LVP, hardwood, tile, laminate — 9 guides on installing, repairing, and maintaining every floor type. Use our flooring calculator to estimate materials first.
LVP is the best flooring for DIYers. It's waterproof, floats over existing floor (no glue), snaps together like puzzle pieces, and looks like real wood. Most 200 sqft rooms take one weekend.
Open the boxes and let the planks sit in the room for 48 hours before installing. LVP expands and contracts slightly with temperature — acclimation prevents gaps and buckling after installation.
The subfloor must be flat within 3/16" over 10 feet. Use a long straightedge to find high or low spots. Fill low spots with floor leveling compound. Sand or shim high spots. Any bump will cause planks to flex and the click-lock to fail.
Measure the room width and divide by plank width. If the last row would be less than 3" wide, cut the first row down so the last row is balanced. Mark your starting line with chalk.
If your LVP doesn't have pre-attached underlayment, roll it out across the room. Butt edges together (don't overlap). Tape seams with underlayment tape.
Set 1/4" spacers against the starting wall. The first plank's groove faces the wall. Click each plank end-to-end across the row. Cut the last piece to fit, saving the cut-off for the next row start.
Angle the long edge of the new row into the groove of the previous row. Press down — you'll hear and feel it click. Use your tapping block to close any gaps. Stagger end joints by at least 8 inches between rows.
Use a jigsaw for door frames and irregular cuts. Use a utility knife score-and-snap for straight cuts. Measure twice, cut once.
Cut the last row to width (remembering your 1/4" expansion gap). Use the pull bar hooked against the wall to tap it into place — your tapping block won't fit here.
Pull all spacers. Install quarter-round or shoe molding to cover the expansion gap. Nail it to the baseboard, NOT the floor — the floor needs room to move.
90% of squeaky hardwood floors are fixed from below the floor (if you have a basement) or from above using the Squeak-Ender method. Not one board needs to be replaced.
Have someone walk the floor while you listen from below (if possible). Mark squeak locations with tape from above. The fix depends on whether you can access from below or only from above.
Use a short screw (1-1/4") to pull the hardwood board tight to the subfloor. The exact length matters — too long and it pokes through the finished surface. Drill a pilot hole, then drive the screw in until the floor doesn't flex.
These tool kits let you drive a specially designed screw through the face of the hardwood into the joist, then the head snaps off below the surface. Fill the tiny hole with stainable wood filler.
For squeaks at board joints (not at the subfloor), squeeze powdered graphite or baby powder into the crack and work it in by stepping on the boards repeatedly. Often silences mild squeaks instantly.
Laminate installs very similarly to LVP — it floats, clicks together, and requires no glue. The main differences: laminate is NOT waterproof (never in bathrooms), and it requires more careful subfloor prep since it's less flexible than LVP.
Laminate flooring is moisture-sensitive. Any standing water — a slow toilet leak, a humid basement, a spilled glass that sits overnight — will cause laminate to swell, warp, and delaminate. Use LVP, tile, or vinyl for any room with water exposure. Laminate excels in bedrooms, hallways, and living rooms.
Open the boxes and lay (don't stack) the planks in the room for at least 48 hours at normal living conditions (65–75°F). Laminate expands and contracts more than LVP — inadequate acclimation leads to buckling in dry winter months.
Laminate planks are rigid and don't conform to subfloor irregularities the way vinyl does. The subfloor must be flat within 3/16" over a 10-foot span. Use a long straightedge. Fill low spots with floor leveling compound. Sand down high spots. Skip this and you'll hear every footstep — and planks may crack at the joints.
Most laminate needs a 2mm foam underlayment for sound dampening and minor subfloor irregularities. Some laminate includes attached underlayment — don't double up. Overlap seams by 6 inches and tape. On concrete: use a combination moisture barrier + foam underlayment to slow moisture vapor from the slab.
See the LVP guide above for the detailed step-by-step — the installation process is identical. Key reminders: 1/4" expansion gap at every wall and fixed object, stagger end joints by at minimum 8 inches, don't skip the tapping block. Use the pull bar for the last row.
Use a handsaw or oscillating tool to undercut door casings (slide a piece of flooring under the casing as a depth guide). The flooring slides under the casing cleanly — professional results with no notching. Then caulk or use shoe molding to cover the expansion gap.
One damaged plank in the middle of a floor doesn't mean replacing the whole floor. Floating floors can have individual planks replaced — it requires disassembling from the nearest wall to the damaged plank, then reassembling.
When installing flooring, always save 5–10% extra planks in the original box in a dry location. Same lot number matters — flooring color changes across production runs. A leftover plank from the original install is always a perfect match; a new box bought years later may not be.
Find the nearest wall to the damaged plank. Remove the shoe molding along that wall carefully (pry bar at stud locations, not at the molding itself to avoid breaking it). You'll be working from this wall back to the damaged plank.
LVP and laminate unclick by lifting the long edge of a plank up at an angle (about 45°) — this releases the tongue-and-groove click. Work backwards from the wall row by row. Remove and stack planks in order so you can reinstall them in the same sequence.
Once you reach the damaged plank, replace it with your matching spare. If the original plank was damaged by moisture, identify and fix the moisture source first — or the new plank will be damaged too.
Click each row back in from the repaired plank to the wall. Use your tapping block to close each joint. Reinstall shoe molding (nail to baseboard, not floor — floor needs room to expand). Done: one replaced plank, entire floor intact.