Laminate Flooring project of doom!

You do not want to run the laminate under the cabinets and have them sitting on the flooring. The laminate needs room to expand and contract, it needs to float or just sit. Anchoring it down with the weight of cabinets or not allowing a gap around the perimeter as per instructions can lead to problems. As for the vapor barrier its cheap insurance and easy to do. Your product may have it built into the pad.

 

Aaah this brings back dark memories haha. I did about 2700 square feet worth of laminate flooring in my parents house to help finish off paying for my taco last year. One tool that quickly became my best friend was an oscillating tool like this:

It'll come in handy for cutting the wood under the cabinets and especially when doing the door jams. Just a suggestion though
good luck!

 

I can see where that tool would be handy. Too bad I didn't think of it when I did mine. Might have to add one to my arsenal.

 

Yea there very handy but for some reason they do burn up quick. I've went threw a couple of them doing hardwood floors(door jams)

 

The blade? or the whole tool?

 

I don't know if its been mentioned yet or not (don't flame me if it has) but laminate does not go well in "wet" areas of the house. Kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms are better served to have tile.

 

I'm basically doing the same thing as the OP right now but just replacing my laminate floor with a new one. My cabinets also sit on a particle board layer that is over the plywood sub floor. I took out most of the old particle board in the kitchen because it got wet and warped. Used a vibration saw to get up close to the cabinet bases (and a wood chisel...pain in the ass!). I'm leaving the old linoleum that is in other spots as the floor company said was okay.

Get a door jam saw from Home depot or somewhere to help get doorway ready to lay the laminate underneath. Make sure you pay attention to the level of the floor. Laminate "floats" so its important to make sure all areas are the same level.

Good luck! It'll be great when it's done.

 

It's the tool but they were used on a couple house each. I think we went threw 3 in like 9 months.

They are great tools tho'

 

Get the the original. Fein Tool
http://www.feinus.com/en_us/oscillating/multimaster/fein-multimaster-top-0297187/
We used the hell out of one these and it just keeps going. You get what you pay for. Great tool with endless uses.

 

Been looking into doing this in my whole main floor, minus a couple bedrooms. It would be kitchen dining room living room hallway to front door. Right now its all carpet except kitchen, which is linuleum. I know its not best to have laminate in areas where it can get wet, but I absolutely hate the flooring there now. I have been looking into different laminate options. I don't know anything about thickness though. Is 7mm good or bad?

 

i know how ya feel

 

dude, you can PM me.. heck, even call me if ya needed. i just installed that same flooring from Sam's Club in a bedroom, hallway, dining room, and i have the kitchen left.

Hint: it only goes together ONE way. You need the lower lip going under like the picture shows (little one page handout in the flooring box). While you're insterting the piece at an angle you start tapping your hammer and block and you'll notice it "clicking together" It does NOT just click together like most thin, cheap laminate floorings.

I'll post some pics soon of my flooring. We almost gave up on it. But once you "get it", it's awesome flooring.

I hope you have a table saw, chop saw, multi tool (for door jams), pull bar and tapping block. FYI: you need 3/8 inch spacing around the floor to your baseboards. The Home Depot gives you free floor samples of laminate flooring. And guess what? They are 3/8 inch thickness.

Good luck

 

kinda looks the same huh?

 

looks like crap

 

but once ya get it, it's really nice flooring

 

And reasons like this are why I love this forum! I may PM you for your number later. Right now I have a minor delay thanks to the snowstorm, but hopefully I will have the remainder of my old flooring out in a week or so. I do have an issue of some areas of my subfloor that need replacing. I am progressing though. I am still working on rounding up tools as well. Your list sounded a lot like mine and that is encouraging!

 

From what I've read, thicker is better and 7 is one of the lowest. However, it all depends greatly on your area, traffic (foot traffic, not Tacomas), and things like that. The stuff that myself and Cmurder have is 14mm thick, which was the thickest my wife and I found while shopping around. It's also rated for heavy residential/light commercial usage. We figured with the fact that we are trying to start a family and have a 100 pound hyperactive Labrador retriever, that the heaviest was the best for us. It also sounds like the thicker flooring is a little trickier to work with though, which is what brings me here.

 

Flooring under or around kitchen appliances?

 

Laminate goes under the frig and stove but not under the dishwasher, just run it deep enough so the dishwasher toe kick covers the edge.

So you get the fun of moving those two out and discovering ??? the mother of all dust bunnies? lost cooking utensils?, winning lottery ticket that has expired?