how do you install laminate flooring with multiple rooms at one time with click flooring (since you can only put it in one way)

Question

how do you install click laminate flooring when it can only click in one way? in the picture every room is getting done that doesn't have an x. the red lines are which way the boards are going. only that room is done. the hallway and 2 other small rooms would be going the right way, but how can you do the big awkward sized room with all of it going together right, because going backwards they wouldn't click in?

Answer 1

We did this and cheated; at some doorways we stopped and covered the join with a rather smart strip of brass.

This makes it a lot easier, especially if:

• your house is not quite square
• the floors are not quite flat
• you have big temperature variations
• you want to have different rooms not running the same way
• you want the doors to close snugly

Answer 2

I did this in my house.When installing the laminate you click the boards together from the top.When you change direction you have to turn the board around and click it in from the bottom.Its not real easy to do, but it worked for me.

Answer 3

You can do this without major transitions strips but this requires that the center room is square. I would start in the top right opening of the center room. Do the center room. After completing the center room you have a choice to make in each room.

Are the strips parallel enough to the first wall of each room? If so just keep going. If no, you will need a t-strip.

Answer 4

When I did my flooring (Harmonics flooring, from Costco), I bought the installation kit. It came with a pull bar and a tapping block, which were really useful.

The block was intended to do what you are asking about. It has contours to protect the edges while tapping the flooring plank with a hammer. The edges which lock together have just enough give to them that you can force them together.

So, when placing a board on the "wrong" edge of the installation, you simply lay it flat, use the block, and gently tap it until the edges overlap and come together.

I assume it can be done with other brands...

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By the way, your house is almost certainly not square. If you install a single floor throughout all of your rooms, you will have to choose which wall will run perfectly parallel to the boards, and the rest might be off by a few degrees.

In my case, it was important for me to match parallel lines against the tile of a fireplace hearth. But I started on a different wall which turned out to be slightly non-parallel to the tile. I had to remove the edge boards against the wall, push the whole one-piece floor around until it lined up with the tile, and then re-cut the original boards!

Answer 5

Do the large, long room til you get to the doorway and then spend some time on that first awkward strip in the corridor to connect both rooms.

However, like someone else said the house is almost certainly a little out somewhere and I think you might have trouble laying it all in one run.

If you're not particularly bothered by discrete threshold strips at the doorways, I'd go for them, better in the long run to manage movement etc.