Installing Wooden Parquet, Laminate & Rigid Click Vinyl: Tips & Do-it-yourself instructions
We will be happy to help you on your way with various instruction and tips for installing your Floer! A correct installation of the floor is essential for maintaining the manufacturer’s warranty. Did you know that Floer’s floorers are available to come over and install your floor professionally? Contact us and ask for the possibilities!
Step 1: Calculating materials
Measure the room in advance and calculate the required number of square meters of flooring area. Take an extra 7% cutting loss into account when installing the boards diagonally. With a herringbone pattern, take into account a 12% cutting loss. Choose the right floor: keep in mind the difference in floor types. We recommend to opt for a professional floorer to install vinyl floors, due to the levelling of the ground floor. Installing an oak parquet floor, and especially oak herringbone floors, is also a specialist job.
Step 2: 48 hours acclimatisation
Have you made your choice? Make sure that the boards are in the room for at least 48 hours before installation. If you do not proceed correctly with this step, then the boards may shrink or expand after installation due to a change in temperature or humidity. By first allowing the planks to acclimatise in the room where the floor is to be installed, the effects after installing will be minimal.
Step 3: Preparing the underlay
The underlay must be prepared before installing the wooden or laminate floor. Make sure that the whole subfloor is clean. Do not clean it with water shortly before installing the floor. The floor must be as dry as possible, with a maximum humidity of 2%, or even 0.5% for anhydrite. If the humidity is higher than these percentages, the moisture might soak into the wood, causing the parquet to warp immediately after laying. In time, the wood / MDF might even rot. Fill pits with levelling cement and ensure that the underlay is laid flat. Small irregularities of up to 2 mm can be compensated for by the underlay.
Removing skirting boards where necessary and start laying the underfloor with a moisture barrier. This damp-proof foil ensures that no moisture from the subfloor can reach the parquet. If you live on an upper floor, or in an apartment, take into account the noise reduction requirements for underlay. In most cases you will need a noise-reducing underlay. You can ask your property management company or housing association whether a noise-reducing underlay is required in your case.
Step 4: Installing the planks
After completing the previous steps, you can start installing the laminate or parquet. Lay the first floorboard with the groove side towards the wall side. Make sure with the help of spacers that this board is 1 cm from the wall. Lay the next board on the short side of the first board along the wall. Use a tapping block to tap this board into the previous board’s joint. This prevents hitting the board itself and causing damage to the wood or laminate.
When the first row of boards has been installed, you can start with the next row. Lay the next row along the long side of the first row. Always ensure that the floor is laid in ‘half-brick’ order. This means that the seams should be staggered and that they should never be closer than 40 cm to each other in the following row. Use a pull bar to tap the rows into place.
If you come across obstacles, for example heating pipes, saw these curves into the board. Keep an extra 10 mm in mind for the possible movement of the floor. Saw across the long side to the curves and install the board around the pipes. If necessary, you can glue the loose part to the board again after installing.
Step 5: Finishing the floor
Repeat the installation of the rows until you reach the other side of the room. Here, you should measure how many more boards you will need. In general, these boards should be cut to size in width. Take the distance of 1 cm from the wall into account when doing so. Walls are often not entirely straight, so the wooden floor boards might have to be sawn at an angle.
Step 6: Final steps
If you completed the last step, the floor is now ready to be used. The oak parquet floor still has to be finished with maintenance oil. Optionally, the floor can be finished with skirting boards. Choose skirting boards that match the wall, instead of the floor. A skirting board is part of the wall, not the floor! Therefore, choose high skirting boards for high walls.
Extra Tips & instructions:
- Ensure a room humidity percentage of between 40% and 60% for oak wood floors. Lower or higher humidity will mean a loss of warranty.
- With Floer oak floors, the parquet must be treated with maintenance oil after installation.
- With a wooden parquet floor, we recommend the use of springs. These springs are located under the skirting boards and can absorb any movement of the floor. After installing the springs, install the skirting boards and glue, seal or nail them to the wall.
- If the floor block the doors from closing or opening due to rising, saw off a piece of the lower part of the door until it positioned 5 cm above the wooden floor.
- Will you be installing the floor at a later date? If possible, leave the package or the packages containing the floorboards closed. Do not store the floorboards in damp rooms, in the sun, in a garage or outside. Make sure that the floorboards lie in a room where they can acclimatise with the right temperature (approximately 18 to 21 degrees Celsius) and air humidity (between 40% to 60%).
