Laminate Wood Flooring

[Mike69]

Not really sure which direction I should lay the floor down in my bedrooms. All 3 bedrooms have the door opening and closet on the same side and are pretty much squared. So is it best to lay them length or width wise? I'm going to have to use some sort of T-Molding between my door and hallway since the rest of the house is tile. Another thing is that there is a height difference between where the tile and vinyl floor will be meeting. Is there a proper molding for the difference in height?

[GrayStangGT]

I was told to lay the planks perpendicular to the window to make it look bigger, but I don't know if that is true or not. The way my house is going to work out 2 bedrooms will be perpendicular to the windows and 2 won't because I want the flooring in the entire house going the same direction.

[Mike69]

I only have one window in each room that is opposite of the entryway and closets. So if I run the floors perpendicular to the window I'd be running the floors into the entryway and closet. Most videos I have seen show them running the floors parallel with the entryway and closets. So just trying to see how you fellas did it because I can't figure out which would be the best way and easier way.

[black2002ls]

I only have one window in each room that is opposite of the entryway and closets. So if I run the floors perpendicular to the window I'd be running the floors into the entryway and closet. Most videos I have seen show them running the floors parallel with the entryway and closets. So just trying to see how you fellas did it because I can't figure out which would be the best way and easier way.

We generally run our wood perpendicular with the entry. (Planks running front to back as you enter. Walking the length of the wood) Though we are seeing an increasing number of people who want it layed parallel with the entry. (Planks running left to right as you enter. Walking across the planks.)

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[Chili]

At our place we just laid a few planks down to get an idea of the look and went with what we liked best. We factored in the number of transitions as well. We ended up with only one transition, which looks good. The downside though, is that because the vinyl planks have a little flex to them, the bigger the areas can be a bit of a pita with areas that are not perfectly square.

[GrayStangGT]

We generally run our wood perpendicular with the entry. (Planks running front to back as you enter. Walking the length of the wood) Though we are seeing an increasing number of people who want it layed parallel with the entry. (Planks running left to right as you enter. Walking across the planks.)

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Is it normal to want the whole house going the same direction or am I just OCD? I will end up with 3 bedrooms parallel to the entry and the master perpendicular if I match the direction of my living room, dining and hall.

[black2002ls]

All of ours get installed laying the same direction.

With anything that is tongue and groove, whether it is glue down or floating, they wont interlock where you change direction.

The only way I would entertain changing direction is with a material change

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[GrayStangGT]

Ok, I was just double checking, didn't want to hurt my resale since I will probably only have this house a few more years.

[Mike69]

While I was purchasing the traffic master allure flooring the guy from Home Depot told me if I'm installing it on concrete floors to use one of the plastic moisture barriers. Looks like black thrash bags. Did you fellas use a moisture barrier?

[yellowstang]

When I did laminate in our old house, like 10 years ago, we used a red/white moisture barrier. It had some type of noise reduction shit in it, like maybe little white bubbles of styrofoam or something.

Looked like this one.

[Chili]

While I was purchasing the traffic master allure flooring the guy from Home Depot told me if I'm installing it on concrete floors to use one of the plastic moisture barriers. Looks like black thrash bags. Did you fellas use a moisture barrier?

Not with the Allure.. In fact, if I recall, the directions specified no moisture barrier needed. We didn't use one anyways.

I doubt it would hurt anything to do so, if you want to be safe..

BTW, just make sure it's truly floating and you leave space around the edges for expanding and contracting. And let the stuff sit in the boxes inside the house for a couple of days before installing. The expanding and contracting causing the joints to separate or squeeze in are the main problems I have heard about.

[Mike69]

Not with the Allure.. In fact, if I recall, the directions specified no moisture barrier needed. We didn't use one anyways.

I doubt it would hurt anything to do so, if you want to be safe..

BTW, just make sure it's truly floating and you leave space around the edges for expanding and contracting. And let the stuff sit in the boxes inside the house for a couple of days before installing. The expanding and contracting causing the joints to separate or squeeze in are the main problems I have heard about.

I read the same thing but the guy said that concrete sweats and that was the reason for putting down the plastic moisture barrier. I'll look more into it and see what I can find out.

[onjacks]

Look into cortec flooring by us floors. It's much thicker than the cheap thin vinyl plank found in most box stores. I've installed over 10,000 sqft of this crap and it's nice.

I'm actually getting ready to do a whole house tomorrow. Ill post some pic as we get it down.

[Mike69]

Look into cortec flooring by us floors. It's much thicker than the cheap thin vinyl plank found in most box stores. I've installed over 10,000 sqft of this crap and it's nice.

I'm actually getting ready to do a whole house tomorrow. Ill post some pic as we get it down.

I've already purchased the flooring from Home Depot.

[fordracing19]

Here is my work office we painted and put the vinyl planks in.

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