Folks, I know I've asked some questions regarding laminate flooring. I now have the materials, well most the materials at hand and I'm rather anxious to get started. However, I'm also in need of some answers to some additional questions because the last thing I want to do is get into this and screw things up and start wasting materials or find I've just made some stupid mistakes that makes my life more difficult in the end. So, with that said, here are my questions and any help would be appreciated.
1. I have been told that I do not necessarily have to remove the baseboard. I may in fact already have space to slide the piece of laminate underneath. If this is the case, it would be rather difficult to keep the quarter-inch gap necessary around the area. Now the other option I was told is I could just go up to the baseboard, but this idea isn't so hot in my opinion since if you ever have to remove the baseboard, it would make it a bit more challenging to remove it, but then you would have that gap so maybe it wouldn't' be so bad. However, of course your baseboard will be a little shorter, but with a 12-mil piece of laminate, maybe that wouldn't be so noticeable. Any thoughts? 2. I've looked carefully at the doorways I'll encounter along the way and one thing that made me also feel that removing the baseboard would make since is to bring the laminate up as close as possible to the wall. This would mean there would be less gap to deal with as I have a jamb saw to undercut the door casing and fit the laminate in close. Does this make sense? 3. Additionally I've been trying to picture in my mind the way I'll lay the transition strips, whether it'll be a reducer, T-molding, or end-cap. My understanding is that it's all personal choice so here's what I'm thinking. Please excuse my lack of knowledge of door terms. The part of the door I guess you call it the door jamb, is the piece that is mid-way in the frame and is the piece the face of the door butts up against when closed. If my name for this piece is correct, what makes sense to me is that I would push the laminate up to that point so it's tight and put my track on the floor so it sits I guess square with the jamb. This would mean when the door is closed, you would see the edge of the end-cap or reducer, whatever is needed to make a clean transition between the carpet and laminate. If that isn't correct, would I then instead put the transition strip so it sits in front or behind the jamb or does it matter. From what I can tell, the carpet is cut so it fits around the door casing and jamb, but I don't want to get into notching the laminate if I can help it. 4. Now for the nose-cap or the cap that goes on the edge of the steps. My understanding is that I take the laminate up to the edge of the steps and just put the track on the edge of the step and put the cap on. So, basically the laminate would come up to about 3/8 from the edge because the track is about 3/8-inch and of course I need enough room for the track. Does this sound about right? I guess all this concern is that with the door casings and stairway openings, it's hard to picture how all this will fit and how much undercutting of what it'll take to bring everything into line. If anyone has done this and dealt with all this end-cap, and other stuff, and wouldn't mind sharing some info, it would be really appreciated. I wish I knew someone who had this stuff in so I could go look at it and get a feel for what it should look like. tnx Scott Howell [EMAIL PROTECTED]
