How to Measure for Laminate Flooring

Laminate Flooring is becoming increasingly popular. A common question that people wonder is how they can measure for laminate flooring. The following tips will provide you with everything you need to know about measuring for laminate flooring.

Where to Begin

The first thing you need to do is find out how much laminate flooring you are going to need. To do this, you will need to measure the width of your room and the length of your room in feet. Write these figures down then multiply them both together. This will then give you the size of your room in square feet. You will then need to add 10% for wastage.

For example:

Width 20 ft x Length 20 ft = 400 sf + 10% = 440 sf.

As a result, you will need 440 sf of flooring.

Now you need to find out how many packs you require. If the laminate flooring you have chosen comes in packs of 19 sf then just divide you room size by this number.

For example:

440 sf   / 19 sf = 23.15 packs.

Rounded up to the next pack means you will need 24 packs of flooring. You will also need to do this for the amount of underlay required.

What Else Will you Need?

If you are laying the laminate flooring over a concrete sub-floor, then you will also need to purchase a Damp Proof Membrane (DPM). Most leading brands now have underlay that includes a built in DPM. This is worth purchasing as it saves time and money.

Considering Doorways

For doorways, you will need one of the following transition profiles.

End Cap

This is used in doorways that meet carpet, ceramic or stone tiles. It can also be used to finish off the flooring against things like a sliding glass door.

Reducer

You use this when there is a difference in height between the laminate flooring and the floor covering you are meeting up with like linoleum or vinyl.

T Moulding

This is needed in doorways where laminate meets laminate, or for any time a hard surface is within 1/8 inch of being the same height as the laminate. You can also use a T moulding.

Finishing Around the Perimeter of the Room

With laminate flooring, you have to leave an expansion gap of around 10mm, anywhere the flooring meets a wall. There are two ways of hiding this expansion gap.

One way is to replace your skirting boards, this way the new skirting fits over the expansion gap. This of course adds more cost and time to your project.

The second cheaper and quicker way is to cover the expansion gap with beading/Scotia. This fits up against the skirting boards covering the expansion gap. Most brands offer beading that matches the colour of your laminate flooring.

To measure for this simply measure all around the perimeter of you room, where you are going to need beading. You will again need to add 10% for wastage. Once you have this figure you will then need to divide it by the length of the beading, they usually come in lengths of 8 ft.

You will also need to purchase a fitting kit. This usually comprises of a tapping block, pull bar and spacers.

Here is a checklist you can refer to:

Flooring Required

Width ____ft    x    Length ____ft    = ______sf    + 10% = _____sf   (A)

Divide (A) by pack size = _____ packs required.

Divide (A) by Underlay roll size = _____ Rolls of underlay required.

How many doorways

End Caps ____                Reducer____           T Moulding____

Beading

Perimeter _____ft    + 10% = _____ft

Divided by beading length = ____ft lengths beading required

Fitting Kit______

Contact Flooring Guide Today

We hope these tips help with measuring laminate flooring. Flooring Guide offers a 100% FREE ESTIMATE for your flooring needs. Give us a call today at 1-800-509-7474.