Installing the Floor

• 1). Conduct a simple room humidity test, since the amount of humidity in a room can have adverse effects on flooring. Place a drinking glass with four ice cubes in it on the floor in the middle of the room. Shut all doors to the room, leave the room and stay out for three minutes. After the time is up, re-enter the room and look for condensation drops on the glass. If there are water droplets on the glass, the humidity level of the room is fine; if not, you need to add a humidifier.
  
  
• 2
  The floor must be clean, flat and smooth if the laminate flooring is to have a smooth surface.floor cleaning #3 image by stassad from Fotolia.com
  
  Remove carpet and padding, exposing the sub floor. You may optionally leave other smooth, hard flooring types in place and install over it, if you wish. Vacuum and mop the floor well and allow it to dry completely.
  
  
• 3). Bring the flooring into the room and open up the boxes of flooring. Leave the flooring in the room where it is to be installed for 48 hours, giving it sufficient time to get acclimated to the room before installation.
  
  
• 4
  It is best to take up base boards and trim, then re-install them on top of the flooring.Floor image by Einar Bog from Fotolia.com
  
  Take up any base boards and quarter round along the walls. Use caution not break or crack them since they'll be re-installed after the flooring is put down. Lay them aside in another room to avoid stepping on--or otherwise damaging--them.
  
  
• 5). Measure all door clearances and other permanent room fixtures, like islands, to know how much material needs to be sawed off to maintain proper clearances and island heights. Use a piece of the flooring to place at the bottoms of the doors in the room.
  
  
• 6
  Island heigths will be raised by the thickness of the laminate flooring if their bases are not sawed off.Modern elegant kitchen image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com
  
  Open and close the door while holding the flooring in place under it. Make sure there is sufficient clearance, and that the doors will not wear scrub patterns in the newly installed flooring. Use the same piece of flooring to measure how much of the cabinet bases need to be removed before raising and sawing them if necessary.
  
  
• 7). Lay out the floor by measuring the width of the room, then subtracting the width of one of the planks. Take off half of the amount on the first row of planks, and the other half on the last row to be laid. If the difference is less than 12 inches, even out the sides of each width.
  
  
• 8
  hardwood floor texture image by GoodMood Photo from Fotolia.com
  
  Mix pieces from three or four different boxes to get a better visual impression. Colors within boxes often match, and the colors from box to box will vary. By using all the pieces at one time, from one box at a time, you can end up with obvious start and end new box delineations. Install the flooring per the maker's instructions.