Getting Started & Edge Work

Starting right is important. You don’t want to have to tear out a lot of work and throw away flooring that was cut wrong.

The instructions I have seen say the laminate should be laid in rows that run parrallel to long dimension. They also say that. if possible, they should be laid perpendicular to the incoming light source. In manufactured homes I think doing both of this will be hard. Almost all the mobile home livingrooms I have seen are wider than they are deep. Possibly a few bedrooms could be done that way.

Fortunately, the angle to the light does not seem to make a lot of difference and is probably the suggestion to ignore.

Chances are the room in which you are installing the wood laminate will not be exactly the right width to come out even with your rows of laminate. The installation rules say you should never install a row that is less than two inches wide.

You need to measure the width of the room carefully. I would suggest measuring at several places because things are seldom as square as they could be. Divide your width measurement by the width of a laminate strip and see how many you will need. You will probably find your starter row needs to be cut down so neither it or your finish row will be less than two inches wide.

This picture shows the living room of a mobile home that needs to be renovated. The plan is to get rid of the nasty vinyl floor tiles and put down a laminate wood floor..

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This picture shows the area to the right of the one above. The irregular base of the fireplace will make for some extra effort to get a good edge. The challange of this particular home is the fireplace. It has an irregular edge and there is now way to cover the edge with a trim strip. Pictures of how this was handled are on

Still farther to the right you see the door to the master bedroom on the right and the fireplace on the left.

In this picture the first several rows of laminate have been installed. The installer is getting ready to start a new row. Notice how he is using a short strip to make sure the ends are offset from the previous row…

The edges of the laminate have been carefully and accurately designed and cut so they snap together tightly..

This picture gives you an idea of how the laminate strips slide into place and are then snapped together.

This photo shows how the laminate is cut to leave space for the floor heater vent. Since the vent cover has a 1/2” lip on all four sides the cuts do not require extreme precision..

Next: Installation Page 2