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DIY Laminate Installation: What the home improvement store
negleted to tell you (or did not know)
Home Improvement chain-stores will sell you on the fact that you can install your own Laminate or Engineered-Wood Flooring. They will expound about how simple it is as long as you have some basic tools and can follow some easy directions.
The first and best advice I can give you, is to pay a professional installer to properly install your expensive new laminate flooring. They have the right tools and plenty of experience. If something goes wrong with the installation, it is law (in most States) that they Must Return and Repair it at no extra cost to you (usually for one year after installation). But if you are confident that you can do it yourself, here are a couple of tips that will make life easier, and your install much better.
1. Buy a laminate tapping tool. This is the tool that you tap with the hammer to snap the inter-locking pieces of laminate together with. Never tap a piece of laminate directly with a hammer, it will damage the (tounge-and-groove) inter-lock so that piece will not be able to snap together with another piece of laminate. NOTICE: I use the word "Tap" and not "Bang" or "Pound"; which leads us to the next tip.
2. Don't "Bang" or "Pound" your lengths of laminate together. Most side to side lengths of laminate or E-Wood will snap together without the hammer and tapping tool. But for the ends to click into place, you will need to "Tap" Always Tap, just enough for them to slip and lock into place. If you pound them together with too much force, you can ruin your entire install. You will cause the laminate sections to push so hard against each other that they will try to merge. This will cause wedging (overlapping edges), warping, cupping and often chipping of the laminate surface. The actual laminate surface is very hardy and is extremely resistant to scratching, denting or chipping. The substrate (portion of material facing the floor) is not nearly as strong. If you apply to much force when you tap, the substrate will contract a bit, but the laminate will not. Therefore, the hard surface will overlap the next length of laminate and will cause damage that cannot be repaired. It will require replacement of all damaged pieces of laminate. This can be very expensive. Always use a gentle hand when working with laminates. Once all the lengths are properly installed, you may then herd buffalo on it if you want to. In other words, If it is installed correctly, it is very hard to damage.
3. Always under-cut your door-jams. For your cuts to look straight and clean you should measure the height of the laminate and the cushion you are using and under-cut all door-jams at least 1/4" higher. This will allow you to make square cuts that slip under the door-jams instead of trying to scribe around the moldings and trim (nearly impossible to do). You can use an undercut saw that is made just for this purpose, or you may use a simple handsaw and a scrap piece of laminate as a guide. Cut approx. 1/2" to 3/4" deep into the jam and trim, and use a hammer and wood chisel to break out the cuts. Under-cutting your door-jams will make a world of difference in the ease of your installation and will look more professional.
These may seem to be simple or logical details for an experienced do-it-yourselfer, But these tips can make or break an installation for those who are not experienced, or simply were not told all they needed to know.
"You can do it yourself" - and "we will help you" always sounds good until you are in the middle of a flooring install that has taken a turn for the worse; you can look behind you, but nobody will be there.
How to: Poperly Adjust Your Vacuum Cleaner
Dirt and debris is your rugs worst enemy. Each tiny particle of dust or dirt has tiny sharp edges which can cut the rug fibers as you walk over the rug (or carpet). You can only see these razor sharp edges when you look at a speck of dirt under a microscope, but they can do a lot of damage if you don't vacuum often and properly.
Some newer vacuum cleaners are self-adjusting and there is not much you can do as far as setting them up to the proper height for your rug. Most vacuum cleaners have an adjusting lever or switch and should always be adjusted for the rug or carpet you have in any given area of your home.
To properly adjust your vacuum for carpet or rug pile height, simply start your vacuum at the highest or tallest setting. Now click or switch down one notch at a time until you hear a change in pitch noise on the vacuum motor. This will be the perfect setting as it will allow the beater bar and brushes to hit the very top of the carpet or rug fibers and shake loose the dirt and debris. If your vacuum is set too high it will only remove dirt and debris by suction. If it is set too low it will not properly shake loose the dirt and debris for the suction to remove it. Setting your vacuum too low will also decrease the life of your flooring. You just end up beating your rug to death without removing the harmful debris.
It is also recommended that you vacuum in differing directions each time you vacuum. If you vacuum north to south one week, than the next week you need to vacuum east and west, then northeast to southwest, etc... (as much as is possible). Some smaller areas like hallways will only allow you to vacuum two directions and that is okay as long as you switch directions each time you vacuum.
How to: Shop for an Area Rug
How does one choose the right Area Rug for the Right Place in your home?
Which Rug Style or Texture is right for me? There are truly thousands of area rugs to choose from when shopping on area rug sites. There are thousands of patterns and colors. How does a person choose from the vast sea of rugs without knowledge of value and choosing from just a small picture on your computer monitor? The first things to consider when purchasing an area rug on the Internet are often the most overlooked. Most people shop according to Design Style and Colors. We need to shop for a rug like we shop for a car. We need to not only consider the beauty and color of a rug but we must always keep in mind the function of the rug that we are shopping for. Just as a two-seated sports-car is not suitable for a family of eight people, not all rugs are created equal. It makes common sense that an eight-person family would need a large SUV or Mini-Van so we must take this same logic and apply it to our purchase of an area rug. The first thing to consider is Application. How many people are going to walk on this rug each day? How many spills and stains are likely to take place in the next few years? How easy will this rug be to maintain? Will it clean easily? How often will I need to vacuum it? Answers to these questions cannot be found with mere appearance and color. We must gain information and get down to the meat of the matter. Today I will not talk about what fiber the rug is made of, although that also fits into the equation, but what I will reference today is the Style or Texture of the rug. Many of us are familiar with carpet terms like Plush, Sculptured and Berber. Well these are carpet textures or styles and the same rules for carpet apply for area rugs. When you shop for an area rug you must shop as if you were shopping for a wall-to-wall carpet if you are to gain the full benefit from that purchase because some rugs are better for outdoor use, some are strictly for indoors. Some hold up well in heavy traffic and some are only good for wall art. Let us now take a look at rugs from a textured point of view. The first Texture to consider is called “Saxony” or “Plush”. This style of rug can be recognized by its look of luxury and sheen as all fiber bundles are the same length. Like This: IIII. When you walk on it or drag your hand across it you can see a subtle change in the color of the pile. This type of texture also shows vacuum marks. Some people see this as a disadvantage, Yet a Saxony texture is the most luxurious look and feel that you kind find in a rug. Of course these affects are magnified when the rug is one solid color and not as notable when there are many colors. What you want to consider when choosing a Saxony (or Plush) is how tight each bundle of yarn is. The tighter the twist in each bundle the longer the rug will last and the easier to maintain. Loose twisted bundles tend to crush over time and begin to mat together causing the rug to look old and worn out before you have really even enjoyed it. This Texture of rug is best suited to less traveled and more Formal areas where you may entertain guests from time to time but not where the family lives on a day to day basis. Remember, Saxony style and Tight Twists. The second Texture to consider is a “Texture” “Textured” rugs are almost the same as Saxony but some of the fiber bundles have an added bend to the fiber bundles so that there is less chance of matting and it does not show the vacuum marks as much as Saxony. Like This: I??I??I. This style of carpet has the beauty of Saxony yet it is slightly more functional for your family. Not a high traffic style, but definitely medium and is suitable for less formal or formal settings where there is more traffic and stains. In a solid color it can appear to have two shades of the same color. It can still function as a Formal rug but is friendlier for the family. Remember, Textured and Bends at the top of the bundles. The third type of rug is a loop or Berber style. These come in a variety of loops and loop patterns, which can be nice for differing higher traffic areas, where there are more chances of stains and spills. In a low, tight and even loop pile it looks Like This: nnnnnnn. This Style or Texture of rug is great for high traffic and even outdoor use, depending on the type of fiber it is made of. It can hold up to high traffic and cleans up quite nicely, if you can get past the fact that the more sturdy rugs look kind of industrial. In fact most heavy-duty commercial carpet has this very composition and the down side is this. If you get a snag in one of the loops and the vacuum or the cat gets hold of that snag, it will run like a pair of cheap panty hose leaving a gaping chasm where the line of loops used to be. So if you choose a looped rug choose one with a low, very tight loop pile to minimize your chances of snags. Remember Loop and Low Tight Loops of fiber. The final style of rug I will discuss is the Cut-Pile Berber or Shag. Both of these styles share the same characteristics so I will discuss them as one style. These styles have longer pile bundles that tend to lie over to the side in a willy-nilly kind of way Like This: //\\\//\ (very random). Utilizing a good fiber type like Wool, Silk, nylon, PET or PTT. These can be great rugs for the family. Since you walk on the sides of the bundles instead of directly on top of the twists they will last a long time even under medium to heavy traffic. The problem with shag is this, when you buy a “cheap” shag rug on the Internet, be wary of the type of fiber it is made of. If it is polyester or olefin it will flatten out and matt badly in your higher traffic areas (like the fuzzy shag bathroom rugs). This style is great as a carpet but somewhat lacking in a rug. It is hard to vacuum without the vacuum grabbing hold and you end up dragging the rug around and fighting it with one foot on the rug to hold it in place while you try to vacuum the rest of the rug. It also can have a tendency to curl at the edges where it can become a trip hazard. Unless you buy a higher end Shag rug made out of good fiber, make sure you buy a large shag rug. At least 8x10 or 10x13 so that you don’t have to continually fight with it to make it behave. Remember Cut-Pile Berber or Shag and long fiber bundles that lie on their sides. Now that you are more acquainted with the “Style” or Texture of Rugs you can make a more informed decision as to which style will work best in your home, office or patio and be more satisfied with a long term approach to buying rugs. It’s not all about pure beauty. Do some study and write down some notes before you make your purchase and you can be much happier with your results. By the way the wool rugs that we provide on our website are Saxony (Plush) style rugs. But since they are quality fiber with good tight twists, and you don’t try to use them outdoors, they are good all around rugs for the average family without breaking your budget.
Article By: Charles Beason I am a Flooring Design Consultant & Estimator in Barstow, California. I am currently consulting at Carpets -n- More (see their Ad on www.merchantcircle.com) as well as operating my web site where I feature a Limited Selection of Fine Wool Area Rugs to complament any home design theme. If you have questions concerning any type of flooring please post them to our Blog (forum) area at: or send me an email using form below
How to Care for Area Rugs
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