Tools to Fit Wood Flooring

META: Installing flooring is a goal for many new homeowners. Read our guide to everything you will need to get that perfect finished floor.

Are you looking for a quick and easy upgrade to your home? No doubt you’ve thought of getting the floors redone in that case. You’ve probably assumed it was a hassle, but you’d be wrong. Laying your laminate flooring is actually very simple with its click-in-place design that is as easy as the name suggests and allows for a smooth and durable finish. Read our guide to everything you will need to get that perfect finished floor.

The essentials

When it comes down to laying your laminate flooring, there are only a few essentials. They boil down to a hand saw, a pencil, underlay and measuring tape.

A pencil and measuring tape are easy enough to come by and let’s face it, you don’t need a recommendation there. Unless the pencil has a chronic case of snapping at the slightest weight, giving you flashbacks to high school exams, it’s fit for purpose.

However, getting a hold of the underlay isn’t quite as simple as walking into your local stationery store. You need underlay to put underneath your flooring if it is going on top of a concrete sub-floor. Luckily, they are easy to find at most DIY stores and flooring specialists. There is a range to choose from depending on what you’re laying your flooring on, what flooring you’re lying on, and whether you want it to insulate your home.

A hand saw is necessary for trimming panels of wood flooring where you need to and is simpler to use than an electric saw. It might not look like it when it’s down, but laminate and vinyl wood flooring are softer than they look, and you won’t look like Popeye after sawing through all the panels you need to. However, if you want to make it easier on yourself you can get an electric chop saw or jig saw. It’s just not the most practical thing to bring a big machine inside.

The recommended

That being said, laying flooring isn’t exactly fun, unless maybe you’re a fan of jigsaws, and you might need some items to make things easier, like knee pads. You’re going to be crawling around a lot, which isn’t as easy as when you were a kid, and you don’t want to put undue stress on your knees.

The rest of the recommended items are so that you don’t just do the job, but you do the job well. You’re going to want to get yourself a moisture meter, spacers, a pull bar, and a 2-meter-long spirit level.

Prepping for laying the flooring means making sure that the flooring is at the right humidity, and if it isn’t you’re going to have to acclimatize it, which just means to leave the panels in the room to get used to the temperature and humidity.

It’s important that you leave a 10mm gap around everything as you go, and we mean everything. The walls, the radiator pipes, the door frames, the skirting, the stairs, other floorings, and kitchen units all need that 10mm wiggle room, hence the spacers.

A pull bar will ensure that your flooring is laid nice and neat, and a spirit level will ensure your floor is laid flat, so you’ve got a floor you can be proud of at the end of your endeavor.

The know-how

Of course, you’re not likely to get your flooring down without some know-how, but luckily it doesn’t take too much to put down laminate flooring. The simple, click-in function means that you can lay your floor on your day off. The instructions are there in the packet for you, but if you need a little more detail, you can find more help on the Wood Floor Warehouse blog.