If you are looking for some tips on how to cut laminate flooring, here are some things that could help to make the job easier and more professional looking.
Laminate flooring is known for being a great project for homeowners that love to work on home improvement themselves. If you are a DIY lover, you will appreciate knowing how to cut laminate flooring. Flooring installation can become a time-consuming process, but when you take the time to understand what you will be doing; the process will be much simpler.
Before you begin the process of cutting your wood floor laminate, round up all of the necessary tools. Try to have all six handy tools before you begin the installation, this way, your DIY project will go much smoother.
Types of Saws
Some laminate floor installers like to use a framing blade, while others go with a fine-tooth paneling blade. I mostly use a framing blade because it lasts longer on the job. When I cut with a framing blade I make my measurement on the bottom side of the flooring piece, as this allows me a smooth finished cut on the top laminate side.
Straight Runs
On the straight runs when I come to the wall or baseboard I always measure from my last full piece to the wall and take off 1/4″. Then I take a new piece and cut that measurement off.
Ripping
When getting to a piece of laminate flooring that needs to be ripped, I follow the same procedure as above, allowing 1/4″ on the end and also 1/4″ off the rip thickness.
Cutting Around Door Jambs
When you get to door jambs, check to make sure that the piece of flooring plus the pad will fit under the jamb and door casing. If it fits, fantastic! If not, I suggest marking your jamb and door casing and cutting them with a jamb saw. Doing this will make cutting floor pieces around doors easier and give a more finished look.
When the cutting of the door jamb and casing is finished, measure the piece that needs to go between the door jamb and the full piece that it will connect to and add 1/4″ to your first cut or notch and subtract 1/4″ from your second cut or notch. This should leave you with a “U” shaped cut (but the bottom of the “U” would be flat instead of rounded). I then take a saber saw or hand jig saw and cut out the “U” shaped piece and install that piece.
Never cut your laminate wood floor in the room where you install it. When wood dust gets stuck in the flooring locking system you may have problems to lock planks together during the installation.
You can cut laminate flooring with table saw, but in my opinion the cleanest and easiest option is using a jigsaw blade with teeth pointing down. Use it together with an old 5 gallon bucket and cut the flooring right over it, this way the saw dust will fall into the bucket- no mess equals easy clean up. One more benefit of using jigsaw- there will be no chipping on the top surface.
I hope that these tips on how to cut laminate flooring helped. If you have any questions for me on this topic, or any other part of installing a laminate floor, please visit my website.
No Comments