Just a couple of questions for the 15 x 17 room with 16" hallway.
1. Manufacturer says that there has to be an transition strip if length or width exceeds 27 feet. Based on the room plus the hallway length, this will make 31 feet. Does that mean we have to have a transition strip where the hallway meets the living room. Hubby hates the idea, but it seems necessary to me. What do you pros think?
2. We have some bookcases that are a bear to tip upright enough to clear without gouging the ceiling. Any problem with moving them to an unfinished part of the room, laying most of the floor and them moving them into place on the finished floor?
3. Is it OK to run the laminate across the width of the hallway? We think it may look wider that way?
4. Under the transition strips where wood meets carpet, do you leave the same expansion space of 1/4" that you leave with the walls?
5. How is the transition strip attached to concrete in a floating floor situation where you are using a vapor barrier?
6. Lastly, does it make sense to "do it right the first time" and use glue throughout on the click and lock floors or will this damage them? I know Joe says to use glue on just the ends.
I've never heard of or seen any laminite flooring that says to use a transition stip if the floor is to large. It would look silly with a strip in the middle of the floor. Only where it goes through a doorway. Running the laminite diaganal across the hall way instead of along the lenght of it will work. But it will make it look shorter. By doing it that way you will not need a transition strip. I would glue along the long seams though in the hall way because your going to be trying to unlock it as you walk on it.
joecaption
Posts: 10881 | Location: Halieford VA | Registered: Jan 31, 2004
If your living room is longer then that 27 ft. then I would strt looking into another brand of floring. It's going to look silly with a raised strip, any place but in a doorway. I would apply a small amount of glue to the butt joints and those short strips.
joecaption
Posts: 10881 | Location: Halieford VA | Registered: Jan 31, 2004
We have somewhat the same room layout as you and I had a thought to pass along. When we put our 3/4" hardwoods in our house, we used two different woods. We used beech in our living and dining rooms. In the rest of the house, which includes a hallway that connects the family room to the rest of the house, we used red oak. At the transition of the two woods where the hall ends at the living room, we had to use a transition strip. It's not that bad.
My thought is, if you have found this flooring and are really set into using it, change directions of the flooring in the living room and hallway. Run it lengthwise in the living room going in the direction that the hall goes. When you get to the entrance of the hallway, stop going lengthwise, use your transition strip here and turn your flooring widthwide going across the hall to give it the wider illusion that you were looking for. If you have a box of the flooring that you have opened, lay some out near the entrance of the hall in the living room. If possible, lay some in the hallway. Buy a transition strip and lay it across the gap and just see how it looks. You might have to cut some pieces to go in the hallway and cut the transition strip to fit the hallway opening, but it might be money well spent.
JoeCaption: Running the laminite diaganal across the hall way instead of along the lenght of it will work. But it will make it look shorter. By doing it that way you will not need a transition strip.
We have had a commercial laminate flooring installed in one of the gallery spaces in the building I rent space in. They had to do just as you describe, due to the size/length of the room and place a transition piece across the room. The strip is only slightly raised, hardly noticable and honestly is not a trip hazard at all.
