Installing laminate flooring throughout the apartment can be difficult correct design the joints of this material. Special requirements are imposed on the joints, which are determined by the desire to obtain neat and inconspicuous joints.
Laying laminate flooring can be difficult if the joints of this material are properly seated.
Priority need dock efficiently and competently laminated board occurs in the following situations:
Sometimes, due to the desire to bring to life design solutions, zoning is being done floor space by means of contrasting colors of the laminate. Such connections also need a competent design of the joints.
The best option is the selection of suitable connecting strips at the time of purchase of the floor covering. Attention should be paid what is currently on the market finishing materials several types of such strips are presented:
Used to decorate slab joints floor laminate with each other and when joining laminate with other types of flooring.
It is in demand when making joints of floor material in conditions of significant height differences.
It is used when it is necessary to arrange the joints of two perpendicularly located surfaces, which are typical for podiums and stairs.
These planks are used to frame any open edges of the laminate.
All of the above types of profiles not only have a decorative effect, but also qualitatively hide expansion joints, which must be observed when installing a laminate flooring.
Depending on the material used in the production process, several options are available for profiles, the main of which are:
Laminated plank... They are made on the basis of wood-compressed fiber coated with a decorative foil. It is possible to select a pattern that matches the coating. It is most often used for suturing the coating on areas of doorways.
Metal bar... Most often they are made of aluminum, brass or stainless steel. They are characterized by a high strength index, which makes them very much in demand for the design of areas with an increased level of traffic.
Plastic bar... A category of fairly flexible and soft profiles for joining material on curved sections. The main advantage is the low price and rich color variety. The disadvantage of such strips is represented by an insufficiently long service life (you can read about the disadvantages of the laminate).
Rubber strap. A highly specialized type of corner profiles that are used to equip stairs in order to ensure maximum safety when moving.
Any types of connecting elements are supplied for sale complete with a special fastening rail, which allows high-quality concealed installation of laminate joints.
Can be used to secure the fixing strip. glue or screws... The strongest and most functional connection is obtained when the connecting element is fastened with screws. In addition, if necessary, the strip installed in this way can be easily dismantled and without damage.
The strip is installed after the installation of the first part of the covering, and then the second section of the laminate is laid. After the process of laying the flooring is completed, a decorative strip should be installed, which snaps into place by light hammer blows through a wooden or plastic block.
Similarly, the connection of the laminate with other categories of flooring is carried out. It should be noted, that all types of metal strips are equipped with holes for fasteners in the factory, and the type of fastening is open.
Thresholdless laminate flooring is one of the options for floor finishing in adjacent rooms connected by doorways. Advantages of installing laminate flooring without joints:
But, stopping the choice on this method of installing the laminate, you need to take into account the fact that all its manufacturers do not recommend laying this type of flooring a single canvas without joints in several rooms. This is due to the fact that the material is based on wood fibers, which tend to change linear dimensions under the influence of moisture and changes in air temperature in the room. The larger the floor area, the more likely it is to swell. The joints are at the same time expansion joints that prevent unpleasant consequences.
Other disadvantages of the seamless method of doing laminate installation work include:
Important! Installing laminate flooring without joints over a large area automatically removes the warranty from the purchased material, as it is a direct violation of the installation instructions.
If you certainly want to avoid installing protruding elements between rooms, but you do not want to risk laying the laminated flooring with a continuous sheet over a large area, then you can join the laminate without a threshold to the tiles.
The joint between laminate and laminate without installing a sill can be performed if certain conditions are met:
Important! For the correct calculation of the required amount of material and more convenient work, it is recommended to complete the layout of the panels.
Rules for performing work on the installation of a thresholdless joint between a laminate and a tile:
Laminate, joined without seams, must be waterproof or moisture resistant. These types of laminate flooring are less susceptible to deformation under the influence of moisture (especially water resistant), which will help reduce the risk of bloating.
According to the method of connecting parts, a laminate is distinguished with adhesive and lock fastening (Lock or Click). The adhesive significantly enhances the moisture protection of the floor covering by sealing the joints between the panels. Therefore, in order to lay the laminate without thresholds, it is better to give preference to this particular method. But, choosing it, you need to understand that a laminated floor, fastened with an adhesive method, cannot be dismantled, unlike a floor laid with a lock method without attachment to the base.
Lock and Click laminate joints differ from each other in the sequence of installation work. Panels of the first type are laid sequentially one at a time, and the second - at once in whole rows. This must be taken into account when laying the coating along doorways. The rows may be too long. Panels with Click-type fastening cannot be laid out in narrow places, including in the opening, without additional devices. When connecting them, use a staple. One end of it is inserted into the seam, and the other is lightly hit with a hammer several times.
For laying laminate flooring, including without joints, you will definitely need a backing. It can be purchased at the same time as the flooring. Types of underlays for laminated floors:
When choosing a substrate for a seamless laminate coating, special attention should be paid to waterproofing properties.
To increase the degree of protection of the seamless laminate floor from swelling under the influence of moisture, a waterproofing layer is sometimes additionally laid. This is done in the following cases:
A clean one-piece polyethylene film with a thickness of 0.2 mm is used as a waterproofing material. Strips from it are laid across the direction of laying the substrate, with an overlap of at least 20 cm and a few centimeters overlap on the walls. They are glued together with tape. The film cannot completely replace the substrate, and it makes no sense to lay it in several layers.
Laminate without thresholds between rooms is laid in the usual way. Layout options for laminated panels:
Some features of installation without a joint appear only in the area of doorways. Work order:
Installation of a non-threshold joint between laminate and tile:
Important! If it was not possible to achieve an ideal transition between different materials, then you can install decorative molding for tiles into the seam, which will reliably and beautifully join the floor.
Laminate, laid without installing thresholds, looks beautiful, but when choosing this method of floor design, it is necessary to carefully study all its shortcomings. It may be better to prefer external advantages over reliability.
Laying laminate flooring is an important stage in the renovation of an apartment, because the floor covering is often the first to catch the eye and contact us. When working with laminate, many difficult tasks arise, including the organization of the connection of lamellas between rooms. This task is not difficult to cope with, and in this article we will talk in detail about how to dock the laminate.
As mentioned above, the joint between laminate and laminate is quite simple to make, and such a question arises only for beginners. Professionals in the field of flooring are faced with similar cases when renovating any apartment, so they have long come up with a solution - connecting strips.
By using the laminate connector, you can create a strong joint between the slabs from the joined lamellas. This joint will have not only aesthetic value, but also prevent deformation and movement of the planks under the influence of heat and moisture.
Before starting to talk in detail about the types and installation of connecting strips, it is worth mentioning that they are used only if you are going to connect new lamellas with already laid material. The connectors are not used for joining the planks when assembling the floor covering.
Specific cases where a laminate docking bar may be needed:
The docking profile for the laminate differs in the field of application, and, accordingly, in the shape, as well as in the material from which it is made.
First of all, you must decide on its shape:
With any installation of the laminate, you will have to use at least one type of connecting profiles, because the instructions say that every 7 meters you must make a gap that compensates for the expansion of the laminate, and the thresholds for the laminate will be able to decorate this opening between the lamellas. If you do not make these gaps, then the laminate may bump in some places, which will ruin the connecting locks, and you will have to purchase new material.
As mentioned above, the connecting strip for the laminate also differs in the material from which it is made:
Having chosen the desired strip, it remains to figure out how to connect the laminate with its help. First of all, you should pay attention to the mounting rail that comes with the connecting strip. This rail is needed in order to attach the connecting strip without visible fasteners, for example, self-tapping screws. In a similar way, the transition from tile to laminate is done when needed.
The process of installing the connecting strip:
It is worth making a correction here, because this method is not entirely suitable for metal profiles. They are fixed in the open with self-tapping screws, and the holes for them are prepared immediately at the factory.
Using this method, you can join laminate flooring with various floor coverings, for example, tiles, linoleum, etc.
Conclusion
Do not forget that making the joints of the laminate between rooms is on high level, because this will have a positive effect on the beauty of the whole room, as you can see by looking at the photo.
In general, when installing flooring, the greatest challenge is the joining of laminate and laminate. This is due to the fact that the joint should be neat so that it does not interfere with free movement and is invisible. Next, we'll look at how to deal with this complexity.
I must say that the design of the joints is difficult only for those who are doing their own laying for the first time. Such little things have long been thought out by specialists, so we can only use ready-made solutions... In this case, this solution is the connecting strips.
The design of joints using strips, or in another way the lock connection, turns out to be quite tight, as a result of which the tiles cannot move freely relative to each other when the humidity changes or the temperature in the room changes.
First of all, we will consider in what cases this connection may be needed. It should be understood that we are not talking about joining the tiles during assembly, but about those cases when the tiles need to be connected to a previously laid material, for which you have to use a connecting profile for the laminate.
So, the need for this operation may arise in the following cases:
Advice! By using different materials, for example, differing in color, you can perform zoning in the same room.
When purchasing a cover, you can ask the seller in advance if there are strips available that are necessary to design the joints in your particular case. It should be borne in mind that they may differ in both shape and material.
Profile form
Connecting strips, depending on their purpose, can be as follows:
- Straight profiles- used in the design of laminate joints with laminate or with other floor coverings, for example, with ceramic tiles.
- Transition profiles- located at different levels.
- Corner profiles- used in the design of joints of perpendicular surfaces on podiums and staircases finished with this material.
- Final profile- used for framing open edges of flooring material.
The above profiles are not only decorative. As mentioned above, the installation instructions for this coating require expansion joints. The connecting strips hide these seams.
Note! Expansion joints must be made every 7-8 meters. Otherwise, the coating will have nowhere to expand, as a result of which it will bulge at the joints.
In the photo - the damaged coating as a result of the lack of expansion joints
Profile materials
The connecting strips can be made of the following materials:
- Laminated- made of wood-compressed fiber and covered with a decorative film. In this case, the pattern is selected in accordance with the pattern of the coating. Since it is necessary to connect the coating between rooms as invisibly as possible, the product is usually used in doorways.
- Metallic- usually made of brass, aluminum or stainless steel. Such strips are characterized by increased strength, therefore they are used in areas of high traffic.
- Plastic- these are flexible and soft profiles, therefore they are usually used when making curved joints. The main advantage of these products is their low price and variety of colors. However, their lifespan is relatively short.
- Rubber- usually corner profiles that are used on stairs to ensure the safety of movement.
Installation of connecting strips
All of the above connectors are sold complete with a flush-mounted fixing rail.
The connection is made as follows:
- The fixing rail is fixed to the base with glue or screws. The second option is more preferable, since it allows you to install the bar repeatedly, and also provide greater strength.
- Then a second coating spreads from the rail.
- After that, a decorative strip is installed in the fastening strip, which snaps into place with light hammer blows through a wooden block.
In the same way, you can connect this material with tiled floor tiles or some other covering. You can clearly see and find out how to connect the laminate between rooms from the video below.
Advice! Metal profiles can be installed open way using self-tapping screws or dowels. Holes for them are made during production.
Conclusion
As a rule, the overall impression of the quality of the renovation and the interior is largely shaped by such trifles as the design of corners, joints and transitions. Therefore, the implementation of the connections must be treated no less responsibly than the installation of the floor material itself. The above information will help you to cope with this work quickly and efficiently.
Laminate is a modern floor covering with a number of advantages. First of all, these are high aesthetic qualities, affordable cost and ease of installation.
Thanks to this, laminate has become one of the most popular floor coverings, but its installation has a number of its own nuances. One such stumbling block is the joint between laminate and laminate.
The appearance of the floors in the apartment will depend on how well the connection of the laminate between the rooms will be. Let's consider in our article how to connect the laminate to each other correctly.
Types of laminate locks It is quite simple to join individual laminate floorboards to each other - they have special locks on the side, designed to connect them. However, the problem is usually not how to join the floorboards, but the connection of two types of laminated floors - say, on the border of the living room and the hallway.
Inside the apartment, the joining of the laminate is usually done only in two cases:
The latter option is becoming more and more common, since floor compositions made of several types of laminated flooring are a hit in interior design today.
Only a flat base will allow the laminate to last a long time.
Before joining the laminate, you should take into account several nuances, the observance of which will significantly simplify the work and increase the period of subsequent operation of floor coverings.
Docking of the lamellas should be done with a gap of at least 0.5 - 1 cm. This is an expansion joint that prevents the coating from warping with increasing humidity and temperature drops.
The splines neatly cover the joints of the laminate with other floor coverings
In addition to skirting boards and a special underlay, the standard kit for laying laminated boards also includes connecting strips, often called sills. On the modern market finishing materials presented big choice docking profiles.
Laminate paths can close irregularities in the joining of lamellas (floorboards) to each other and hide small differences in height along the seam. Their size can be from 0.3 to 2 cm, which makes it possible to connect almost any kind of laminate.
For the manufacture of a docking profile, the most various materials: steel, aluminum, plastic, cork, composite materials. The tracks can be made in a wide variety of colors and texture. For more information on the junction of laminate and tile, see this video:
The profile is attached to the floor surface using dowel-nails or self-tapping screws. It is also possible to install connecting elements using liquid nails and other adhesives.
It is important that the surfaces are on the same level From point of view design features sills can be divided into several types:
It is best to install elements made of unpainted metal as corner profiles. The fact is that corner profiles are especially prone to abrasion, so sills made of plastic or painted metal will quickly lose their appearance.
Thresholds for the laminate are mounted in three ways - open, closed and combined.
Before drilling the holes, make the markings. In an open way, decorative sills for laminate are fastened using self-tapping screws or dowel-nails. For this, there are special holes for fasteners in the docking profile.
To do this, using a hacksaw for metal or a grinder, a nut of the required length is cut off and placed in place. We mark the points where the screws will enter the floor, and we drill these places. We insert special plastic plugs into the holes, re-install the profile on the laminate and fasten it to the self-tapping screws.
The closed technology is more aesthetically pleasing, since in this case the caps from the self-tapping screws are not visible on the surface of the profile. In this case, the threshold between the laminate and other coatings is fixed using strong adhesives - liquid nails, concentrated PVA glue, etc. For the installation of sills without screws, see this video:
In this case, the glue is applied to the inner side of the profile, after which the sill is installed in place and pressed firmly for a while.
Another closed fixation method is the use of a special snap-on profile.
In this case, the lower part of the structure - the mounting plate - is attached directly to the floor using self-tapping screws.
The upper decorative part is attached to it by simply snapping in the clips.
IN this option to install the docking element, both glue and self-tapping screws or dowels are used.
A combined installation method is used when fastening sills of great length or with a large radius of curvature for their better fixation.
If you follow all the technologies for installing the sills, you can get a beautiful joint between two floor coverings. Right choice material and its installation are one of the conditions for the durability of the operation of laminated floors.
