LL Laminate

[Ernesto]

12mm laminate

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/assets/images/installation/dream_home.pdf

>>>OverView: #8 . Laminates must have a minimum expansion space provided around the perimeter of the room and any fixed objects such as pipes or columns and walls. The expansion space is same as the thickness of the new flooring. EXAMPLE: 1/4&#8221; thick flooring will require 1/4&#8221; expansion. Door jambs and casings must be undercut. The flooring must be placed under jambs and casings without binding.<<<

But they only sell transition strip that can only afford a 1/4 inch maximum expansion!! Actually their transition strips are a full 1/8 inch thinner in width than any Universal transition strip or other name brand transition strips.

Following their train of thought one should have 12mm or 1/2 inch of expansion. Cept their transition strips do not afford this.

How do I know? Well, I am doing 900 sf right now.

 

[Nick]

Don't ya just love the things they do to us ?

 

[Isola96]

I never leave the exps gap for transition piece as I believe those are made not to expand the ones that match the laminate aren't make out of the same material to do so.
If you use 12mm 1/4 - 1/2 but make shore your base will cover the gaps.

 

[Polestretch]

I never leave the exps gap for transition piece as I believe those are made not to expand the ones that match the laminate aren't make out of the same material to do so.
If you use 12mm 1/4 - 1/2 but make shore your base will cover the gaps.

The expansion gap is not for the transition piece. it is for the rest of the laminate!!!!!!!!

 

[Ernesto]

I never leave the exps gap for transition piece as I believe those are made not to expand the ones that match the laminate aren't make out of the same material to do so.
If you use 12mm 1/4 - 1/2 but make shore your base will cover the gaps.

Well, the transition pieces are made of the same material, some hdf or mdf but yea, the gap is for the flooring. So if the overlap they give you is only 1/2 an inch, max, you also have not only expansion to worry about, you need to worry about contraction. Therefore say you split the difference under the one side of the T-cap, that only gives you 1/4 inch to cover your laminate edge. You could push it to 3/8, but still, this is just another example of being cheap, and misrepresentation along with piss poor design.

 

[Darol Wester]

I do a lot of laminates for a store in Oregon that uses unfinished oak transitions. It only has MAYBE 1/4 inch of undercut for the coverage/expansion. I've tried to explain to them the problem this creates, but they just tell me that all their installers have no problems with it.

I started running it through my table saw to widen the gap. Makes me feel better anyway. It comes down to, "It doesn't have to make sense" I guess.

 

[BudCline]

Years ago when laminates first hit the market I made a few installations using the 1/4" spacer-kit at the walls and the on-hand transitions at the doors.

It wasn't long before I was getting call-backs because the entire laminate floor surface was twisting from the daily foot traffic and exposing gaps under the baseboards and door transitions.

At that point the only fix I could think of was to re-position the floor and then use 100% silicone dots along the entire perimeter spaced about two feet apart to hold the floor in place and still accommodate the expansion of the product. Now, that procedure is common but it wasn't any kind of a recommendation coming from the manufacturer at the time.

Doesn't seam to me the laminate products were very well thought out in those days. At that time Pergo was the hot ticket and they claimed it had been used for seventeen years in Europe before coming here to the U.S.

The next problem was the seam expansion from the moisture in the glue. They claimed the expansion would disappear over time but the truth is...it never did.

So they came up with the "click" seams still used today.

My point is; I don't think any of this crap is really researched by these companies. I think they have monkeys in a room somewhere that develop this crap and rush it to the marketplace in hopes of selling a boat load of it before the lack of research jumps up and bites them in the ass.

Laminate floor (in my opinion ) is the absolute worst floor covering product to come along - EVER. I hate the crap.

This says nothing about the damage that is done to ones home by undercutting everything to accommodate the laminate. What happens when someone wants to remove the laminate and return a previous floor covering that didn't require any undercutting? The whole area has been ruined.

I tell people to stay away from laminate floorings.

 

[Ernesto]

Hee hee Bud, your just an opinionated tile guy.

Well I have yet to hear bout the silicone trick, kinda good I guess for a small room with kids runnin and jumping on it. The seam swelling was defintely a problem and also the man said water damage from mopping was lack of glue. That was a load.

The undercutting isn't a problem. The way I see if most floor coverings will cover any undercut. I even undercut door casings when doing ceramic installs.

I do agree with the monkey's writing install requirements though. I finally read the in box instructions on the leaflet. It said "To insure a stable floor DO NOT install end pieces less that 12 inches." It also said you CAN install end joint spacing down to 3 inches!!! Thats totally ass backwards. LOL

I stay with the unwritten "industry standard" end joint spacing of 6 to 9 inches and no less than 5 inches on end pieces.

 

[Amari8100]

Fresh designs and unique styles are new life into your home.This is really helpful for those people people who wish to provide their home with advanced and stylish looking.Thanks for sharing this...

 

[FloorMaven]

This says nothing about the damage that is done to ones home by undercutting everything to accommodate the laminate. What happens when someone wants to remove the laminate and return a previous floor covering that didn't require any undercutting? The whole area has been ruined.

I believe that to be an over statement and a wholly specious argument. "The whole area has been ruined"? I undercut for all my floors, especially tile...don't you?

 

[BudCline]

Frango I quit arguing with you years ago.

 

[Ernesto]

I believe that to be an over statement and a wholly specious argument. "The whole area has been ruined"? I undercut for all my floors, especially tile...don't you?

I like doing that for all floors as well. It is much easier to cut out a square to go under a door casing than trying to cut around it. Besides, your not supposed to cut and grout to vertical surfaces anyway.