# Going through doorways with laminate



## compounder (Jul 23, 2008)

Hi

Ok...this is my first time installing laminate flooring. I'm doing it my own home (thank goodness) and I've run into a problem.

I'm running the flooring (Surface Source from Lowe's) perpendicular to the doorway into a bedroom from the hallway. How the heck do you continue the flow through the doorway and throughout the room without t molding? If I continue to run the planks through the doorway, the way they're facing, I won't be able to "click and lock" the other planks together because they'd be facing the wrong way. Any advice?

Thanks in advance!


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## FrankTheTorontoRealtor (Jul 23, 2008)

Best results
Undercut the door jambs. For a professional looking finish, the laminate planks have to slide under the door trim. Draw a horizontal pencil line the thickness of the laminate and the underlayment and use a coping saw to undercut it.

works when need be
Or make a near perfect paper or light cardboard template of the door jam at the floor so that you can use a fine coping saw to cut the boards to fit near perfectly. Once your throught you can usually find a color mathing caulking that can be appied to super finish the edge.

fj

leave room for seaasonal expansion and contraction. 1/8 inch from any wall.

fj

There will be times when it's absolutely impossible to both snap the laminate flooring planks together and get the laminate under the door jamb. 
When this happens, use a sharp utility knife to shave off the locking part of the laminate edges while leaving the flat part of the connector intact. This will allow sliding the two planks together to mate. Be sure to add a small bead of wood glue to ensure that the planks will remained mated. Titebond woodworking glue is the best choice. 

Don't use Gorilla Grip glue; it'll foam out of the joint as it dries.

fj


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## 26yrsinflooring (Jul 1, 2008)

1/8 is not enough. The floor instructions should dictate at least 1/4 expansion.

You are in a pickle. When we do floors we always work away from the door casings after we undercut them as Frank said.

The one procedure you have left is get some laminate glue and cut the lock off board.
The few times this happens to us we slip a sharp blade down the lock burr taking just enough off it to allow for a tap in, not a hard tap, a light tap.

Sometimes we use the glue sometimes not.
It depends on how tight we can get it.
Practice with a board scrap to see what I am saying then Giterdone!
Good luck
Let us know how it goes.


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## compounder (Jul 23, 2008)

*Still not sure*

I figured it would be hard to explain the pickle I'm in without drawing a picture. Let me try again...

I've gone down the hallway and started into the bedroom this way
__________________________
__________________________] <-----doorway
__________________________]

When I went through the doorway with my first board and it ended up going into the bedroom, it leaves both sides of plank open. In other words, if you are facing the doorway and looking at the plank, I can click and lock to the left of the plank, no problem. Working to the right is where the problem is. I understand about shaving off notches and glueing but I'd have to do that to ALL the boards working to the right of that starter plank.

_________________________
_________________________

Say the above lines are one of the planks. The top part is the side that you lock into. Working to the left (or from the top) is no problem but what about all the work to the right?

Hope this makes more sense!


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## 26yrsinflooring (Jul 1, 2008)

It is still a little hard to understand what you are saying.
I think I get the gist.

Draw it out on Mpaint then save it and add it to your pics.

Or draw it out and email it to me. my email is in my profile.
I will post it and then we can work it out.
I will not be back to this board until after 6pm tonight.


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## NailedIt (Jun 19, 2009)

Yes... this is a long-dead thread, yet I was looking for something and saw that nobody advised OP that you can indeed snap laminate flooring together in reverse. I'm not sure that all glueless laminates would be able to be installed that way, but I've just installed the type sold at Lumber Liquidators and was able to carry the floor from a hallway into an adjacent closet with no break in the floor, in 3 directions away from the door opening. I'd attach a pic, but the closet is a bit messy. SO... I ran the first plank all the way to the wall opposite the doorway, then laid planks both directions to fill the remaining space in the closet with *no* problems locking the flooring together. For further clarification, I haven't installed any doors or base trim on this section prior to the flooring.


RIP thread, sorry to disturb you...


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## Player (Jun 20, 2010)

NailedIt, how did you click it under the door casing on both sides? Seems like this wouldn't be possible.

What if you're running the laminate parallel to the door way and need to get it under the casing on either side of the door? How is that accomplished?

Thanks!


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