How To Measure Your Room For Laminate Flooring
How To Measure Your Room For Laminate Flooring description
Laminate Flooring is becoming increasingly popular and the
question I keep getting asked time and time again ?How do I
measure for Laminate Flooring?. Because of the amount of times I
get e-mails and phone calls asking this question I thought it
would be best to write an article regarding it.
Where do I start?
Right let us start at the beginning. 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
also 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.
Example:
Width 5 metresx Length 4 metres = 20sqms + 10% = 22sqm
So you will need 22sqm of flooring.
Now you need to find out how many packs you require. If the
laminate flooring you have chosen comes in packs of say 1.5sqm
then just divide you room size by this number.
Example
22sqm divided by 1.5sqm = 14.66 packs.
Rounded up to the next pack means you will need 15 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.
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 anytime a hard surface is within 1/8 inch. of
being the same height as the laminate, you will can use a T
moulding.
Finishing of 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 2.4 metres.
You will also need to purchase a fitting kit. This usually
comprises of a tapping block, pull bar and spacers.
Check List.
Ok now we know how to measure for laminate flooring here is a
measurement check list you can print out to make it easier for
you.
Flooring Required.
Width ____metres x Length ____metres= ______sqm + 10% = _____sqm
(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 _____metres + 10% = _____metres
Divided by beading length = ____ lengths beading required
About the Author:
I hope this information was helpful for you. My name is Jason
Ashby and I have over 20 years experience in the flooring trade.
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