Can a laminate be laid on a parquet floor?

In order for the floor of your house to acquire a beautiful look, laying a laminate on parquet is an excellent option. Currently, this material is in great demand among users, as it is available in various colors and variations. Moreover, a laminate is a wear-resistant material. And if you decide to upgrade your floor without resorting to the help of specialists, most likely you will wonder if it is possible to lay the laminate on the parquet floor, how to do it right. The instructions below will help you deal with this.

This process does not provide for the presence of any specific skills - you can quite do it yourself. But first you need to figure out what the laminate itself is, what properties it has and how to properly prepare the floor for its installation.

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What is laminate flooring?

Laminate is a floor covering that consists of several layers. Most domestic manufacturers produce it stylized as a tree. From here comes the name parquet laminate. But this name is not entirely true, since laminate and parquet are two different materials that have practically nothing in common. Today, this material is available in the form of boards with granite, leather and marble coating.

Of the advantages of this material, the following can be noted:

• Withstands shock.
• It is not erasable.
• It does not fade in the sun.
• Resistant to various cleaning chemicals.
• Easy to install.
• It does not require special care.

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What you need to know about preparing for laying laminate flooring?

In fact, the process of laying the laminate on the floor with your own hands is quite simple. This option will be appropriate when the floor covering has lost its original beautiful appearance, and its replacement or restoration requires large financial investments.

In this case, the old floor can serve as an excellent base for the laminate. The most important thing here is to know and not to forget some simple rules in order to lay a laminate on a parquet in a quality manner:

1. The first thing to do is check the evenness of the old parquet flooring. For these purposes, use the rule ruler.
2. Next, check each detail of the old floor separately. In the event that some of them are deformed and make sounds, you need to pull them out and replace them. In order to give evenness to problem areas, use plywood sheets.
3. If you yourself cannot understand whether the old parquet is suitable for further laying of a laminate on it, then to resolve this issue, seek the help of a qualified specialist.
4. The skirting board covering the gap should be fixed to the wall, but not to the floor.

Important! Separately, it should be clarified that it is impossible to lay the laminate directly on the floor. To do this, you need to buy the so-called substrate. If the floor is in satisfactory condition, then you can use a thick substrate, with which you remove all the imperfections of the floor.

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How to lay a laminate on a parquet floor?

After you have figured out what a laminate is, and roughly understand what the preparatory work should look like before you lay the laminate on the floor with your own hands, you can proceed with its direct installation. But before that, you should find out some important points:

• Laying this material does not require any special skills and knowledge. That is why you can cope with this task yourself. All laminate boards are equipped with locks, which makes it possible to create a solid and even floor covering.
• Before laying the laminate, it should be kept in the room, where it will be installed in the future, for about a couple of days. This is necessary so that the material is used to the temperature conditions in the room.
• The laminate must be laid so that its seams are parallel to the window light. This position will make the joints of the floor barely noticeable. After this, a row is formed, which consists of two boards.
• It is important that the new boards should spread across the old.
• The first row is laid in such a way that the grooves are against the wall, and the last board is cut so that as a result there is a gap between the wall and it.
• The second row is stacked from the board that was cut in the first row. Each subsequent panel is inserted into the lock until it clicks.
• In this way, the entire laminate is laid. The last panel is installed using a clamp.

Important! Do not forget about the recesses for pipes and other objects that are in the room.

The detailed sequence of laying the laminate on the parquet with your own hands is as follows:

• Allow the material to adapt to the temperature conditions of the room. As mentioned above, this will take about two days.
• Prepare all the tools necessary for the job (level, tape measure, knife, hacksaw, hammer).
• Prepare the old floor surface. If there are imperfections on the floor, eliminate them using a special grinder.

Important! It will be great if you apply a self-leveling screed to the old flooring.

• Lay the plastic film on the old floor so that it is perpendicular to the direction in which you are going to lay the laminate. After that, lay the backing over the plastic film.

Important! It is better to give preference to cork substrate, as it is a pure ecological material. In addition, you can use foam material, which is different in thickness.

• Laminate may be with locks, and may be glued. The first type is equipped with locks-latches or collapsible locks. The last version of the locks is particularly durable. Material with snap-locks is an order of magnitude cheaper, but it does not differ in high grip. In order to install the castle-type laminate, insert the spike of one panel into the groove of the other.
• After all of the above, you can proceed with the installation of the laminate in a brick way. This means that the ranks must be interconnected. Lay out the first row. If, as a result, the last panel is larger than the room allows, just saw it off.

Important! It is worth remembering that there should be a gap of about 5 mm between the last board and the wall.

• Start the second row from the part where the panel was cut.

Important! You need to know that it should not have a length of less than 20 cm.

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Laying a laminate on the floor with your own hands is a feasible task even for someone who does not have much experience in this matter. If you follow all the rules and recommendations, you can be sure that as a result you will get a beautiful and even flooring in your home.