How to Install Laminate Flooring | Step-by-Step for Beginners!

[00:00] In this video, I'm going to show you how

[00:01] to install laminate flooring step by

[00:03] step for beginners throughout a whole

[00:05] house. And if you're new to this

[00:06] channel, my name's Josh's all about DIY

[00:09] to save a ton of money. So, be sure to

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[00:16] this video. So, we got a lot to go over

[00:18] today. So, let's get started. Here's the

[00:20] laminate flooring that we'll be

[00:21] installing in this video. The great

[00:23] thing about this laminate flooring is it

[00:26] comes with the padding attached to the

[00:27] bottom. So you don't have to worry about

[00:29] placing it on the floor first. And this

[00:31] is by Stain Master. This can be found at

[00:34] Lowe's and I'll put a link to it in the

[00:35] description below if you want to check

[00:36] it out for yourself. And this stuff is a

[00:39] 12 mm thickness and it's also considered

[00:43] waterproof according to the packaging

[00:45] here. And it contains

[00:48] 23.69 square ft per package. So you can

[00:52] calculate your room's material by doing

[00:55] the length times width. add 10% and then

[00:58] that's going to give you how much square

[00:59] feet you need and then you can buy

[01:01] however many boxes it takes to get that

[01:03] square footage. So you already

[01:05] calculated your floor you're getting it

[01:07] delivered. Now what's the next step? The

[01:09] next step is going to be lay your

[01:11] flooring into the rooms that they're

[01:13] going to be installed and let them sit

[01:15] there for at least 48 hours. It allows

[01:18] the flooring to acclimate to the room's

[01:20] temperature and moisture content. So

[01:23] that way when you install it, it's not

[01:25] going to move as much. Let's say it came

[01:26] from a 50°ree truck and then it gets

[01:29] installed immediately. Well, it's going

[01:31] to expand once it starts warming up. So

[01:33] always let your flooring acclimate.

[01:35] Second thing, make sure you prep your

[01:37] floor. Clean it really well. Fill in any

[01:40] depressions in the floor with leveling

[01:42] compound or sand off any humps or bumps

[01:45] that's on the floor. You're going to be

[01:47] thankful later down the road for that.

[01:49] Then the next thing we need to do is

[01:51] pull from multiple packs of flooring as

[01:54] we install it. That way it blends the

[01:56] shades from different colors along with

[01:59] your basic carpentry tools. You're also

[02:01] going to need a tapping block, a pull

[02:04] bar, and spacers. And this came as a

[02:07] kit, and I'll put a link to it in

[02:08] description below. But this is

[02:10] everything you'll need to install

[02:12] laminate flooring as far as any

[02:14] specialized tools. And another thing

[02:16] you're going to want to purchase is a

[02:18] rubber mallet. This is going to be

[02:20] helpful whenever you're placing your

[02:22] laminate flooring together. So, you

[02:24] definitely need to purchase these things

[02:26] before installing your laminate

[02:27] flooring. I'm out here in the garage. I

[02:29] have my miter saw set up to do the cross

[02:32] cutting and I also have my circular saw

[02:34] to do the ripping and my oscillating

[02:37] tools here as well. So, that way I can

[02:39] cut out for floor vents and whatnot.

[02:42] This is where I like to do most of my

[02:44] cutting when I'm installing floor. That

[02:46] way, most of the dust is out here in the

[02:47] atmosphere instead of where I'm working,

[02:49] and it keeps the work environment

[02:51] cleaner. I first have to prepare the

[02:54] first piece of flooring by removing

[02:56] these sections that are on the back of

[02:59] the flooring where the padding is not

[03:01] exposed. This area is also not

[03:04] supported. So, we must remove this first

[03:06] before installing it for our first row

[03:09] only. So, I'm going to use the miter saw

[03:12] to cut this off and then use a circular

[03:14] saw to cut this lip off. The overhang on

[03:17] the short side on the first piece of

[03:19] flooring is the only piece that needs

[03:21] the short side removed. Using a circular

[03:23] saw, I'm going to use it to rip this

[03:25] edge off of the

[03:29] flooring. If you have the ability to get

[03:31] your hands on a table saw in order to

[03:33] rip down the pieces of flooring for your

[03:35] starters, you definitely should. It's

[03:38] really going to save a lot of time and

[03:39] it's also going to be helpful for the

[03:41] finishing up process too later on this

[03:43] video. So, this will definitely speed

[03:45] things up, but the circular saw is fine,

[03:47] but this is definitely what I prefer. I

[03:50] am outside making this cut, but it is

[03:52] recommended that you wear a dust mask

[03:54] when cutting the laminate flooring.

[03:56] Yeah, that's much quicker. You can see

[03:57] that the first piece is now square on

[04:00] the edge that's going to butt against

[04:02] the wall. And that's what we need to do

[04:04] to begin the flooring. Our first piece

[04:06] is to start at the left side of the room

[04:08] and work towards the right. And this is

[04:11] going to be something much easier to do

[04:13] if you have knee pads on. So, I highly

[04:15] recommend purchasing a set of knee pads.

[04:17] You will be thankful in the long run.

[04:19] And also, we have a few shims here to

[04:22] start out with. And I'm going to show

[04:23] you how to set this first one into place

[04:25] and how to mark out for this vent

[04:27] because we need a cutout for that as we

[04:29] go as well. When starting your first

[04:32] row, your drywall is either going to be

[04:33] up high enough to where the flooring can

[04:35] slide up under it, or it's going to be

[04:38] down low enough to where you can butt up

[04:39] against it. It's actually easier to

[04:42] start off of if the floor is able to

[04:44] butt up against the drywall because we

[04:47] can shim our 3/8 right off the drywall

[04:49] that way. But in this case, as you can

[04:52] see, because our floor is going to slide

[04:55] under it, which will give you a better

[04:58] finish lookwise, but it's going to be

[05:00] harder to space off of because our shims

[05:02] won't fit in there, right? So, what I

[05:04] found best to do here is just place our

[05:07] shim like so, and then just put it on an

[05:11] angle and butt up to it like that.

[05:14] That's going to give us our 3/8 inch

[05:16] gap. So, I'm going to do that at both

[05:18] sides here.

[05:20] I'm then going to take one and place

[05:22] that at the very end. Here we can shim

[05:25] off the drywall because our drywall is

[05:28] cleared down to the subfloor. To mark

[05:30] this floor vent that needs cut out, I

[05:32] need to mark the edges. I'm going to

[05:34] begin by marking this very edge here.

[05:38] And I know this is a 10x4 vent. I'm

[05:41] going to come over 10 in just to make

[05:44] sure we are cutting it at the right

[05:46] width.

[05:48] And take note that sometimes this duck

[05:50] work is not perfectly square or the

[05:52] perfect size. So always double check the

[05:55] actual measurement that you need here.

[05:58] And I know that this duct is for a 4x10

[06:01] vent. So because of that, I know I need

[06:04] to allow this much here whenever we cut

[06:07] this out is another 5/8. So whenever we

[06:11] mark our distance back here, we need to

[06:14] remember that 5/8 is still coming up out

[06:17] of here. I'm now going to take this out

[06:19] to the garage to cut it. This is one

[06:21] edge of the vent. Here is the other. I'm

[06:23] going to use a speed square and just

[06:25] make a square mark off that mark that we

[06:29] made while it was on the floor at both

[06:33] areas. I'm now going to allow the 5/8

[06:36] that we measured that's going to be left

[06:39] onto this side to be cut out. I'm going

[06:42] to mark right at 4

[06:44] in. Do the same over here.

[06:47] I'm going to use that to scribe a line.

[06:51] I'm now going to cut that out for the

[06:53] floor vent. I'm just going to use the

[06:55] circular saw to cut down each line and

[06:58] then oscillating tool to finish out the

[07:03] corners. To cut this out, a plunge cut.

[07:06] Or you could run your oscillating tool

[07:08] down the whole line, but it's going to

[07:10] be quicker to plunge cut.

[07:15] To finish out these corners, I'm just

[07:17] going to use the oscillating

[07:22] tool. And that's all there is to cutting

[07:25] out for the vent. I'm going to place

[07:26] this back where it was sitting. And

[07:28] again, we want 3/8 off the wall around

[07:31] all edges of the

[07:34] flooring. As you can see, the floor vent

[07:37] is cut out really nice. We're now going

[07:39] to continue running to the right side of

[07:42] the room. Notice the seam where the two

[07:44] subfloor rows come together. I can use

[07:47] that as a reference from this wall to

[07:50] make sure we are running square with the

[07:51] wall as we run our rows. I got 36 1/2 in

[07:55] off the tongue. And I checked this

[07:58] before we started. If I didn't have this

[08:00] seam to go off of, I could also just

[08:03] measure up 4 foot off each side of the

[08:05] room and chalk a line on the floor and

[08:07] use that as a reference line to go off

[08:10] of. So, as we're running our rows, we

[08:13] can make sure that they're running

[08:14] square with the wall. It's a good little

[08:17] tip. While pulling from a few open

[08:19] boxes, I'm going to take pieces and butt

[08:22] them tight to each other to get our

[08:24] total length. So, we can actually precut

[08:27] all of our starters. And that includes

[08:29] ripping off this back section. So, that

[08:32] way we don't have to run back and forth

[08:34] so many times. So, I'm just going to

[08:36] take this and butt it tight to this one.

[08:39] and then continue the run until we get

[08:42] to the wall so we can cut it. You could

[08:44] also take a measurement of the rest of

[08:46] the length of the row that you need.

[08:48] Then divide it by the length of the

[08:50] laminate flooring, which is a little

[08:52] over 50 in, to let you know how many

[08:54] full pieces you need to rip down to

[08:56] start your first row. Just so I'm very

[08:58] clear here, you only rip the long side

[09:01] off, not the short side for all the rest

[09:04] of them for your first row. The very

[09:07] first one, we had to rip this off as

[09:08] well because it was up against the wall.

[09:11] Just want to make sure that was very

[09:12] clear. In order to connect these

[09:14] together, it's very simple. I'm going to

[09:16] lift up the side that needs clipped into

[09:18] the one that's already existing on the

[09:20] floor. And then we're going to place

[09:22] pressure towards the one that's already

[09:25] on the floor. Then we're just going to

[09:27] lay it down. And it's going to hook

[09:29] together like so. And you can see here

[09:32] that it is not lined up together, which

[09:35] we want to make sure they are. We're

[09:37] going to use the tapping tool. And then

[09:39] we're going to lay it right against this

[09:40] edge. And then we're just going to tap

[09:43] it until it's

[09:47] flush. Okay. And that feels really good.

[09:50] And now again, if this seems like it's

[09:52] separated a little bit, we can take our

[09:53] tapping tool from the other side of the

[09:55] flooring to tap that a little tighter.

[09:57] If you do have to make the joint a

[09:58] little tighter, you could come from this

[10:00] end, tap it a couple times, and that'll

[10:03] tighten that joint right up. That looks

[10:05] really good there for our joint. Using

[10:07] more spacers, we're going to make sure

[10:09] that we are spaced appropriately from

[10:12] the

[10:14] wall. And it doesn't hurt to check with

[10:17] your tape measure to make sure you're

[10:19] running about the same off the wall if

[10:21] your wall is straight.

[10:24] I then rinsed and repeat that process

[10:26] until I get to the next one that needs

[10:28] cut. Something I like to do is put

[10:30] spacers close to the butt joint. That

[10:32] way, it helps keep that butt joint flush

[10:34] with each other at the front. So,

[10:36] whenever you do your next row, you're

[10:38] going to have less issues that way. With

[10:40] the first few pieces down, I'm going to

[10:42] double check to make sure I'm running

[10:44] parallel with the wall. Going to take a

[10:46] measurement here. And I got 36 1/2 in

[10:50] just like my starter. So, I know I'm

[10:52] running parallel, which is very

[10:53] important. And then our distance off the

[10:56] wall is still about 7 in. So, that's

[10:58] looking really good. And if you're

[11:00] wondering about how much coverage we get

[11:02] with each plank, each plank has a length

[11:05] of 50 and 5/8 inch. And the width is 7

[11:09] and 1/2. So, the exposure of 7 and 1/2

[11:12] will give you a lot of coverage per run.

[11:15] That's something I really like about

[11:16] this stain master flooring. This next

[11:19] piece has a vent in it. We need to cut

[11:21] that out. I'm just going to butt this

[11:22] right up to this piece. And now we have

[11:26] a place to go right off of to mark for

[11:28] our vent. Again, I'm going to mark right

[11:30] on the edge and then measure off 10 in

[11:34] to make sure we are going to be placed

[11:36] correctly. And that looks good. And now

[11:40] we can use our same measurement that we

[11:42] used on our first one because this wall

[11:45] has the same measurements for the vent

[11:47] like the first vent. So, that's going to

[11:49] be helpful. I can use my speed square

[11:52] and mark that exactly what the last one

[11:55] was with the distance off and then make

[11:57] a square line. Then do it here as well.

[12:01] I can then just scrub my

[12:06] line. And we also have this door jam we

[12:09] need to cut around. I'm going to measure

[12:12] off the pre-existing piece on the floor

[12:16] and then take off 3/8. That puts me at

[12:20] 38 and

[12:23] a4er. We're going to place that mark on

[12:26] the

[12:28] board. I'm going to measure the

[12:30] thickness here. And that's what we're

[12:32] going to have to take off so that we

[12:34] don't have this part hitting the door.

[12:38] That's 6 and

[12:40] 5/8. I'm now going to scribe that

[12:45] line. This needs cut out. And this needs

[12:48] cut

[12:51] out. All right, we're going to snap this

[12:54] into place and see what we

[12:56] got. So far, it's looking good. Now, I'm

[12:59] going to tap it

[13:01] back. And something you're going to

[13:03] notice, it's going to be a fight to keep

[13:04] this where it needs to be as you're

[13:06] tapping it. You just got to readjust the

[13:08] road that's already there. Just the

[13:10] nature of the

[13:12] beast. Everything looks good here. Here

[13:14] we got to place our spacers and continue

[13:16] the

[13:18] run. For the last piece of the run, I

[13:21] just got to get a total length and

[13:23] subtract 38 of an inch. And then we just

[13:25] got to cut it. Then cut around this

[13:27] door. And it's as simple as

[13:31] that. And this is the final piece in

[13:34] this row.

[13:39] Now that we are finished the first row,

[13:41] this is a scrap that was cut off in

[13:44] order to finish up this row. And this is

[13:46] going to be our starter for the second

[13:49] row. And a very important note here, if

[13:52] this scrap is shorter than 12 in, it

[13:55] cannot be used. It has to be at least 12

[13:58] in. If I take a measurement, we got 12

[14:02] and 3/4 in. So, this is perfect for a

[14:04] starter. And we want to make sure that

[14:06] it isn't too long to where we are within

[14:09] 12 inches from the joint. So let's say

[14:12] this piece was 45 inches. We'd only be

[14:15] about five inches away from the joint.

[14:17] That's too close. We'd have to cut it

[14:19] down. So that' be shorter. So we are

[14:21] going to use this as our starter for the

[14:23] second row. To install the first piece

[14:25] of the second row, it's just like we did

[14:27] with the first piece of the first row.

[14:29] We just got to space 38 inch off the

[14:32] wall using a spacer. and then just click

[14:35] it right into place. After snapping the

[14:37] second row into the first row, I take

[14:39] the tapping block and rubber mallet and

[14:42] tap it into the first row to seal up the

[14:44] joint. And we definitely have to cut

[14:46] around our vents to finish up this edge.

[14:49] To mark for the rest of this vent, I'm

[14:50] just going to lightly lay it into place

[14:53] and not click it down all the way. And

[14:55] then I'm going to mark the vents

[14:59] edge. And then we're going to pull that

[15:01] right back up. And I'm just going to get

[15:04] my total distance here. If we measure, I

[15:07] got about three and a half. So, we need

[15:10] to just take a half inch out of this in

[15:12] order to complete for our cut. And most

[15:16] floor vents, you can get away with a

[15:18] little bit bigger. Let's say 4 and 1

[15:19] eigh by 10 and 1 eigh because there's a

[15:22] flange that goes around the vent cover.

[15:24] And I'll show you that here in a

[15:26] minute. I'm going to cut this out. We

[15:29] now have the tongue here and the tongue

[15:31] here. we got to clip into. I find it

[15:34] best to clip it into the long side

[15:37] first. So, we're just going to place

[15:39] this together like we typically

[15:42] would. I'm going to tap in towards the

[15:46] first

[15:49] row. Now that we're snapped into this

[15:52] row, we need to tap it into this piece.

[15:56] So, we're going to go to this very end

[15:58] here. Going to take my tapping tool,

[16:00] place it right against this, and drive

[16:02] it towards that

[16:06] joint. And it has closed this joint up

[16:08] all the way. That's how you install the

[16:10] rest of the pieces in this row. So, you

[16:13] can see what the floor vent's going to

[16:15] look like when it's finished. If you set

[16:17] that into place, that gives us a nice

[16:19] finished look. And now we can control

[16:22] the airflow up out of the vent. to

[16:24] finish the rest of the second row and

[16:26] the remaining of the rows in this room.

[16:28] We literally rinse and repeat those same

[16:31] principles until we get up to the area

[16:33] where we intersect another room. And I'm

[16:35] going to show you what to do once we get

[16:37] to that point. Because I installed this

[16:39] over a subfloor that is dry, I did not

[16:41] need a vapor barrier. Now, if I was

[16:43] installing this over concrete, I would

[16:45] install a six mill vapor barrier first

[16:47] before installing this flooring. For

[16:49] this last piece, we'll have to use the

[16:50] pull bar to close up this joint. So, I'm

[16:52] going to show you how to do that. So,

[16:54] we're going to go ahead and snap it into

[16:57] place here. And now, we're going to use

[16:59] the pull bar. And this is going to lace

[17:01] back into this gap. We're going to take

[17:04] our regular hammer cuz it will tap

[17:07] better with a regular hammer versus the

[17:09] rubber mallet. I'm going to hold this

[17:11] end down. We're going to tap it to close

[17:13] up that

[17:15] gap. And you can see that closed up the

[17:17] gap really nice. And that last piece

[17:19] looks good. We need to make sure we put

[17:22] our spacers in here. If you have ever

[17:25] installed tile or hardwood floor, you

[17:27] will be amazed on how much quicker

[17:29] laminate flooring is compared to those

[17:31] products. Here's a word of advice.

[17:33] Whenever you get your first three rows

[17:35] done, check your reference line and make

[17:39] sure that you're running the same and

[17:41] that you're still parallel with your

[17:42] wall. And readjust your shims if you

[17:45] have to to make sure you're running

[17:47] correctly. because these first three

[17:50] rows move a lot while you're installing

[17:52] the flooring. And also, we're going to

[17:55] keep running this room. And if you have

[17:57] a helper, it's really good to have him

[17:59] hand you the pieces and cut them as you

[18:01] install them or vice versa. Two men will

[18:04] make this job go three times faster or

[18:06] two women. Just a good little tip. If

[18:08] you are enjoying this type of content,

[18:10] you may enjoy my free PDF. I'll put a

[18:12] link to it in description below. A quick

[18:14] way to mark the end to cut. Flip the

[18:16] tongue around to where tongue is facing

[18:18] the tongue of the previous row. Then

[18:20] mark for your 3/8 spacing and that's

[18:22] going to be where we cut

[18:23] [Music]

[18:32] it. We're up as far as we can go before

[18:35] we have to start this room. In order to

[18:37] start this room to line up with this

[18:39] room really well, it's a very simple

[18:42] process. I'm just going to take a full

[18:44] piece and I'm going to clip it in. And

[18:47] I'm not going to keep this as a final

[18:49] install, but we're just going to tap

[18:51] this into place for now and then do one

[18:53] at the other end of the

[18:55] run. I'm here at the very end of the

[18:58] run. We're just going to snap this

[19:00] in. I'm then going to mark the very edge

[19:03] here and then pull that back up. And

[19:07] this stuff unsnaps really easy if you

[19:09] have to, by the way. And then I'm going

[19:11] to take a nail and nail it right onto

[19:13] that mark. I'm now going to use my chalk

[19:16] line, hook to that nail, and I'm going

[19:19] to run it by that first piece that we

[19:21] installed at the other end of the run

[19:22] and continue it into the following room.

[19:25] I'm going to continue running the chalk

[19:27] line into this room. And we need to make

[19:30] sure that we go right by the tongue of

[19:33] the first piece we put

[19:36] down. And we're going to strike our

[19:39] line.

[19:40] As you can see, that gives us a great

[19:42] reference line to go off of to start our

[19:44] first row. I can now take up the first

[19:47] piece we put down. I now need to

[19:49] calculate how far to measure off this

[19:52] red line to start our first row. If we

[19:54] count the number of rows here, we got 1

[19:57] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. So, if we have

[20:02] 12 rows, we need to measure back 12

[20:06] times the exposure. So, it would be 7.5

[20:09] * 12, which gives us 90 off this red

[20:12] line to our first row. Here is the red

[20:15] line coming into the room. I'm going to

[20:17] hold on that red line and measure back

[20:19] 90 in. I'm going to make a mark right at

[20:21] 90 in on the floor. Okay, we do the same

[20:24] on this side of the room. Mark

[20:26] 90. I now need a chalk line from mark to

[20:29] mark. And that's going to be the chalk

[20:31] line we go off of to start our first

[20:33] row.

[20:38] Here is the chalk line to start with.

[20:40] What I recommend you do is measure off

[20:42] the wall here and we got about 7 in. And

[20:46] then we need to measure off down here as

[20:48] well. Just make sure we're still running

[20:50] fairly square with this room. And we

[20:52] are. So that's going to be great. You

[20:54] can manipulate this some if it's way off

[20:57] for your starter row. I'm now going to

[21:00] start this room just like I did the

[21:01] first room, except I'm going to line up

[21:05] the tongue against that red line so that

[21:08] we know we're going to run true to the

[21:11] other room so we can intersect

[21:14] [Music]

[21:26] properly. I'm now at the point where I

[21:28] need to transition from this room into

[21:30] this room with one seamless row joining

[21:32] the two. Make sure the piece that you

[21:35] start off of on this row that joins

[21:37] these two rooms together that the brakes

[21:40] do not break to where you're too close

[21:42] to a joint out here. So, if you're

[21:44] running this room to where the joint

[21:45] looks good, you may jump over into this

[21:47] room and realize, oops, I'm too close to

[21:50] the joint once I enter into this room

[21:52] because these do not come in various

[21:54] sizes. They're all 50 and 5/8 inch long

[21:57] roughly. So, because of that, you

[21:59] definitely need to make sure when you

[22:00] start out at the back here. It's a

[22:02] measurement that works for this room and

[22:04] this room to make sure this all comes

[22:06] out right. I got a full piece here that

[22:09] I'm going to just touch right where it's

[22:11] going to be installed. And I know this

[22:14] piece I cut down 23 in. And reason why

[22:16] that is once it is installed into place,

[22:20] it's going to break out evenly for the

[22:22] next row. So, that's an important

[22:23] concept to note whenever you're

[22:25] transitioning from room to room. So, I'm

[22:27] going to install these couple pieces,

[22:29] then bring this row with

[22:35] it. Something I've learned from

[22:36] experience, you don't want this too big

[22:39] around this corner, just because your

[22:41] door trim will not cover this up if it's

[22:44] too big. Just keep note of that. Yes,

[22:47] it's a little bit tight right here, but

[22:49] to me, I have to do that. If not, after

[22:52] the doors installed, you're going to see

[22:53] a gap here. Just so you know, that's

[22:55] what I've learned through experience

[22:57] after I go to hanging doors. You can see

[22:59] we transition from that room to this

[23:01] room seamlessly. Looks really good. Now,

[23:03] we're going to continue running the rest

[23:04] of this room we started in. Using the

[23:06] chalk line method, we tied in the

[23:08] bedroom that's after the first bedroom

[23:10] we just installed in. And I also tied in

[23:13] the master bedroom behind the camera as

[23:16] well. So, everything is coming together

[23:18] really nice. I now need to show you a

[23:20] transition from this laminate flooring

[23:23] to a different type of flooring. So that

[23:25] way you know how to use a transition

[23:27] strip and when to use it. I'm here in

[23:29] the master bathroom and I need to

[23:31] transition from the master bedroom to

[23:33] the master bathroom from the laminate

[23:35] flooring to the luxury vinyl cuz the

[23:37] luxury vinyl flooring is going to be

[23:39] more appropriate for a wet area like a

[23:41] bathroom because it's not near as

[23:44] susceptible to water damage like

[23:46] laminate flooring is. Even though this

[23:48] is ready to be waterproof, I'm going to

[23:50] feel better about having some type of

[23:52] vinyl in this bathroom. I now need to

[23:55] stop this flooring somewhere in an area

[23:58] to where the transition strip will be

[24:01] underneath of the door slab. So, this is

[24:04] going to be a end swing door here. The

[24:06] slab is going to be right in this area.

[24:09] So, after we install the rail for our

[24:11] transition strip, we need the

[24:13] appropriate expansion gap here. So, I'm

[24:15] going to show you where to calculate

[24:17] that. In this door opening, the door

[24:20] slab comes flush with this drywall on

[24:22] the bathroom side since it's in swing

[24:25] and it's an inch and a/4 thick.

[24:27] Technically, the slab's going to be

[24:29] right here, but we don't want our

[24:31] transition strip to go past this

[24:33] drywall. So, we want to stop our

[24:37] flooring just enough to be halfway the

[24:40] thickness of the rail for the transition

[24:42] strip. And then we need an expansion gap

[24:45] here, 38, just like we've been doing. So

[24:48] if we stop our floor roughly right in

[24:50] the middle here, the opening that's

[24:52] going to give us the appropriate

[24:54] distance. And when we cut our luxury

[24:56] vinyl, we're going to come in about this

[25:00] far once it's to be installed. So we

[25:02] need to stop this flooring right here.

[25:05] Measuring off the exposed side of the

[25:07] last row, I'm going to measure up to

[25:09] that mark. That gives me just about five

[25:12] inches, four and seven8s. And I'm going

[25:15] to take the piece that I cut down to go

[25:18] around the opening and place that mark

[25:22] on here coming off the finish

[25:26] side. I'm now going to rip this off to

[25:29] make the piece to go under the door.

[25:32] Some installers would simply install the

[25:34] transition strip right in the middle of

[25:35] the door opening for simplicity sake.

[25:38] Just so you know, we can now install the

[25:40] luxury vinyl in the bathroom. Even

[25:42] though I'm installing luxury vinyl here,

[25:44] I wanted to show you how I cut around

[25:45] this toilet flange because you can use

[25:47] the same method with laminate flooring

[25:48] as well. I first found the center and

[25:50] marked it onto the luxury vinyl. I then

[25:53] tacked a nail on that section of the

[25:55] flooring. I then measured the diameter

[25:57] of the toilet flange and then add 3/8 to

[26:00] 1/2 of the measurement and then marked

[26:03] that on the flooring. Use my chalk line

[26:06] to hold on that mark. and then went in a

[26:08] circle around that nail and that's what

[26:11] marked it onto the flooring. I then

[26:13] scrubbed around with my utility knife

[26:14] because this is luxury vinyl with

[26:15] laminate I would not have to do that. I

[26:17] took a coping saw to cut around and

[26:19] snapped it out and you can see it gave

[26:21] me a nice finished cut around the toilet

[26:23] flange. I made a detailed video

[26:25] installing luxury vinyl. If you'd like

[26:27] to check that out, I'll put a link to it

[26:28] in description below. The transition

[26:30] between the laminate flooring to the

[26:32] luxury vinyl is just about a/4 in.

[26:35] Here's the thickness of the luxury

[26:37] vinyl. And here is the laminate. And if

[26:40] we take a look, it's about a/4 in

[26:42] difference. This is an eighth. This is

[26:43] 3/8. And here's our door here. It's a

[26:46] split jam door. So, it pulls apart. So,

[26:49] what we need to do is notch just about

[26:51] a/4 in off this side of the door so that

[26:55] it steps down onto this luxury vinyl.

[26:57] And what you could do here is is put a

[27:00] quarter inch plywood underneath of this

[27:02] luxury vinyl and it could have been

[27:04] flush that way. But this homeowner did

[27:07] not want that. So, we're just going to

[27:09] step it down. So, I'm just going to

[27:10] notch that out of the door before

[27:12] installing it. This was a very simple

[27:13] process. We first took the split jam

[27:15] door apart and then placed it in the

[27:17] opening. And I marked where the laminate

[27:18] flooring met the jam. And I did that on

[27:21] each side of the door because we're

[27:23] going to have to notch around that to

[27:24] settle down on top of the luxury vinyl.

[27:27] We then placed the door on saw horses. I

[27:30] placed a quarter inch mark in order to

[27:32] go down below the laminate floor, then

[27:34] notch it out with my oscillating tool. I

[27:35] could have used a circular saw as well.

[27:38] I then placed the door into the opening

[27:40] and installed it. You can see it looks

[27:42] really nice where we have it installed.

[27:44] I then removed the panel off the door

[27:46] jam so that way it wasn't in the way as

[27:48] we installed the transition strip. And

[27:50] you can see after notching it, it

[27:51] settled down where we needed it. To

[27:53] transition from the laminate flooring to

[27:55] the luxury vinyl, we're going to have to

[27:58] install this transition strip. This is a

[28:00] 4 in one. So, it comes with the T- mold.

[28:02] It comes with the hard surface reducer.

[28:05] It also comes with the transition down

[28:07] to carpet. So, all that is all in this

[28:10] kit. So, whatever transition you have is

[28:13] going to be in here. And this came from

[28:15] Lowe's, and I'll put a link to it in the

[28:16] description below as well if you'd like

[28:18] to pick it up. Here is the metal piece

[28:20] that's going to be screwed down to the

[28:22] floor. And this also came with the

[28:24] screws. And it also came with anchors

[28:26] for concrete. So, we're only going to

[28:28] need these screws for our install. This

[28:31] is the T- mold. This is the hard surface

[28:33] reducer. And this is the transition to

[28:36] like a carpet. And we are going to be

[28:38] using this in conjunction with the T-

[28:41] mold. Now, if we were only going to

[28:43] install the T- mold, if it was a level

[28:45] surface, it would snap right in the

[28:48] center here for it to secure properly.

[28:51] But because we are going to be

[28:53] installing it with this strip, we're

[28:56] going to actually install it here like

[28:58] so. And then this will install on the

[29:01] other side. So, it' be something like

[29:05] this. That would be the transition we

[29:08] would be going with for this install.

[29:10] We're going to install the metal piece

[29:12] first. I'm first going to get the length

[29:14] in which I need to cut the metal strip

[29:16] to be installed. We have

[29:19] 23 and 1/2 in. I'm just going to mark

[29:23] that and then cut it using my tin snips.

[29:29] I'm going to place this strip down here

[29:32] just to make this flush after it's

[29:34] installed with this strip because it's

[29:38] going to be flat with this floor once

[29:40] it's clipped in. So, I do have to space

[29:43] this. You may or may not have to put the

[29:45] spacer to match the floor like I am

[29:47] here. I'm going to make sure I have my

[29:49] 3/8 gap for my laminate flooring. And

[29:52] this is going to be gap for this luxury

[29:55] vinyl appropriately as well. So, we're

[29:57] going to place a screw right

[29:59] here. I'm going to pre-drill through

[30:01] that spacer that I put down because it

[30:03] does want to split it. Just to be clear,

[30:05] the spacer is just a strip of luxury

[30:07] vinyl to space it evenly with the luxury

[30:12] vinyl. You want to get the measurement

[30:14] between the jam here. And this is going

[30:17] to be 24 and 1/4 in. That's going to be

[30:22] for the hard surface reducer. First, I'm

[30:24] going to lay this in here like so. And

[30:27] I'm just going to mark here to where it

[30:30] has to go right around this section of

[30:32] the

[30:34] door because that's going to snap in in

[30:37] this area. Because of that, we need to

[30:40] take out this

[30:43] notch. Just go around this part of the

[30:46] jam. Okay. And I just notched that with

[30:48] the oscillating tool. This is laminate,

[30:50] so it cuts pretty easy. We're going to

[30:52] snap that down on this side first. So

[30:55] now we are flush with the laminate

[30:58] flooring. We're going to cut the T- mold

[31:00] to cut right around this part of the

[31:03] door. And it's going to snap into that

[31:05] part of the track to finish the

[31:07] transition. Okay, this is cut to length

[31:09] to fit in between just like we did here.

[31:11] But we got to place it where it's going

[31:13] to be installed to mark where to notch

[31:16] around. This really needs a little notch

[31:19] right here around that. And over here,

[31:23] same idea. Just little notch

[31:30] here. Before applying silicone, I'm

[31:33] going to dry fit this into place to make

[31:34] sure it's going to

[31:37] fit. And before I snap that in, it feels

[31:39] like it's going to go fine. So, we're

[31:41] going to place silicone in here to hold

[31:44] everything into place.

[31:48] I'm now going to place a bead here to

[31:51] secure the T- mold to the strip. We're

[31:55] going to snap this into

[31:56] place. All right, I'm going to take the

[31:58] rubber mallet just to tap it down all

[32:00] the

[32:01] way. All right, the transition is

[32:03] complete. And that looks really good.

[32:05] After installing the transition strip,

[32:07] we could continue installing the rest of

[32:09] the flooring. We're now entering into

[32:11] the kitchen and we have pipes to cut

[32:12] around. Whenever we got up to these

[32:14] pipes, we simply just measured back how

[32:17] far we got to drill the hole for them.

[32:20] And then we marked the flooring to where

[32:22] the pipes are going to hit. And then we

[32:24] used a speed square to mark that onto

[32:27] the laminate floor. And that's going to

[32:29] give us our exact position to drill the

[32:32] hole out. We took a paddle bit and made

[32:34] sure we have at least a/4 to 38 inch

[32:37] around the pipe. And you can see the

[32:39] holes are cut out really nice. We then

[32:41] placed the flooring right over the pipe.

[32:44] After we placed flooring over the pipe,

[32:45] we installed it. And you can see that

[32:47] gives us a nice cut around for the

[32:49] pipes. I'm now at the point to where I

[32:51] got to finish up along the wall where

[32:53] the flooring is ending. And this is

[32:55] where we're going to have to use the

[32:56] pull bar to finish up. And we need to

[32:59] get a measurement in order to rip down

[33:01] the last row that goes up along the

[33:03] wall. To rip down this last row, I'm

[33:05] going to get my measurement from off the

[33:07] drywall right up to the previous row,

[33:11] which is right at 6 in. And then we need

[33:14] to subtract the 3/8 off of that. So that

[33:17] would put us at five and 5/8 we need to

[33:20] rip this down to. The reason why we

[33:22] don't want to tuck this under the

[33:24] drywall is we need to have enough room

[33:26] to get our pull bar behind it to seal up

[33:29] against the previous row so we close the

[33:31] gap. And that is something we're want to

[33:34] do using the pull

[33:40] bar. We'll begin installing this just

[33:42] like we would any other piece in a

[33:46] row. We're now going to snap it

[33:49] in. We're then going to use the pull bar

[33:52] and then we're going to drive it into

[33:55] the previous row. We want to place a

[33:58] spacer here just to make sure we are

[34:01] spaced correctly. And then we're going

[34:03] to drive this

[34:08] tight. All right. And that's really the

[34:10] key is just make sure you use the pull

[34:12] bar on this last row to get it to seal.

[34:15] Then to finish up this last row, just

[34:17] continue that process until we get to

[34:19] the end of the wall. That was the last

[34:21] row of the floor install in this house.

[34:23] Now that all the flooring's installed,

[34:25] we need to address the perimeter of the

[34:27] flooring using what's called backer rod.

[34:31] We're going to take the backer rod and

[34:32] tuck it in around the edge of the floor.

[34:35] So that way it keeps the flooring

[34:37] contained and it gives us a place for

[34:39] expansion and contraction. And after we

[34:42] tuck this in the corner, we're just

[34:44] going to use a 100% silicone. Just place

[34:46] a light bead over this so that way we

[34:48] have a waterproof floor install. That's

[34:51] really important, especially in a

[34:52] bathroom and kitchen. So, I'm going to

[34:54] show you how to address this area around

[34:57] the perimeter. I'm going to begin by

[34:59] taking a shim to help me tuck the backer

[35:01] rod in behind the flooring and up

[35:04] against the wall. There are different

[35:06] widths of backer rod you can get. This

[35:08] is 3/8 backer rod. After the backer rod

[35:11] is tucked in, we're going to take 100%

[35:13] silicone and just caulk right over that.

[35:20] Then make sure you smooth out that

[35:24] silicone. And that's really the best way

[35:26] to have a waterproof seal yet allow for

[35:28] expansion and contraction around the

[35:30] perimeter. This is why it's essential to

[35:32] order 10% extra. I made a mistake

[35:34] cutting this floor vin out. Now, this

[35:36] piece is scrap, but that's okay. You're

[35:38] going to make mistakes, especially if

[35:40] this is your first time doing flooring.

[35:42] So, it's okay. It's part of the process.

[35:44] Just keep moving forward and you'll get

[35:46] the floor done. Okay. Couple things I

[35:48] wanted to mention. This flooring is

[35:50] considered a floating floor, meaning

[35:52] there's no fasteners holding it into

[35:54] place. So, you must allow for the

[35:56] expansion contraction around the edges.

[35:58] And if you're wondering how this is

[36:00] going to look once the base is on, you

[36:02] can see that's going to cover that up

[36:04] and give you a nice finish. But

[36:06] something else I wanted to mention, if

[36:08] you're doing a remodel or something of

[36:09] that nature where the base is already

[36:11] installed on the wall after you remove

[36:13] carpet or something, when you install

[36:15] your flooring, you would do essentially

[36:17] the same thing, just gap it

[36:18] appropriately. And you can keep the base

[36:21] on and not remove it. And then you would

[36:23] install what's called quarter round to

[36:24] cover up that gap. And that's going to

[36:27] give you a nice finished look. So if

[36:28] you're curious about that, that's how

[36:30] you would address that. If you'd like to

[36:32] see a detailed video on how to install

[36:34] luxury vinyl, check out this video.

[36:36] It'll help you out.