-yourselfer and a great project for the everyday homeowner. Very little equipment is required. However, it is a little hard on your body with all the up and down movements and kneeling on your knees.
If you are trying to decide whether you should try to install a concrete floor yourself or pay for it, you are wondering how much it will cost to hire one. Although this varies greatly, the national average is $3-$8 per square foot (including labor and materials).
How To Install Laminate Flooring Like A Pro
So, for example, our living room is 400 square feet. At a cost of $7/sf (the high end of the average since we’re including a “cool” sign and type of concrete), it would cost about $2,800 to hire someone to install the concrete floors in our living room. . On the other hand, we would have spent about $1,500 on furniture if we were buying all the flooring for our room and doing it DIY – so that’s a savings of over $1,000 ( #worthit ).
Actually, we spent that because we were able to reuse the old concrete floors that we removed from another part of our house when we found the original floors and decided to refinished hardwood floors in our girls nursery and hallway. We very carefully removed the laminate flooring and carefully stored it in the closet until we were ready to install it in the living room.
Yes, you definitely need insulation when installing laminate flooring over concrete (or any other surface, for that matter). Laminate is a “floating floor” which means it is not nailed or glued to the surface. The underlay provides stability and support for the floor to slide and helps reduce noise and absorption. The insulation we used provides moisture protection (important on a concrete sub-floor) and allows air circulation to prevent mold and bacterial growth.
This is a preference, but we believe that the concrete floor should be installed so that it runs parallel to the longest wall in the room. However, if there are wood or concrete floors installed in other areas of your house and the room is connected, it is better to arrange the direction of it so that it does not change. Every room in your house should have a floor in the same direction.
Choosing Laminate Flooring For Your Living Room
To install the first row of laminate flooring in your room, you need to cut the tongue of the side that goes to the wall. The tongue should come out with a simple utility knife. You will need to add spacers between the first row of concrete and the wall. This helps to provide the necessary expansion gap around the perimeter of the room.
To cut the laminate board to length we use a miter saw. We used a sander to cut the wide laminate floor (for the last row of the room). You can get a concrete floor cutter like this to cut concrete quickly and easily without going back to your saw.
Although I’ve seen some resources online that say you need to attach concrete slabs to the bottom, it’s not recommended. A “floating” laminate floor should be installed with an expansion gap around the room, allowing the laminate to expand and contract over time and temperature changes.
Measure the length and width of the room and multiply the numbers to determine the square footage of your room. Measure the areas where the floor will roll (such as a fireplace, tile entry, etc.) and subtract those areas from your square footage. Finally, add an extra 10% to your final square footage to allow for waste and cropping.
How To Install Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring
You may notice in our video that there are some small children around, they also help to install concrete slabs on concrete! We chose to do this home improvement project on a weekend when the kids are at home because it’s a great family project!
Our children have grown up watching us update it over the years so they are used to the same content. Whenever we can get them involved in the process, we jump at the chance (and they love to help)!
Installing a concrete floor is a family-friendly project because it does not involve any electrical equipment or harmful chemicals, making it safe for children and noise-free.
Every time you install the tablets, you must carefully adjust the unopened product in the room before installing for 48 hours. This is especially important if your tablet has been shipped to you (because it has become unmanageable during transport) or is sitting in your garage waiting to be installed (again, the temperature uncontrolled).
Leftover Laminate? 5 Fun Projects You Can Do
We chose to remove our baseboards instead of removing the carpet and painting the room itself. Chances are the floor + subfloor will not be the same height as the old carpet, so it’s better to remove it and start fresh!
To remove the boards, cut the top line with a utility knife, then use a scraper to remove the board. Write it back if you plan to use it again when you download it.
If you don’t want to remove your boards, you can simply add spacers to the side of the boards for the expansion gap. Once the board is done, you can remove those spacers, fill the gap with foam backing, cover it with 100% silicone sealant and then add a quarter circle section over the gap.
To remove your carpet, cut it down with a utility knife and turn it over to remove. Remove the carpet from under the carpet, maybe glue it down and ask them to scrape it yourself. Finally, wrap the rug around t
he room.
Laminate Vs. Solid Hardwood Flooring: Which Is Better?
If your concrete floor goes under the door frames, you may want to cut those boards to allow the floor to slide under the door frame and frame.
If your sub-floor has any bumps or dips you will want to get rid of those before installing your concrete floor. It is important that the surface is smooth and flat for the laminate to be installed.
You can apply floor sealing compound to the sinks and let them dry before moving on.
Be sure to use a ShopVac during installation and clean all dust and debris from the concrete immediately before putting the floor down.
Installing Wood Flooring Over Vinyl Flooring
Cut the overlap on the first row of underlayment and roll it in the direction you will install the concrete floor. Make sure the baseboard goes up the wall about 2 inches (you’ll cut off the excess later).
We only had one row when we loaded the bottom layer, adding new rows as needed. Use the skin overlap and sticky side when adding a new line of the layer. No seam tape is needed between rows where the skin and wood overlap, but seam tape should be added between the joints of
Can you put vinyl laminate over tile, can you put hardwood over carpet, can you put vinyl flooring over hardwood, can you put hardwood over concrete, can you put laminate flooring over carpet, can i put laminate over hardwood, can you put hardwood over tile, can you put laminate flooring over hardwood, install laminate over hardwood, installing laminate over hardwood, can i put laminate flooring over hardwood, can you put engineered hardwood over tile