- 1). Take off the floor trim around the edge of the room with a hammer and pry bar, taking care not to break it. Remove the nails and set the trim aside.
- 2). Roll out foam underlayment in courses, cutting them at the ends with a utility knife and taping them together along the seams with plastic underlayment tape. Cover the whole floor.
- 3). Lay one Columbia engineered flooring plank from the kit alongside the wall, with the grooved side facing the wall. Set two plastic shims between the board and the wall, to create an "expansion gap" that will allow floor movement.
- 4). Hold another plank in one hand, and use the other hand to apply a bead of laminate adhesive glue inside the groove at the end of the board. The glue should cover the inside of the groove but not come out from it.
- 5). Press the end of the board (with the glue in the groove) against the tongue of the board you laid previously. Snap them tightly together. Repeat the process of gluing and snapping for each of the other boards in the first course, putting shims between the boards and the wall. Cut the final boards in the course on your table saw as needed.
- 6). Lay subsequent courses by putting glue in the grooves along the long sides and the ends of the boards, and snapping them together. Build out across the whole floor, using different-length boards to ensure that the ends of the boards don't line up between courses.
- 7). Cut the final course of boards on a table saw so there is an expansion gap (about ¼ inch) between the boards and the ending wall. Let the glue between the boards set overnight.
- 8). Reinstall your floor trim, using trim nails and a hammer. The trim will hold down the edges of the floor and hide the expansion gaps.
SHARE
