So you're looking to change up the flooring in your home! Maybe tile or hardwood is't in your budget. That's perfectly okay, laminate flooring is a great alternative. In today's world laminate has come a long way and it's not hard to find an awesome looking laminate to spruce up your home. This time I'm talking about the peel and stick style laminate tiles, not the large sheets of laminate. Here's the deal, I have a rental property. The old flooring was well past its lifespan. I needed to make a change. Being a realtor I have an appreciation for nice flooring but tile just wasn't in my budget. I was able to find some nice looking peel and stick laminate flooring. I took my measurements and I went to my local Home Depot to pick up the flooring that caught my eye. "Easy days work" I thought in my head. HA, I thought wrong! It turned out to be a lot more work then I imagined. I'm not here to go into detail step by step on how to properly install laminate flooring but I can give anyone some pointers on what NOT to do.
1. Do not just stick it over top of your existing flooring. You're not fooling anyone! It will look tacky and everyone will notice, trust me! I was once in a house where the floor just felt off, raised, and just didn't match up right with the kitchen cabinets and appliances. Come to find out there were 10 layers of laminate underneath. Talk about lazy!! Just take the time and remove, or have the old flooring removed!
2. Do not just start peeling and sticking the tile all over willy nilly like a 3rd grader with a 1,000 pack of spongebob stickers. Please take the time to do a test run. Line the laminate tiles up in a line before peeling and see where you will have to cut and modify the tiles.
3. I know it's hard not to drink after spending countless days in your home quarantined with your family. When you decide to lay the laminate, do not do it drunk. That's all I'm going to say about that. Just being honest, been there done that. You think it looks great. But......
4. Do not just eyeball it. If it doesn't line up correctly, use a level to cut it to where you need it to be. If you dont you will end up with some pretty horrific flooring. The edges and tile sizes should be cut to fit perfectly and straight with the other pieces in areas where cutting is necessary.
5. Do not be lazy! Remove the quarter round or trim work! Please do not just go against the trim work. It's noticeable and you will not like the results. You'll end up wasting time redoing it anyway. Take the time and remove the trim work. Pick up a few extra pieces of matching trim at your local hardware store because you will break it. Especially if you've had a few millers like I did LOL.
I hope you learned a few tips about what NOT to do while laying laminate flooring, and I hope you got a good laugh as well. During these quarantined times I know the "honey-do" list is growing so take my advice do things the right way. I guarantee it will make your partner a lot happier and you'll feel more accomplished at the end of the day. If you follow these steps on what not to do, maybe yours won't look half bad!
