Laminate flooring is a great way to give any room a clean, modern finish without breaking the bank. It’s durable, easy to maintain, and with the right preparation, you can achieve a professional-looking result. Here are a few key steps and tips to help you get the best finish possible.
1. Prepare Your Base
Before you start, make sure the subfloor is completely clean, dry, and level.
Any bumps, dips, or debris will show through the laminate over time — even a few millimetres can make boards lift or creak.
- Sweep or vacuum thoroughly to remove dust and grit.
- Use a long straight edge or spirit level to check for high or low spots.
- Fill dips with levelling compound and lightly sand down any raised areas.
- If fitting over floorboards, make sure they’re fixed down tight — no movement or squeaks.
tip: Lay your laminate at room temperature for 48 hours before fitting. This allows the boards to acclimatise and prevents gaps or swelling later on.
2. Use Quality Underlay
Underlay isn’t just to make the floor feel softer — it’s essential for insulation, soundproofing, and a clean, level fit.
Different types suit different subfloors:
- Foam underlay – great for concrete floors and basic use.
- Fibreboard underlay – helps level out minor unevenness.
- DPM (damp proof membrane) – a must for concrete or ground floors to prevent moisture damage.
Roll out your underlay with the joints tight together (not overlapping) and tape them securely. Make sure it’s laid smooth with no ridges before you start laying boards.
3. Leave Expansion Gaps
Laminate expands and contracts slightly with changes in temperature and humidity. Always leave a 10mm gap around the edges of the room, including against walls, pipes, and door frames.
Use spacers between the flooring and the wall to keep the gap even as you work — these will be hidden later by skirting boards or beading.
tip: Don’t forget to leave expansion gaps around fixed items like radiator pipes or kitchen units. You can cover these neatly with pipe collars or trim later.
4. Cutting and Laying Boards
Start from the straightest wall in the room and work your way across. Mix boards from different packs as you go to blend colour variations.
When cutting boards:
- Measure carefully and double-check before cutting.
- Use a fine-tooth saw, jigsaw, or laminate cutter for clean edges.
- Stagger the joints in each row — this not only looks better but adds strength to the floor.
When you reach door frames, you can either cut around them neatly or undercut the frame so the board slides underneath for a more professional finish.
tip: Use an offcut of laminate as a guide when undercutting door frames to get the perfect height.
5. Staggering Your Boards
How you stagger your laminate boards is partly down to personal preference, but it also affects how the finished floor looks.
You can go for a brick bond pattern, where each board in the next row starts halfway along the previous one. This gives a very even, uniform look — but it takes a bit longer and usually means you’ll use slightly more boards due to extra cutting and offcuts.
The most common method (and the one most fitters use) is to take the offcut from the end of your last board in the first row and use it to start the next row. Then you simply repeat this process as you go. At first it might look a bit random, but as you lay more rows, a natural, balanced pattern forms across the floor.
tip: Always make sure your end joints are offset by at least 300mm — this keeps your floor strong and prevents weak spots or repeat patterns forming.
6. Finishing Touches
Once all boards are down, remove the spacers and fit your skirting boards or beading to cover the expansion gaps. Don’t fix these to the floor — only to the wall — so the laminate can still move naturally.
Wipe down the floor to remove any dust and check that all joints are tight and even.
Final Thoughts
My advice: if you have the time and budget, remove the existing skirting before you start laying your laminate. Once the floor is installed, you can fit your new skirting on top of the laminate. This not only hides the expansion gaps neatly but also gives a much cleaner, more professional finish.
Doing it this way means you don’t need to install beading around the edges, which, in my opinion, doesn’t look as tidy. It’s a small step that makes a big difference to the final appearance of your floor.
Laminate flooring can make a huge difference to a room, and with careful prep and patience, you can achieve a professional result. But if you’d rather save time (and your knees), we can help.
At JP Carpentry & Roofing, we supply and fit laminate flooring with precision and care — ensuring a smooth, long-lasting finish every time.
📞 Get in touch today for a free quote.
