Do we put laminate on plywood with our own hands? Easy- Instruction- Review + Video

Is it possible to put laminate on plywood and how to do it yourself.

Laminate is the most popular flooring material at the moment. It is used both for apartments and for private houses. The main advantage of the material is that the quality of the floor after laying at a height and the price is low, and the coating serves faithfully for many years. If you compare, the parquet board will be many times more expensive.

Also, the advantages include the fact that the laminate has a large selection of colors that will fit into any interior.

And there is only one drawback, which is that the material is thinner than parquet. To keep your floors warmer, people lay laminate over plywood.

Conditions for even laying

To ensure that the flooring can be used for many years, it should be laid on a perfectly level floor. If you do not carry out the preliminary leveling work, then cracks will soon appear between the panels, into which debris will clog, and because of this, the material will deteriorate.

Before starting work, the room to be converted should be well ventilated. Do not install the flooring in a room with high humidity levels.

How to align

The nice thing is that the laminate can be laid on plywood and on almost all other materials. Someone is laying it on concrete floors, and someone on wooden floors. Experts say that you can even leave the old linoleum if your floors are perfectly flat, and then it will act as insulation, which is a plus.

If floor defects are obvious, you should immediately fix everything. This includes defects such as depressions and cracks. If there is a slope, it also needs to be removed and leveled. When starting repair work, people are often interested in what to lay plywood on, so that later they can lay the laminate on it. You can leave concrete or any other coating.

Most often, leveling work will take much more time than laying floor material. To make the process fast, professionals in their field recommend laying laminate over plywood. For this, the sheet should be fixed on wooden boards. If before that there was parquet in the room, we will lay the installation directly on it. To obtain a warm floor, it is not necessary to use a heating system, and plywood under the laminate will also provide additional sound insulation.

Selection of material

Before starting work, you should carefully consider the selection of materials, in particular plywood and its special components in the composition. It must be safe for human health, and it must not contain toxic substances. The material will serve as a base for the coating and therefore should not be expensive.

Plywood for laying laminate can be divided into three types:

1. FOF, which is a specialized material and which is used in industry. It has certain features in its application.

2. Moisture-resistant plywood (FSF), which contains substances hazardous to human health in the adhesive solution. It cannot be used for decoration in kitchens and bathrooms.
3. Specialty plywood for residential buildings (FC).

Wood for the manufacture of plywood is taken from coniferous or birch species. The material that is obtained from the use of conifers will not rot after a while, but still harmful substances will remain in the glue, and this type is suitable only for roofing work.

Birch plywood (FC) is used for decoration and interior work, as well as for creating furniture. When choosing a base material for a laminate, you should choose this type. Such plywood has a certain quality classification, which is divided into four classes. The first is that material. Which is perfectly smooth and free from knots.

But plywood of the fourth class is considered the most fragile, but the second class of material is perfect for the floor.

Tools and devices

How to lay the laminate on plywood with your own hands if you have not chosen the tools for work yet?

For you will need to be purchased or borrowed from friends:

1. Marking square, as soon as after marking it is possible to start cutting panels
2. Jigsaw, because with it you will cut the laminate.
3. Construction tape 5 m, which will be needed to measure panels.
4. Padding block that will be needed to pad panels at the optimum distance. Experts advise taking plastic blocks that are more convenient for work than wooden ones.

   These tools will not chip the laminate.

5. Stop wedges for creating gaps between the wall and the floor.
6. Perforator, which is required to install the skirting boards, and with the help of dowels, fastening will be carried out.

Leveling methods

There are several ways to level the floor:

• With plywood ..

  .

• Scrap the floor if unevenness is present. But in this case, the irregularities should not be more than 0.6 cm and they should be processed in turn with an electric machine. If there are few irregularities, you can use sandpaper.

• It is possible to lay the laminate on plywood and logs, and this method is relevant when floors creak or slope. For this, slats are attached to the base of the concrete, which will be lags.

DIY plywood flooring

Before laying the laminate on the plywood, you should deal with the first layer and lay the plywood.

This is a painstaking process and therefore there are several steps:

1. First, divide a sheet of plywood into squares. Usually they are sawed, and then laid out and adjusted to size.

   Take into account the peculiarities of the room where you will lay the floors, since after laying the sheets should not be placed close to the walls. There must be a small gap, but its size should not exceed 2 cm.You will need a pencil to number the sheets so you don't accidentally mix up the stacking order. Do not make long seams, and it will be convenient to offset each sheet when laying.

2. Then comes the floor screed.

   It is made with concrete. It is better not to skip this stage, especially if there are wooden floors as the base for the laminate. Allow the floors to dry before proceeding to the next step. This can take up to 30 days. The screed should also be covered with polyethylene, and covered with bars around the perimeter, and after three days the film can be removed.

   If there is no excess moisture, you can start laying the laminate. If there was moisture on the film, wait a little longer for the screed to dry out.

3. Now coat the plywood with a special solution, i.e. a primer.

   Apply a layer of glue to the screed, lay the sheet on top and fix it with self-tapping screws. After that, the plywood should be sanded. Most of those who made plywood flooring finished the surface with drying oil. She will help to make sure that the material does not become moldy in the future. Also, do not forget to waterproof the floor.

Advantages of plywood

Among other options for substrates, plywood has certain advantages: it provides good sound insulation, as well as thermal insulation. The biggest advantage is that plywood has a heat saving effect. It is pleasant to walk on such warm floor. Plywood makes it possible to hide all the irregularities and small defects that were not eliminated during the preparation stage. Styling is straightforward and you can handle it yourself.

Tips for laying

The technology of laying laminate on plywood has a number of nuances. Work should start from the far corner, preferably away from the door. The first row of panels is laid horizontally. Pay attention to the joints and how the boards will lay down in relation to the wall. in order not to move the gap between the floor and the wall, put stops that can be bought at a hardware store.

They come in wood and metal. After finishing the laying of the first row, one board should rest against the wall. Cut off the excess with a jigsaw. And now a trick that you use when laying the second row - the joints at the ends should not coincide with the first row. Take a new panel and cut a small piece from it (about 1/3).

From her there will be the beginning of a new series.

On the second row, we begin to fasten the boards, and then we attach them to the first row. When installing laminate flooring, be careful not to damage the panel. For this, a block is useful, which is placed against the panel and beaten on it. It remains to bring the rows to the end, while leaving gaps between the laminate and the wall.

Laying options

There are several ways to lay the laminate on plywood, one of which is herringbone. This is the most difficult technique, and if you cover the apartment with one canvas without thresholds, this is a master of his craft.The connection of the panels can be different, it all depends on the type of lock. Ideally, you have a minimum of waste.

Process Features

It should be borne in mind that the laminate is a "floating floor" that is based on anchoring.

Laminate flooring cannot be glued to the floor, and it is held by the adhesion of the elements to each other. Fasteners and plywood laying should take place in a well-heated room, in which the humidity level does not exceed the norm. Otherwise, the coating will start to rot and will need to be redone in the near future.

When installing flooring in the kitchen, professionals recommend sealing the joints. This is due to the fact that the kitchen is the place where most often something is spilled, and the laminate, as you know, is afraid of water.

At high humidity levels, it can swell. If the laying was done in a monolith, that in order to replace one component, you will have to disassemble the entire structure. For this reason, a sealant will be the best option and should definitely be used. Also, be careful when using the flooring you further. Do not abuse water, and carry out wet cleaning with great care, so that there is no water on the floor.

Timing

Typically laminate installation takes about 5-6 days. Most of the time will be spent on preparation before starting installation, it will take a day to create and dry the screed. So, in a week you can definitely lay the laminate.

End actions

After you're done, remember the wedges and remove them. After that, it remains to install the skirting boards.

Cut points can be made invisible by using plugs. And yes, think about conducting all communications in advance, and cut out special holes if necessary.

Conclusion

We hope you have received a complete and detailed answer to your main question "How to lay laminate flooring on plywood?" As you can see, it is quite possible to do it yourself, but in order for the result to please, follow all the instructions.

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