Laminate is one of the most popular flooring options these days. But masonry any material has its own invisible moments. This is what will be discussed further.

Invisible styling points

If you are asking if it is possible to put a new laminate on fiberboard, then you have come to the right place. We will try to figure out what the difficulties of such work are and how to avoid them.

Laying laminate on hardboard sheets

During the installation process laminate flooring the most important evenness of the floor base. Only in this case is it possible to correctly lay the panels.

The main thing! Differences in height are verified using a bubble level. In this case, the value should not be more than 2 millimeters. All bumps and holes should be removed. Most manufacturers dictate their own height difference values. But under any circumstances, the base should differ in particular evenness, otherwise the pops of the lamellae cannot be avoided. Yes, and panels covered with laminate can pop out of their own connections, which are called "lock".

Due to this, before laying down the laminate, it is recommended to correctly assess the condition of the floor. And if the base is uneven, the issue must be removed. As a rule, you can apply putty mixtures to the surface without even removing the fiberboard. This is when the sheets are laid on the concrete.

It is best to straighten the base for the laminate by removing the plywood. And if the floor is even, lay the panels right on it. If not, make a screed. This is the best option. Practice shows that if there are a considerable number of irregularities, then it is easier to make a screed than to level everything with a putty composition.

Laminate flooring on concrete screed

The main thing is to adequately assess the condition of the floor base, so as not to lay the laminate in vain on the fiberboard and damage everything. No one speaks against laying laminate panels on fiberboard sheets. This is common material, and it is permissible in this case. Let us return only to the fact that the floor must be even.

Conclusion

Laying fiberboard sheets on the floor or not - depends only on your desire. There shouldn't be any problems. Look carefully at the quality of the material and ask the store for quality certificates for any product in order to masonry was of high quality.

How not to install laminate flooring Laminate on wooden floors in Khrushchev, without plywood

Do-it-yourself laminate on a wooden floor: video instruction. Laminate is a coating that requires the preparation of a perfectly even base. But what if there is no way to dismantle the old floor and arrange a new cement screed? Can laminate flooring be installed on wood floors? These questions are of interest to those who decide to refresh the interior without resorting to capital investments. You can learn about how to lay the material on an existing surface from the recommendations and videos given in the article: how to put a laminate on a wooden floor with your own hands.

Laying laminate on a wood floor is one of the most common ways to lay a new floor.

Can laminate flooring be installed on wood floors?

The question of the possibility of laying laminate on an old wooden floor often arises due to the fact that the cost of dismantling and installing a new cement base in many respects exceeds the cost of purchasing the floor covering itself. In addition, the expediency of a major overhaul is not always justified, as it is associated with the duration of the process, while you can change the interior of the room by resorting to cosmetic repairs.

Laminate flooring in the apartment

Is it possible to lay laminate on a wooden floor and not be afraid that the coating will deform, creak when walking, or come apart at the seams? Knowing how the old wooden base behaves, and what measures must be taken to comply with the basic requirements for laying laminated floors, you can safely proceed to work. The technology of laying laminate panels on a wooden floor is similar to the procedure for covering a screed.

Despite the warnings of manufacturers and some installers, it is possible to lay laminate over a wooden floor, taking into account two main differences between a wooden and cement base:

1. Instability of a wooden base. Laminate floor boards laid on top of a wooden base can move. This will put additional stress on the laminate locks, which are the weakest point of this flooring.
2. Loss of mechanical properties of wooden flooring during operation. This fact obliges, before laying the laminate on a wooden floor, scrupulously check the wooden structure for defects and fix the loose elements.

Laying a laminate on a wooden floor is one of the simple jobs that a novice master can do.

In order for the laminate to be perfectly even, not to diverge in locks and to serve for a long time, it is necessary to prepare the base, taking into account all the requirements for the surface when laying this material. The base must be:

• even - deviation from the horizon should not exceed 2 mm per 1 linear meter of surface;
• absolutely dry;
• clean - it is necessary to remove from the surface all the debris and dust that have arisen during the preparation process;
• stable - there should be no displacement of the elements of the base relative to each other.

How to level a wooden floor under a laminate

There are several options for leveling wooden floors under a laminate:

• cycling of a wooden floor;
• floor covering with plywood or chipboard;
• leveling with plywood using linings and bars.

Leveling the floor under the laminate using plywood sheets

The choice of one or another option for correcting the surface depends on the degree of unevenness of the wooden base.

Repair of an old wooden base

Work on the preparation of a wooden floor for laying a laminated coating is carried out either immediately before installation, or in advance. It depends on how complex the process will be and how long it will take to fully meet the specifications. First, you should check the condition of the wooden floor for all sorts of defects.

Most often, boards that have been in operation for more than one year have a slightly convex surface as a result of applying several layers of paint to them. The edges of boards or parquet lamellas may be damaged in the form of cracks, holes and gouges. In addition, it is possible that the floorboards do not adhere tightly to the joists at the docking points. Sometimes there is a significant slope of the floor in one or more directions. All these shortcomings need to be addressed.

Repair of individual wooden floor panels

Before laying a laminate on a wooden floor, all potholes should be repaired, the loose elements should be wedged and fixed with glue and self-tapping screws. If there are cracks in the wood, they are stapled together with a construction stapler. Moldy and rotten boards must be replaced with new ones. To eliminate the creak of a wooden floor, it is necessary to sort out all the floorboards.

Useful advice! To avoid the appearance of a squeak, you should not use nails, but self-tapping screws when reassembling the floor, since most often the sound appears precisely at the junction of the nail with the tree.

You can also get rid of creaking in a wooden floor by driving wedges between poorly fixed boards and joists, as well as between adjacent floorboards. This method will help to neutralize the friction of the boards against each other. If the boarding is heavily worn, this method may not be effective. Nevertheless, the main threat to the integrity of the laminate remains the unevenness of the base.

Restoration of a wooden floor before laying a laminate

How to lay laminate flooring on uneven wood floors: sanding the surface

If all the floorboards of the wooden base are well fixed and the surface does not have a significant slope, scraping or electric planing can be used for leveling. This method is appropriate for surfaces whose roughness does not exceed a slope of 5-6 mm per square meter. Local irregularities are eliminated by processing defective areas with sandpaper or using a manual scraper. This treatment is also used in hard-to-reach places.

To facilitate the process, it is recommended to start leveling by dividing the entire surface into several sections. After processing, the plane of each section and the quality of grinding is controlled. Before starting work, it is necessary to deepen the heads of all self-tapping screws by 2 mm into the wood in order to avoid contact with the metal knives of the grinding power tool, which can damage them.

Upon completion of leveling, check the entire surface of the wooden floor with a level, and then carefully sweep or remove sawdust and dust with a vacuum cleaner. If the small rubbish left after leveling is not removed, there is a chance that it will get into the locks of the laminated coating, and this, in turn, will lead to an unwanted creak when moving along the laid laminate.

Checking the level of the floor with a level

Before laying the laminate on a wooden floor after leveling, it is necessary to treat the entire surface with an antiseptic composition or proliferate and dry well. To reduce the possible deflection of the laminated coating, it is recommended to lay the material panels perpendicular to the direction of the boards.

Useful advice! Before starting work on leveling with the help of scraping, you should take care of the safety of interior items in the apartment: furniture and accessories should be covered with polyethylene to prevent fine dust from getting on them.

Leveling the floor with plywood under the laminate

One of the simple and at the same time low-cost types of surface adjustment to the required level is the method of laying plywood on a wooden floor under a laminate. To perform such work, plywood sheets with a thickness exceeding the thickness of the finished laminated coating should be purchased. It is recommended to choose the thickness of plywood for the floor under the laminate in the range from 12 to 15 mm.

Before starting laying, it will be useful to check the level of humidity in the room. This can be done by placing a sheet of polyethylene approximately 1x1 m in size on the floor. The polyethylene should be pressed tightly to the floor and left for three days. If after this time no condensation forms on the inside of the sheet, plywood sheets can be used in such a room.

Installation of plywood sheets on the floor

Begin the process by cutting plywood sheets. They are cut into squares 60x60 cm in size. Separate extreme sheets are adjusted to fit the outlines of the room, fill in the niches and bypass the protruding sections. When laying between the sheets, gaps of 7-10 mm are left, which act as expansion joints. The distance between the end sheets and the wall should be between 15 and 20 mm. In order not to confuse the cut sheets of plywood during assembly, it is recommended to number them.

You can fix plywood boards to the floor with glue, but you can do without it. Using the laying scheme and numbering, the sheets are laid out on the wooden floor in their place and fixed with self-tapping screws in the corners of the square and along diagonal lines with a step of 15 cm. For fastening, it is important to use self-tapping screws, the length of which is three times the thickness of the plywood. After final assembly, plywood sheets are carefully sanded with coarse sandpaper.

Laying plywood under the laminate on a wooden floor with fastening to the logs

Before laying a laminate on a wooden floor, you can use the leveling of the surface by laying plywood and attaching it to the logs. This method is quite laborious and expensive. The principle of this method is to install the log in such a way that their upper faces are in the same horizontal plane. To achieve this position, wedges or wooden bars are placed under the logs. When laying adjustable logs, their position is fixed by means of adjusting screws.

Leveling the base using log and plywood

Plywood boards are cut with a circular saw and laid on logs, while checking the horizontal level of the plane of each sheet. Laying is done in a checkerboard pattern to avoid overlapping seams at one point. Sheets are fastened to a wooden base with self-tapping screws along the perimeter and diagonally in increments of 20 cm. For quick and convenient installation, it is recommended to pre-mark the attachment points.

Useful advice! Do not use plywood sheets with phenol-formaldehyde adhesive for laying in the living room. Such material has excellent moisture resistance, but can be harmful to human health, being toxic.

After complete laying, the sheets are sanded and treated with an antiseptic solution, and then the laminate is laid on plywood. On wooden floors leveled in this way, the flooring will hold firmly and for a long time. The only drawback of laying plywood on logs is that this option is not very suitable for rooms with low ceilings, since their height can decrease to 8-10 cm. In addition, trimming the door leaf may be required.

Sanding plywood flooring

Is it possible to put laminate on fiberboard

When renovating an apartment, many people wonder if it is possible to put a laminate on a wooden floor covered with fibreboard? Some recommendations state that if fiberboards are laid flat and held firmly, they can be used as a base for laminate flooring. However, some experts do not agree with this statement.

The thing is that fiberboard panels do not have the ability to redistribute the load over a large area, unlike plywood or chipboard sheets. In addition, when fiberboard sheets are laid, there is no way to carefully examine the condition of the old wooden floor. How to put a laminate on a base, the elements of which are possibly rotten or worn out? This can lead to the fact that over time, all existing defects will appear on the finished floor covering.

The use of fiberboard, which is based on pressed paper, as a base for a laminated coating, raises serious doubts about the durability of the repair. On old floors, under load, a play of up to 0.5 mm may appear, which will cause the laminate locks to loosen. This can lead to creaking and breakage of locks. And given that the logs of the wooden floor can be cracked, the gap can be much larger.

Installation of fiberboard under laminated coating

Considering that not everyone has the opportunity to dismantle the old wooden floor or sort it out (which is also costly in itself), you can lay the laminate on the fiberboard. However, it must be ensured that the fibreboards are firmly fixed to the wooden floor. And if the base for the laminate is strong, then there is not much difference what is the base - chipboard, plywood or fiberboard.

Laying laminate on a wooden floor with your own hands

To figure out how to properly lay a laminate on a wooden floor, you need to have an idea about the material itself, its classes, types of substrate used, calculations and installation technologies. This information will help during the work to avoid mistakes that lead to damage, waste of material, and will also contribute to high-quality and durable installation.

Laminate flooring on wood floor

Choosing a material: calculation and purchase of laminate

The amount of laminate required is calculated based on the area of ​​the room, the material consumption rate and the installation method. First of all, the area of ​​the covered surface should be determined. The number of square meters of the room is divided by the area of ​​​​one laminate board. As a result, the required number of coating strips is obtained. Knowing that each pack contains 8 boards, you can easily determine the number of packs.

When buying material, you should also take into account the consumption coefficient, which varies from 5 to 14%. This or that value of the coefficient depends on how the laminate panels are laid. If you decide to lay the laminate flooring diagonally, the coefficient is assumed to be maximum. Consequently, there will be more material waste.

Useful advice! When purchasing a laminate, make sure that all packages are of the same batch. The same material from different batches may differ in color.

In addition, it should be taken into account that during the laying work, the lock of the plate may be accidentally damaged or an incorrect trimming may be performed. In this case, it would be useful to purchase a few boards in stock.

Laminate installation is a simple but responsible process.

To work with laminate in residential premises, a coating with certain technical parameters is chosen. Manufacturers present four classes of material, the main indicator of which is wear resistance. The most common plates are 6, 8 and 10 mm thick. The thicker the board, the stronger the coating. For domestic use, grades 31 and 32 of the material are quite suitable.

In addition to strength indicators, laminate plates are distinguished by locks. There are two types of locks - CLICK and LOCK. The CLICK lock is more common, it perfectly holds the seam and allows unevenness up to 3 mm per linear meter of surface. Panels with the second type of lock are difficult to install, require a perfectly even base and are used less often.

Preliminary preparation of the base

Before laying a laminate on a wooden floor, the condition of the existing subfloor should be analyzed. It is necessary to identify all existing defects: potholes, cracks, holes. Loose boards should be wedged and fixed with glue and self-tapping screws. Potholes should be sealed with wedges using glue, and if possible, clean the ventilation holes.

Repair of old wood flooring

A very old floor should be disassembled to the supporting logs. If during the examination it was found that some elements are rotten, they should be replaced. Floor boards that are leaky on one side can be turned over with the unworn side up, and completely rotten ones can be replaced with new ones. Checking the slope of the floor is carried out using the building level and rails.

If a floor surface difference of more than 3 mm is detected, the scraping method should be used. If you don't have a scraping machine, you can always rent one. It will be more reliable to level the floor by laying chipboard or plywood. In addition to the leveling function, such a coating will provide additional insulation and sound insulation of the floor.

Leveling a wooden floor with chipboard boards

Chipboard boards are laid after strengthening all the elements of the wooden floor and impregnating the base with an antifungal compound. The plinth is dismantled, and unnecessary items that may interfere with the process are removed. Laying of plates is carried out from the corner of the room. A gap of about 10 mm is left from the wall. Chipboard sheets are arranged so that the joints of the material fall on the lines of the beams.

Chipboard boards are fixed with self-tapping screws, while trying to ensure that the caps of the fasteners do not extend beyond the surface. The pitch of the screws should be about 30 cm. After laying all the chipboard boards, the joining lines must be putty with thin-layer compounds specially designed for working with wood. When the solution dries, the surface of the chipboard boards is polished.

Installation of grooved chipboard

The base of the freshly laid chipboard should be thoroughly dried. Ideally, the plates should be kept for about a week, so that acclimatization takes place and excess moisture evaporates. If during this time it is found that some joints are swollen or displaced, they should be cycled, puttied and cleaned with sandpaper.

Useful advice! Chipboard floor leveling technology makes it possible to prepare a wooden floor of any quality for laying laminated flooring.

Necessary tools for the job

For people who are not professionally involved in repairs, but are going to lay a laminate on their own, a logical question arises about a set of tools for the job. To lay a laminate on a wooden floor, you will need a tool that should be in the arsenal of every owner:

• construction roulette;
• ruler, pencil;
• construction knife;
• hacksaw or jigsaw;
• rubber mallet;
• pliers.

Tools needed for laying flooring

Do not forget about the plinth, for fixing which you will have to slightly expand the range of tools. If you plan to install wooden skirting boards, you will need a miter box. In the case of plastic baseboards, this device is not needed. You will also need a screwdriver or drill to tighten the screws.

A puncher can also be useful for arranging holes for fixing the plinth. Not everyone has this power tool, but it can be rented for the duration of the work.

Choosing a substrate for laminate on a wooden floor

Before laying a laminate on a wooden floor, it is correct to cover the surface with a substrate. This layer allows you to compensate for minor irregularities, provide moisture and sound insulation of the laminate, as well as the space between the coating and the base. There are quite a few types of substrates, and they differ in composition, properties, cost, appearance, and other features.

Heat-saving laminate flooring

The material for the manufacture of substrates can be synthetic (polyethylene foam), natural (cellulose, cork, needles, etc.) and combined. The most budget option is polyethylene foam - lightweight, easy to install, but fragile material that is quickly compressed and does not provide proper moisture exchange. A more durable substrate is made of polystyrene in the form of 1x1 m plates, it does not cake and provides high-quality sound insulation. But these types of substrates are more often used when the base is made of concrete.

Before laying the laminate on a wooden floor, it is recommended to arrange an underlay made of natural material. The cork backing has excellent properties; in combination with a laminate, it demonstrates excellent heat and sound insulation. Its cost is quite high, but this is offset by the long-term preservation of the wooden base. The thickness of the substrate is chosen, focusing on the same parameter of the laminate board.

Useful advice! Do not use multiple layers of underlay to level the surface of the base. The uneven surface of the floor is eliminated in other ways.

For example, under an 8 mm board, a substrate 3 mm thick is selected. With regard to the laying of the material, it should be noted that the strips of the substrate are placed end-to-end without overlaps and stationary fastening to walls or a wooden base. Docking lines are glued with adhesive tape along the entire length or in periodic places.

Laying laminate on a synthetic underlay

How to put laminate on a wooden floor: installation technology

Once all preparatory work is completed, you can proceed directly to laying laminated panels. The process of laying laminate flooring is relatively simple and does not require special knowledge and skills. However, it is still worth familiarizing yourself with some of the nuances of installation. Choose a place where the packages with laminate will be located, remove the doors from the hinges, free the room from unnecessary items.

Before laying the substrate, it is necessary to remove all debris and carefully dedust the surface of the substrate. The underlayment strips are laid parallel to the future arrangement of the laminate boards. If a single piece of the substrate is not enough, it is necessary to connect several parts with adhesive tape, cutting them using the mirror cut method. All docking lines are also glued with tape.

Next, lay the first row of coating. Don't forget that the laminate panels should be placed across the planks of the wooden base. Carefully connect the lamellas of the first row with each other. First, we collect solid panels, and then we measure the length of the last board of the row and outline the cut line. When cutting, it is necessary to turn the board 180 degrees, otherwise the locks will not match. Cut off the excess part according to the mark. As a visual aid, use the video: how to lay a laminate on a wooden floor with your own hands.

Do not forget to leave gaps between the end of the panel and the wall, in which you can put 8-10 mm wide limiters made from laminate scraps. After the formation of the starting strip, the next one is assembled. The distance between adjacent rows should be small so that it is easier to connect them. The formation of the next row begins with a cut lamella.

Laminate manufacturers have done everything so that its installation does not cause much trouble.

After assembling the second strip, it must be carefully lifted, holding on to the end joints, and turned slightly so that the lock snaps into place. It is necessary to go along the entire length of the strip, alternately lifting the end joints and snapping the locks. In order for the locks to be tightly fastened, it is necessary to bring them by tapping with the palm of your hand or a mallet.

By this principle, all other rows of coverage are assembled. Laying laminate panels is best done in a chaotic manner, i.e. some of the rows should not be started from the cut board of the previous strip, but from a whole board or from a short cut.

Useful advice! When laying laminate flooring, it is recommended to separate the covering of each room from other rooms by means of an expansion joint. It is arranged in the doorway between adjacent rooms.

Features of laying the last row of laminate

The closer the laying moves to the last row, the more inconvenient it will be to carry it out. When the room is covered by 80%, it is necessary to lay the panels, turning in the opposite direction and standing on the already laid laminate. Some difficulties are caused by laying the last row, which must be carefully measured and cut along the strip.

The quality of laying the laminate will directly affect its service life.

When the laying process reaches the last strip, the distance from the edge of the penultimate row to the line of the opposite wall along the entire length may not be the same. In view of this, the marking of the last row is carried out in stages: first, the first board is marked and cut, then the next one is measured and cut off, and so on until the end of the row. We outline the outlines of the first panel with a pencil and cut out the necessary strip according to the markup.

As soon as the laminate flooring is laid, proceed to attach the skirting boards. Docking places between rooms are covered with special thresholds to prevent dust from entering there. At the end of the work, sawdust, debris are removed from the coating and the surface is wiped with a slightly damp cloth.

How to properly lay laminate flooring on hardwood floors

Laying laminate in places where pipes, heating radiators, around doorways and in other hard-to-reach places does not present any particular difficulties. The pipes are bypassed in the following way: make marks on the board with a pencil and cut out the corresponding holes in it, not forgetting to take into account the temperature gap between the coating and the pipe (8-10 mm).

Laminate around pipes

Gaps around pipes and other iron fittings should be filled with a matching acrylic sealant, while expansion joints near walls should be left unfilled. Subsequently, their unaesthetic appearance will be covered with skirting boards. Similarly, the material is laid near the thresholds, steps and other ledges.

As far as avoiding doorways, before laying laminate flooring on a wood floor, it's a good idea to remove the sheet from the hinges and determine if the door will close after the flooring is laid. To do this, it is necessary to sum up the thickness of the laminate, the substrate and the leveling layer (if any). Subtract the resulting value from the distance from the edge of the door to the wooden floor. If less than 3 mm remains, the door leaf will need to be trimmed.

After all the calculations, the laminate is laid around the door frame, leaving an allowance of 8-10 mm, the door is returned to its place and its progress is checked. If necessary, saw the door to the desired size.

Installing laminate flooring in a doorway

Tutorial video: how to lay laminate on a wooden floor with your own hands

According to the principle, it is better to see once than hear a hundred times, home craftsmen are invited to familiarize themselves with the instructional video of laying laminate on a wooden floor. From the videos you can learn everything related to the coating device on a wooden surface.

Video: do-it-yourself laminate flooring on a wooden floor

On the Internet you can find a whole series of courses on how to lay a laminate. Video instructions for installing flooring contain visual information and practical advice from both experienced craftsmen and those who for the first time tried to level the wooden base and lay the lamination on their own.

In the training videos, you can see master classes on leveling the floor with plywood and chipboard, learn about the features of the wooden base, choosing the substrate, as well as step-by-step instructions for laying the laminate. In addition, in the videos you can find recommendations for eliminating possible defects in the wood flooring.

Video: how to lay laminate flooring near a doorway

There are many educational stories about the installation of skirting boards, the features of the interlocking joints of the floor covering and the technology of fastening material panels to each other. Thematic video tutorials contain information on how to lay the coating around radiator pipes, in niches, ledges, near doors and steps, as well as in other hard-to-reach and inconvenient places.

Some video tutorials are devoted to the elimination and repair of defects on an already laid laminate flooring. From them you can learn how to mask scratches formed on the laminate, dents from fallen heavy objects or heels, as well as how to eliminate damage caused during the laying process: chipped corners and edges, divergence of seams, swelling of the coating.

Leveling a wooden floor in any of the existing ways allows you to use it as a base for a laminate. If all work on the preparation of the floor surface is carried out in compliance with the technical requirements, the floor covering will last for a sufficiently long period without requiring repair and while maintaining an aesthetic appearance.

If a material such as laminate is chosen for finishing the floor, then you should know that it is quite demanding on the quality of the base. Its appearance after completion of work, service life and so on depend on this.

With the help of fiberboards, you can level the flooring well. But still, most do not know whether it is possible to lay laminate on top of fiberboards. This question interests many people.

Is it possible to lay laminate on hardboard?

When purchasing a laminate, be sure to read the instructions on its packaging. It usually indicates the requirements for the base on which the laminated parquet will be laid. In general, all these requirements are met by a cement-sand screed.

However, when performing such installation, you will have to wait for the final drying of the floor. In this situation, you can find another solution. You can also lay laminate on fiberboard. Thus, it will be possible to complete the process as quickly as possible. To do this, first, chipboards are attached to the subfloor, and then the laminate is laid.

How to finish a hardboard floor with laminate?

In this case, laminated parquet is laid on the same principle as on a cement-sand base. It is important to prepare a perfectly even base, and then everything is done in the usual manner.

First, a special substrate is laid on the fibreboard, while it is fastened at the seams with adhesive tape. Cork, polyethylene foam, and extruded polystyrene foam can be used as a substrate. The substrate should be no more than 3 millimeters thick. If this factor is neglected, then the laminate panels will most likely not last long due to poor quality connections.

Before using laminate flooring, it is recommended to keep it indoors for at least a couple of days. Special wedges are placed around the entire perimeter of the room, thanks to which the gaps between the elements will be the same. Laminate is very easy to install.

You need to start from the corner. Panels are attached to each other by locking. In order for a checkerboard pattern to form on the floor, you need to start the next row with half the panel. So the rows alternate with each other, and a “chess” is obtained. For a strong fastening of the panels, you should simply press them and they will close themselves.

If necessary, the laminate can be lightly knocked out with a rubber mallet. At the end, skirting boards are installed around the perimeter of the room.

Major home renovations usually involve changing flooring. A material such as laminate is practical and comfortable. It combines some of the qualities of linoleum and outwardly imitates wooden plank floors or parquet.

Laminate flooring is very easy to install and requires little maintenance. Such a coating would be a good option in a house where there are small children.

Laminate is strong enough to withstand any impact. For example, he is not afraid of an overturned pot of boiling water or spilled paint. This type of flooring is presented in a wide range with various patterns and ornaments.

Useful information! In addition to the classic wood-like design, at the present time you can see original carpet patterns, marble-imitating coatings, and more.

It is worth noting that the laminate, like other flooring options, has some disadvantages. First of all, it is worth noting their fragility.

Its service life is no more than 5-6 years. This is due to the fact that the bottom layer of the laminate plate is chipboard or fiberboard. Therefore, the laminate, just like wood, is characterized by high porosity and over time it begins to warp.

What is the underlayment for?

In order for the laminate not to lose its original appearance for as long as possible, you need to use a substrate under this floor covering. In addition, it will act as a shock absorber and prevent subsidence and deformation of the coating at the moment when it is subjected to loads. Substrates are different and each of them has both its pros and cons.

Isolon and polyester

Izolon It is a material in the form of polyethylene foam. This type of substrate has an acceptable cost. It is able to withstand the influence of moisture, the occurrence of fungus, which often affects wooden surfaces. But isolon has one drawback - fragility.

Isolon is easily torn and sags very quickly under load, so it will not be able to cope with the task of depreciation. However, it has good sound insulation, which makes it especially in demand. Under the laminate, the isolon is connected by gluing with adhesive tape.

Polyester- This is a more expensive material that has a two-layer structure. A thin layer of aluminum foil is placed over the polyester layer.

In order to connect the pieces of polystyrene laid under the laminate, you need an adhesive tape made of aluminum frame, which can be purchased at any hardware store. Laying polyester implies great difficulties, unlike isolon. This is due to the fact that it does not roll well.

It fills the voids well, but under the influence of the load it is strongly deformed and sags..

Cork underlayment is the most expensive option available. But the high cost only indicates the appropriate quality of the material.

Important! Cork has excellent noise and heat insulation qualities, and also does an excellent job of depreciation. If there is a substrate of such a plan under the laminate, it will not sag or deform under the influence of loads for a long time.

Moreover, it is of natural origin, it does not contain heavy chemical compounds that harm the human body.

If we talk about the minuses of the cork substrate, then they can be attributed to the fact that it does not withstand moisture well. In order to neutralize this drawback, it must be covered with a waterproof composition.

In this case, tar will be the best option. In order to protect the substrate from moisture emanating from the concrete floor, it should be laid on glassine or greenhouse film. Today on sale there is a cork substrate that has a rubberized base or a variant with bitumen.

Having decided to use a cork substrate, you need to know that its thickness should be within 4 mm. The most optimal indicator is 2-3 mm.

A thicker underlay, combined with an uneven floor, will result in large joints between the planks, resulting in an unsightly floor surface. Before laying laminate flooring, the floor must be leveled.

The substrate is not able to smooth out all its defects and irregularities. In addition, it will positively affect the service life of the floor material.

Wood fiber substrates

Wood-fiber substrates are presented in the form of boards laid under the laminate. They perfectly dampen the sounds of steps, but are powerless in the fight against penetrating noise.

Useful information! If you want to protect yourself from the sounds of noisy neighbors, you should refuse such a substrate plan. The main advantage of this material is thermal insulation, so it will be ideal for rooms on the first floors, where the floor is always cold.

• In order to enhance the effectiveness of the wood fiber substrate, the boards must be laid perpendicularly.
• Many masters recommend laying them at an angle of 45 ° to the direction of the checkers. Nearby rows can be shifted relative to each other by? plate length.
• A distance of 2 mm should be ensured between the plates, the distance from the plate to the wall is 1 cm. In this case, with temperature changes in the air, the deformed substrate will not compress the floor covering.

Specialized substrates

Specialized substrates are made from non-traditional materials that are made by various construction companies. Such options include polymer porous substrates, etc.

Important! It is rather difficult to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of these substrates, since the manufacturer often conceals their structure. However, specialized substrates are usually of good quality and provide all the necessary functions.

A good alternative to the traditional substrate would be its liquid variety, which implies an adhesive mass that connects the laminate to the base. In this case, the mass will not prevent the deformation of the laminate with fluctuations in room temperature and air humidity. The mass retains its elasticity and dampens noise well.

Fiberboard substrates have excellent sound and heat insulation. Their disadvantage is high porosity, as a result of which this kind of substrate is not able to withstand the influence of moisture.

By observing certain precautions, you can extend the life of the material. If moisture penetrates under the laminate, this will not lead to its deformation, but with regular exposure to water, it may be damaged. Therefore, it is necessary to provide it with proper operating conditions or cover the fiberboard panels with appropriate waterproof materials.

MDF underlays, just like fiber products, should be laid at a 45° angle to the laminate battens to help prevent overlapping gaps. It is important that there is a gap of 1-2 mm between the plates, and 5-10 mm between the plate and the wall.

The stability of the board can be increased by gluing it to the floor at several points. Another option is to attach it with staples or nails.

Coniferous tiles

Coniferous substrate under the laminate- This is an innovation that has appeared on the trading market relatively recently. The cost of such material is quite high, so sometimes it is not so easy to find it in hardware stores.

Often on sale you can see Isoplat coniferous plates. Such a plan material has environmentally friendly qualities, is able to pass air, so that you can prevent the greenhouse effect.

If we talk about elasticity, then the needles cannot compete with cork. Tiles made of needles have a thickness of 4-5 mm, which does not meet the requirements of laminate manufacturers. The substrate is laid diagonally.

Bitumen-cork substrates

The basis of such material is kraft paper in combination with bitumen. A small cork crumb is applied over the material. Chopped pieces of cork (2-3 mm) are used as a topping.

Bitumen is characterized by the fact that it does not allow moisture to pass through, is able to retain sounds, is breathable, and therefore does not allow the formation of condensate. The cost of a bituminous substrate is quite high, so it is advisable to lay it under expensive types of laminate. Conclusion

The use of a laminate underlayment is optional. However, without it, it will be necessary to carry out repeated repairs in 5-6 years. You can extend the life of the laminate by laying panels and special plates.

Their task is to protect the house from extraneous noise, cold. In addition, they prevent the deformation of the floor covering in the form of a laminate.

Repair work is often very scary for people. Still, when you think that a lot of things need to be done, even if the repair is exclusively of a finishing nature, it immediately becomes uncomfortable. In fact, everything is not so scary and not very difficult if you know exactly what you are going to do and how to prepare for the repair work. First of all, it is worth thinking carefully about what problems you may encounter during the repair work.

Many residents of apartments and houses prefer to have laminate flooring that is pleasant for the household. Often in houses and apartments with wooden floors, specialists are faced with the fact that it is completely impossible to lay laminate directly on the floor until the problem is solved.

The most common possible problems are the unevenness of the walls, floor or ceiling, as well as a number of other individual features that may be present in your apartment or house:

• Moved walls;
• Additional partitions;
• Non-standard window openings, etc.

Why can't you put laminate flooring directly on the floor? There are reasons for this. Laying on irregularities leads to the fact that the laminate can “go” with bumps, which subsequently leads to a violation of the integrity of the coating. Laying on such a floor is not only impractical, but also difficult in itself. In this case, it is almost impossible to fit small laminate tiles. How can you determine if the floor is even, if no flaws are visually noticeable, and the laying of the laminate does not work out in any way? A good helper in this matter will be the usual building level, which accurately determines whether the surface is flat or not.

If it was found that there is any unevenness on the floor surface, all work that has already begun to be done should be stopped and corrected.

Now the question arises, how to turn the unevenness of the floor into evenness? This question will always be answered by the relevant experts. They know better than anyone what threatens to repair a crooked floor, and how you can fix it all with your own hands. The most common way to level the floor is to use a material such as a leveling underlay, which should be laid on the floor surface. And yet, here, too, there are nuances. Let's take a closer look at this type of substrate.

Why do you need a leveling underlay for laminate flooring?

According to experts, most often similar problems are noted by repairmen of varying degrees of unevenness of walls, ceilings and floors. If the unevenness of the walls can still be somehow circumvented, for example, using special tiles or panels installed on a metal frame for decoration, and the irregularities of the ceiling are harmoniously hidden under stretch ceilings, then an uneven wooden floor is a more serious problem.

A leveling underlay for laminate flooring is an excellent solution for small floor irregularities, whether it is a wooden floor or a rough concrete floor.

In this case, the underlay can be used when laying both laminate and parquet flooring without screed. The substrate can vary in thickness, which varies from 1 to 4 mm, to be enough for leveling, as well as by the manufacturer and the type of material itself.

So, the leveling substrate can be:

1. PE foam underlay. This is the most popular synthetic-based material. It is characterized by low prices, high thermal insulation, which makes it an excellent material for leveling and simultaneously insulating the floor, in addition, such material is not attacked by rodents and pathogenic microorganisms.
2. Cork backing type. It is a high-quality, environmentally friendly leveling material with a price corresponding to quality. At the same time, it is more expedient to lay a cork underlay for a long period under a high-quality expensive floor. Some manufacturers of cork substrates equip their material with an additional adhesive layer.
3. Bituminous substrates with the addition of cork shavings. Regarding the pricing policy, it is as expensive as the cork counterpart, while, due to the addition of bitumen, it has excellent hygroscopicity and sound insulation.
4. Styrofoam type leveling material. Laying such a substrate allows you to maintain the maximum level of the floor, helps to even out minor irregularities and flaws in the floor surface.
5. Combined substrates. Most often, companies use a combination of expanded polystyrene and polyethylene foam for their production.
6. Pine tile. Environmentally friendly material for leveling the floor surface. Laying such a substrate is not difficult, but it is worth remembering that coniferous tiles are laid diagonally.

Thus, it can be noted that before buying a leveling underlay, determine what type of floor it will be laid on, what price line of underlays and what properties and disadvantages the selected underlay model has.

Do I need to carefully level the floor under the laminate

It was considered where to start work on finishing the floor, how to choose a substrate, and what to pay attention to, but you need to decide, maybe you don’t need to deal with alignments? Finishing work itself implies the presence of an already flat surface on which the finishing will take place, but with some materials this rule can be neglected, with the exception of laminate. Laminate tiles should always be laid out on a perfectly flat floor surface. Otherwise, you will only get a headache.

The following flaws are also possible:

1. The difference in the level of the floor surface will cause deformation of the laminate panels.
2. The level difference between 2 adjacent floor areas will also cause poor adhesion between the panels, which will lead to cracks.
3. The seams between laminate tiles will be subject to divergence, and hence deformation of the laminate material itself. Opened seams will have to be puttied more than once.
4. On an uneven floor surface, especially at the transition between rooms, the laminate creaks.
5. Due to the divergence of the panels, moisture will get under the coatings, which will cause irreversible sad consequences, and the floor will have to be completely replaced.
6. If the floor is uneven, you may notice that some of the laminate panels, and maybe several parts, are pressed through.

As can be understood from the above, it is always necessary to level the floor surface as much as possible before laying the laminate, otherwise you risk prolonging the repair work for one day or even a month, and the material costs for repairs will increase accordingly.

Can laminate flooring be laid directly on fiberboard?

Very often, people moving into apartments of the so-called old stock are faced with the fact that the floors are covered with fiberboard material, in other words, plywood or chipboard. The question arises, is it necessary to remove everything to the rough surface of the floor, or can you install the laminate directly on top of the plates?

Experts say it's possible.

In addition, fiberboard and chipboard boards can be used to level the floors in the apartment, especially if there is not a strong allowable floor slope. A floor with a slope is the case when the height of one part of the floor is 0.1-0.2ᵒ or more higher than the other.

In defense of the use of fiberboard and chipboard, the advantages of this material work:

• Such plates can easily level the floor surface;
• Possessing good rigidity, the plates are an additional guarantor of the longevity of the laminate;
• Pleasant cost of leveling material, compared with others;
• Does not require special conditions - chipboard and fiberboard boards cover different types of floors in different rooms.

Although such plates are not a full-fledged high-quality board, they are able to cover and mask the unevenness of the floor, but also due to their great endurance, they can be used even in rooms with high traffic or the presence of massive heavy furniture. Such plates allow you to correct floor irregularities and level the floor surface. For these reasons alone, you can give the green light to the installation of stoves in the room.

Tips for laying laminate flooring on uneven floors

If initially there were no fiberboard or chipboard boards on the floor, but you want to cover the floor with them, then first of all it is necessary to install the boards with all responsibility. Next comes the laying of the laminate itself, which in turn follows certain classic laying points, regardless of type.

Consider what types of styling can be used:

1. Laying the laminate perpendicular to the light source. This method is good if you are worried that the seams between the tiles will be visible.
2. Laying parallel to the light source, diagonal and classic herringbone laying is possible. This can often be found in the apartments of the old fund.

Each way of laying allows you to achieve a special pattern on the surface of the floor, which makes the room more interesting and comfortable.

Ways to put laminate on an uneven wooden floor (video)

So, there are enough options for doing the job. It is important to understand for yourself what you want to get as a result. And then it remains only to follow the chosen technology.