Using Snap Laminate
By: Nexstar Staff
Updated: February 3, 2012
Over time even the best carpet wears out and needs to be replaced. With so many floor covering options available today, what do you choose? More carpet, hardwood floors, vinyl or laminate?
If you want to give your home a hardwood floor look without the cost you should consider Uniclic snap laminate flooring.
The Uniclic system snaps together with locking channels and there's no messy glue involved.
The Uniclic system was developed for the professional installer to help ease and improve installation. In doing this, they created a product so simple to install that even the average do-it-yourselfer can feel comfortable installing this flooring system with professional results.
To make the installation even easier an installation kit is available with special accessories and tools such as a buffer block, light duty crow bar and spacer blocks.
In addition to the installation kit, a special padding, developed for Uniclic, is also available.
Consisting of a 0.12" thick polyethylene foam with closed cell structure and plastic top layer, it is ideal for acoustic protection so your floor is not loud to walk on, it provides heat insulation so your floor is not cold in winter, and it offers permanent pressure and shock absorption. This under floor also reduces friction when the floor expands and contracts.
Before you lay out the padding, which comes in large rolls, it is vitally important that you have a smooth clean even surface.
Once you determine which direction the laminate boards will be laid out across the floor, install the padding in the opposite direction. For example, if your boards were to be laid out north to south, run the padding east to west.
This prevents the seams of the padding from lining up with the seams of the boards and creating a soft spot that would not only weaken the floor, but could create creaking or popping noises when its walked on.
Uniclic boards come in standard lengths, usually 48" long. Before you start the installation of the boards, it's a good idea to decide on a pattern which means you're going to have to cut some of the boards to get a nice look. If you laid out the boards without cutting a few of them, all the seams would line up and not only would the floor look less beautiful, it wouldn't be as strong.
For example, on our show we decided to cut a 12" piece to start the first row, a 22" piece to start the second row, and a 30" piece to start the third and a full 48" board to start the fourth row.
These are just random measurements but we do recommend you do not cut a board less than 12" because it will not look good.
By doing this we ensured that our board seams would be staggered, in other words, not line up, and it gave us the true planked look of a hardwood floor.
Now, you will need to make more cuts and repeat this pattern for each row.
After you've made your first few board cuts, it's time to install Uniclic. And the beauty of this system is that the planks simply snap together with a click, no glue required.
Once the first few rows are in you need to place the spacer blocks that come with the kit between the floor and the wall. This will insure that your flooring material does not go up under the wall where it could creak or rub up against the wall once you're finished installing it.
Now this will leave a small gap between the floor and the wall but that's OK because you can cover that with matching molding you can buy with the kit.
Once your boards are clicked together, remove the spacers and add the base molding to cover the gaps and your Uniclic floor will look beautiful for many years to come.
If you choose to buy the kit and do it yourself, you can not only improve the look of your home but save a lot of money in the bargain.
If you want to give your home a hardwood floor look without the cost you should consider Uniclic snap laminate flooring.
The Uniclic system snaps together with locking channels and there's no messy glue involved.
The Uniclic system was developed for the professional installer to help ease and improve installation. In doing this, they created a product so simple to install that even the average do-it-yourselfer can feel comfortable installing this flooring system with professional results.
To make the installation even easier an installation kit is available with special accessories and tools such as a buffer block, light duty crow bar and spacer blocks.
In addition to the installation kit, a special padding, developed for Uniclic, is also available.
Consisting of a 0.12" thick polyethylene foam with closed cell structure and plastic top layer, it is ideal for acoustic protection so your floor is not loud to walk on, it provides heat insulation so your floor is not cold in winter, and it offers permanent pressure and shock absorption. This under floor also reduces friction when the floor expands and contracts.
Before you lay out the padding, which comes in large rolls, it is vitally important that you have a smooth clean even surface.
Once you determine which direction the laminate boards will be laid out across the floor, install the padding in the opposite direction. For example, if your boards were to be laid out north to south, run the padding east to west.
This prevents the seams of the padding from lining up with the seams of the boards and creating a soft spot that would not only weaken the floor, but could create creaking or popping noises when its walked on.
Uniclic boards come in standard lengths, usually 48" long. Before you start the installation of the boards, it's a good idea to decide on a pattern which means you're going to have to cut some of the boards to get a nice look. If you laid out the boards without cutting a few of them, all the seams would line up and not only would the floor look less beautiful, it wouldn't be as strong.
For example, on our show we decided to cut a 12" piece to start the first row, a 22" piece to start the second row, and a 30" piece to start the third and a full 48" board to start the fourth row.
These are just random measurements but we do recommend you do not cut a board less than 12" because it will not look good.
By doing this we ensured that our board seams would be staggered, in other words, not line up, and it gave us the true planked look of a hardwood floor.
Now, you will need to make more cuts and repeat this pattern for each row.
After you've made your first few board cuts, it's time to install Uniclic. And the beauty of this system is that the planks simply snap together with a click, no glue required.
Once the first few rows are in you need to place the spacer blocks that come with the kit between the floor and the wall. This will insure that your flooring material does not go up under the wall where it could creak or rub up against the wall once you're finished installing it.
Now this will leave a small gap between the floor and the wall but that's OK because you can cover that with matching molding you can buy with the kit.
Once your boards are clicked together, remove the spacers and add the base molding to cover the gaps and your Uniclic floor will look beautiful for many years to come.
If you choose to buy the kit and do it yourself, you can not only improve the look of your home but save a lot of money in the bargain.
