- Always read the manufacturers fitting instructions thoroughly before commencing installation.
- Remember that as wood is a natural product, there is likely to be some variation in colour and grain. While this variation makes your floor unique, review the boards for characteristics that you may wish to place in less prominent positions.
Top Tip: Some boards may have larger knots and aesthetically these may be better located at the edge of a room rather than centrally.
- Before starting the installation, take a few boards to familiarise yourself with how they will fit together and consider where you’re going to have to make cuts. Bear in mind you will have to leave around a 10mm gap between the floor and the walls to account for how the wood may expand. Take note of any radiator pipes or anything else that will require cutting around. We recommend ensuring that you don’t have a plank narrower than 60mm at the edges of the room. Measure this beforehand and if necessary, cut the first plank you lay slightly narrower to accommodate this, allowing for the 10mm expansion gap around the perimeter of the room.
Top Tip: Engineered wood flooring looks best when it’s laid parallel to light entering the room, it brings out the characteristics of the grain.
- If you’re laying underlay, do this first. You can use your pencil to mark the underlay of where the joins are likely to be to help guide you. We recommend using an underlay with floating installations. Find out more about how to care for engineered wood with our guide.
- Starting in one corner, begin to lay your flooring. If you’re using tongue and groove flooring, the ‘groove’ side goes against the wall. Use spacers to keep the expansion gap against the wall consistent. If you are glueing the planks together, we recommend placing the glue on the groove and not the tongue. This gives a better spread and a stronger joint. Attach the floor plank by fitting the tongue in at around 30 degrees and then lowering it into place. Wipe away any excess glue with a sponge or cloth.
- Eventually, you will reach the end of the room and will have to cut one plank down to size. To ensure that your next board is the right size, take a new one, turn it 180 degrees and lay it up next to the previous one. Use your pencil and square to mark the area to cut. Use the off cut to start the next row to create the staggered effect.
Top Tip: We do not recommend using planks shorter than 300mm at the end of any row. You should also try to avoid two header joints being within 300mm of each other.
- Repeat the process checking as you work that all the joins are correct and neat until the whole floor is covered, and you get to the last row of planks.
Top tip: To ensure your floor looks natural, we recommend opening a few packs and randomly selecting planks from them when laying your floor.
- When you get to the last plank, it’s quite likely that you will have to cut it lengthways to finish up the room. Use the pull bar to fit the last plank ensuring that the plank is secure and in place