Hi Scott, You more or less have it right.
Usually you lay the flooring in the long direction of the room or hall or space you are flooring. That is, the long direction of the boards go in the long direction of the room. You don't want the ends to match so you stagger their joints. A common way to do this is to begin in one corner, lay a full length and continue cutting the last board in that course to fit then take the scrap end back to the beginning of the next row and make that the first board in that row. This should more or less randomize the end joints which is best for strength, appearance and stability. At door openings you just carry on within your pattern. If the job begins with a door opening I will usually work beyond the opening then go back and fill it in. You should leave a little gap all around the room however I have discovered that there can be a little problem with that to. The idea is to allow for differential expansion and contraction usually of the sub floor since most of these are composites and don't distort much in dimension except maybe thickness if they get wet. What can happen though is that small cracks open in the boards or tiles and they become increasingly visible as dust and other grime get into the cracks. While they shouldn't open up they apparently sometimes do. Having discovered this I would suggest stuffing a thin strip of something a little compressible between the edges of walls and tiles.Probably one really only needs a small fraction of an inch anyway. At transitions you would usually apply a strip, often a metal threshold to span the difference. there are many types, the sort with tackless to hold the underside of the carpet which may or may not be bent over the edge of the carpet, some will be a slightly bent length of metal with a slope you can simply screw down over the seam between the carpet edge and the edge of the floor so neither will wear badly. Be aware though that most of these laminate floors have some amount of particle board in their core. If moisture gets into the seam it will cause that particle board to swell. Small amounts will just make a raised seam, more will produce separation of the laminations.Usually a quick wipe up will prevent the problem but you need to see it and get it nearly immediately. Hope this is helpful. ----- Original Message ----- From: Scott Howell To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 5:32 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] snap together flooring Folks, I've read several bits of info etc. on this list regarding the flooring that you need no glue, screws, and the like, or at least I've read about folks doing flooring projects. So, I guess my question is simply this. My understanding with regard to the click together or snap together flooring is that you do the following. Now, for the sake of argument, you have a ten by ten room. You get your pieces which are lets say 55 inches a piece. I assume it doesn't matter which way you lay the wood, but something tells me you'd want to lay the pieces parallel to the doorway. Then you take your first 55 inch piece, lay that within a quarter inch of the wall, then you take a shorter piece and butt that against the piece you just laid down. So, basically you have for the sake of argument, a 55 inch piece with lets say a 35 inch piece butted against it. You keep working your way across the room and butt these pieces such that you have a 55 inch piece with a 35 inch piece next to it. This is so for every long piece you lay, you put the short one next to it so thelong and short pieces are alternating across the room. Apparently there are some spacers you place along the edge of the room I assume that holds stuff in place? In any even, does this sound right and then how do you deal with a doorway. how do you typically deal with a transition from carpet of a bedroom to the flooring in a hall or at the top of a flight of stairs? Any advice appreciated. My wife and I have discoverd that with 3 dogs, the trouble of keeping the carpet clean and paying someone to come once a year and really get it clean is better served by putting in the flooring. Apparently you can get some that is pretty durable and will tollerate the dogs nails well. Of course we keep the nails trimmed, but they do run on occation around the house. Luckily for me not often, they'd really tear the place apart. tnx Scott Howell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.3/1354 - Release Date: 4/1/2008 5:38 AM [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
