These hills and valleys will eventually lead to unwanted bouncy spots squeaks and groans in the final laminate floor.
Concrete subfloor for laminate flooring.
Installing underlayment for laminate flooring can help reduce the sound from traveling to other rooms.
So whether you go for vinyl or wood here is a handy guide to laying flooring on concrete.
Many types of flooring can be installed over a concrete sub floor.
Laminate is a budget friendly attractive alternative to hardwood flooring.
Check for cracks and crumbling.
While the subfloor provides the foundational support for the room the underlayment is what supports the flooring material itself intended to enhance and protect the flooring.
Laying laminate flooring on a concrete subfloor is not.
The concrete subfloor must be sufficiently strong to safely support the flooring furniture and people in the room.
This also helps make your floor sound like real hardwood and not laminate.
Since laminate is a floating floor installation areas of peaks and lows can interfere with the stability of the locking system and joints.
In laminate flooring installations the underlayment is the thin flexible sheet of resilient material that is installed on top of a subfloor in order to act as a base for the laminate planks or tiles you re installing.
This is a fancy durable moisture proof and informal floor that makes good sense for basements especially.
Laminate flooring is a good alternative to wood flooring in basements.
If you have a subfloor that consists of wood on top of concrete you ll need to test both floors.
For example separation as well as creaky or uneven.
However many homeowners are disappointed to discover that solid wood flooring cannot be installed on a concrete slab.
To test for the flatness for laying laminate flooring on an uneven subfloor lay a 10 foot long 2x4 board.
Moreover the laminate flooring is easy to maintain and durable if you clean it regularly with appropriate products.
To level a subfloor for installing laminate follow the directions above to remove high and low spots.
Laminate planks snap together and float above a subfloor which means tiny subfloor imperfections are okay although again a level subfloor will help prevent damage.
This sounds fairly tedious but if you don t properly prepare your concrete subfloor it could lead to problems later on.
Look at the board where it touches the subfloor and see if there are any dips bumps or otherwise uneven areas.
However concrete is compatible with all floors.
The laminate flooring is cheap and comes in a large diversity of colors thicknesses and finishes as you can easily find one to fit your needs and tastes perfectly.
Laminate flooring is also fairly easy to install.