Difficulty rating: Medium
These tasks may be tricky so will suit you if you're experienced in DIY, or simply love a challenge.
Before you get started on any of our 'how to' guides, please take a moment to read through our DIY safety tips.
Step 2: Measuring up
- Measure the width of your room at the widest points, then measure the length. Multiply them together to give you the area of your room in m2. Add 10% for wastage. Example: width 5m x length 4m = 20m2+ 10% = 22m2of laminate flooring.
- To work out how many packs you need, check the pack size - say it's 1.243m2<. Then divide your room size by that number. Example: 22m2divided by 1.243 = 17.6 packs. Round this up to 18 packs.
Watch how to measure up for laminate flooring
When laying laminate flooring, it's important to get the correct measurements. This guide will show you what to do when measuring up.
Step 4: Preparing the sub floor
- You can lay laminate flooring on any smooth, flat sub-floor as long as it's dry, firm and level.
- Make sure floorboards are firmly screwed down and flatten all nails with a hammer.
- If you have a newly laid concrete floor it must be completely dry.
- If you have an old, uneven concrete floor use a self-levelling compound. This is a free-flowing, self-smoothing material that dries flat and level. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions.
- Before fitting boards over concrete always put down a damp-proof membrane (DPM) to stop moisture coming through.
Watch how to prepare the subfloor for laminate flooring
If you are laying laminate flooring, it is important to correctly prepare the subfloor. This guide will show you which type of underlay is most suitable for your project.
Step 11: Real wood flooring
Laying real wood flooring is very similar to putting down laminate. You'll need spacers to fit real wood flooring - as you're creating a floating floor you have to leave room for expansion.
Solid wood will require a little more expertise, but with care anyone can do it! For solid wood, you'll want to use tension straps, as you'll be pulling together the glue between each slat.
If you feel gluing each individual slat will be just too messy, we sell very handy self-adhesive underlay. It glues each slat automatically simply by you pressing down.
Step 12: Finishing off
- When you've finished laying the boards, remove the spacers and put the skirting board back over the new boards. Alternatively, fix a scotia or quadrant moulding over the expansion gap around the perimeters of the room. Pin the moulding to the skirting board, not the floor, and paint or varnish as needed.

- Fit a metal or wooden threshold over the edge of the flooring in all the doorways.

Helpful hints...
To get a smooth edge around your radiator pipe, drill a hole 16mm bigger in diameter than the pipe itself. This will allow for expansion. Radiator pipe rosettes round the fitting off nicely.
When finishing off your flooring into a doorway, place a piece of laminate flat next to the architrave. This gives you a guide for where the flooring will come up to. Then you can saw just the right amount off the bottom of your architrave, and place the laminate firmly and snugly underneath. The video here shows you how to do this.
To finish off the laminate flooring altogether, use a threshold strip to create a neat connection between the other flooring.
Finally, you can remove the spacers and fix scotia to skirting boards to create a neat finish.
Watch how to care for laminate flooring
Here are some useful tips for the maintenance and care of laminate flooring.
When it comes to selecting floors for your home, laminate flooring is a popular choice and it’s easy to see why – it’s easy to fit, versatile and very durable too. You can lay laminate flooring on concrete, or on any smooth, firm and level surface, making it ideal for any room in your home.
At Homebase, we stock a wide range of laminate and real wood flooring in a variety of colours and designs to suit your individual style. We also stock all of the tools, edging and underlay that you’ll need for fitting laminate flooring.
Take a look at our range of laminate flooring and tools below or visit your local Homebase store.