Laminate on concrete floor: proper installation features
In this article we will analyze how to properly lay the laminate on a concrete floor. Although the process itself is not difficult, there are still some important nuances concerning the preparation of the foundation and the principles of installation of the coating itself. Their understanding will give you the opportunity to independently perform all the necessary work and get a quality result.
General provisions
Before you start working with the material, you should be familiar with its structure and technical parameters. And if concrete is familiar to us, its strength and reliability are widely known, then it is worthwhile to dwell on the laminate in a little more detail.
Laminate structure
Laminate is a "layered cake" of several materials. Their names and purposes can be found in the table below:
| Layer number | Material name | Purpose and technical features |
| 1 | Melamine film | · Transparency. · Wear resistance. · Water resistant. It serves to protect the decorative pattern beneath. |
| 2 | Paper with image | It can have almost any shade or pattern. It perfectly copes with the imitation of such natural materials as wood, stone, metal and even leather. |
| 3 | Chipboard | · Durability. · Durability. · Low thermal conductivity. It is the basis and is responsible for the shape of the product. It also has a special locking system at the ends, making it easy to handle the installation of the laminate with your own hands. |
| 4 | Paper backing | Impregnated with moisture-resistant composition and serves to stabilize the section. |
Benefits
The structure described above guarantees the following advantages:
- A wide range of decorative ornaments on the front sidethat allows you to easily choose the original design for your own home.
- Strength, sufficient to endure the entire loadprovided on the flooring.
- Affordable price. Much lower than natural analogues that can successfully imitate.
- Simple styling instructions due to the special locking systems mentioned in the table.
- The possibility of wet cleaning.
- Long service life.
disadvantages
- The need for a completely flat foundation. The ideal base for laminate: concrete or plywood. But the laminate plate is more expensive and requires additional installation work. Therefore, we are considering a more economical option to use cement screed.
- Poor sound insulation. It is eliminated with the help of a special polymer substrate.
Assembly work
Laying laminate on a concrete floor begins with preparatory work that will help neutralize its few drawbacks.
Surface preparation
We understand how to level a concrete floor under a laminate:
- Investigate the basis on the presence of protrusions and troughs. To remove nodules and tubercles, cutting of reinforced concrete with diamond circles is used, and the pits are filled with liquid cement mortar.
- If, with the help of a spirit level, we find a surface inclination of more than two millimeters, then a leveling screed of the concrete floor is performed.
Tip: how to level the concrete floor under the laminate is best? It is recommended to use a self-leveling floor for this. Its thin liquid layer perfectly fills all the flaws and creates a coating that is ideal for any, even the most capricious, finishing coating.
Now let's consider what to put under the selected decorative layer:
- First we create a waterproofing coating. To do this, we spread the rolls of plastic film so that each strip comes to the next centimeters by ten. After that, glue all the joints with mounting tape.
Tip: it is not recommended to save on plastic film and purchase a product no thinner than two hundred microns. In the opposite case, there is a danger of damage to the waterproofing coating during the implementation of other installation work, which will significantly impair its quality.
- Now you need to equip noise insulation, as well as to protect the laminate plates from hitting hard concrete while walking on them. For this, a softening polymer substrate is used. It is laid without overlapping butt and also glued with construction tape.
In this preparation of the concrete floor under the laminate ends, and you can proceed directly to the installation of the products themselves.
Laying technology
Install laminate to the concrete screed as follows:
- We place the first section far from the door in the left corner of the room. At the same time between it and the walls we insert special wedges from plastic to maintain the technical gap.
- Further actions depend on the castle system used in the laminate of your choice and are described in the table below:
| Title | Description | Picture |
| «Click» | Bring the panel to the already positioned product at an angle of 60 degrees, insert it into the groove and push it down until a characteristic click. |
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| «Lock» | We substitute the panel horizontally to the already positioned product and force it onto the projecting “ridge”. If the section is tight, knock on it with a rubber hammer to complete entry. |
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Tip: It is recommended to choose the direction of the position of the laminate along the room from the window. In this perspective, the joints are almost invisible.
- After that when we finish a row, we collect the next next one and connect it to the already installed one. At the same time it is necessary to observe the chess order between the slats for greater structural reliability.
- So methodically fill the entire room.
As you can see, the entire installation process goes without dowels, and diamond drilling of holes in the concrete is not required.
Conclusion
Laminate has great qualities and helps create an attractive and practical flooring on its own. Concrete is the best foundation for it, and properly carried out preparatory work ensures durability. The video in this article will provide you with additional information.
The video in this article will provide you with additional information.
We looked at how to put laminate on a concrete floor, and now you will not be difficult to do it yourself.