How Do You Install Trim For Laminate Floors?
Laminate floors today are generally designed to be “floating” floors, meaning they aren’t nailed or glued, but merely sit on a bed of foam underlayment. What holds them in place is the floor trim around the edges of the room–which serves a double-purpose of covering the 1/4-inch expansion gap between the new floor and the walls. If you can salvage the existing floor trim and re-use it after the floor is installed, this is the easiest method because all the right cuts are already made, but installing new trim isn’t difficult. With your hammer and prybar, gently remove the floor trim, taking care not to break it. If your floor trim consists of more than one layer of trim (i.e., baseboard with quarter-round in front of it), remove only the quarter-round or other trim that’s furthest out on the floor. Remove the nails from the trim that you took off by tapping the sharp end with your hammer until the head pops up on the other side, then grab the head with your hammer claw and pry it out.
