I’m so excited to share the installation process of our laminate wood look floors with you! Our new floors are from Select Surfaces Spill Defense Laminate collection in the color Smoked Hickory. It’s such a warm and cozy change from our stark white tile floors, and our home feels so much more inviting! (Head to the blog for more DIYs and home decorating inspiration!)
Full disclosure up front – Select Surfaces provided us with this flooring free of charge in exchange for this post with our honest thoughts, which are truly nothing but glowing! I can’t recommend these floors enough.
We installed them directly over our tile, which is what I’ll be outlining today!
Step 1: Make sure you move all your flooring into your home for at least 48 hours prior to install so they properly acclimate. And move all your furniture out of the way (we put ours in the garage).
Also, if you hate your baseboards, now is the time to change them, so rip those out and clean everything up. If you love your baseboards or would rather not have to redo them after, you can always just add shoe molding or quarter round at the end. You do need to leave a 3/8″ gap between the flooring and your walls for expansion and contraction of the floors, so you will inevitably have to install some kind of molding at the end. And if you are laying on tile/concrete like us and need that vapor barrier, it will ultimately be easier if you just install new baseboards because that vapor barrier has to rest at least 3/4″ up the walls to ensure a moisture tight seal. Larger baseboards will more easily cover that 3/4″.
Our baseboards were original to the house and very sad looking, so out they came. Before you begin the installation, make sure your floors are clean!
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