San Mateo Pergo Flooring, November 2023

Some jobs go exactly to plan. In our experience that’s the minority, so it’s worth noting when it happens. This San Mateo condo got new Pergo laminate flooring, bought by the owner from Home Depot, and the installation went just as planned.

Going over the old floor

The condo had an old linoleum floor, and rather than tear it out, we installed the new floor right over it. Laminate is a floating floor: the planks lock to each other rather than being glued or nailed down, so it can go over an existing hard floor as long as that floor is flat, solid, and well adhered. This one was. Skipping the tear-out saved a day of demolition, dust, and disposal. It also avoided the unknowns that come with lifting old flooring, like damaged subfloor or old adhesive that has to be scraped up.

In a condo, what goes under the laminate matters as much as the laminate. An underlayment cushions the floor and cuts sound transmission to the unit below. Many condo associations have specific rules about it, so it’s worth checking before you buy.

Leave room to move

Whatever the floating floor, whether laminate, vinyl, or engineered wood, it needs an expansion space around the entire perimeter. These floors expand and contract with temperature and humidity. Butted tight against a wall, a floating floor has nowhere to go and will buckle or peak at the seams. The gap is small, and it’s hidden by the baseboard or quarter round, but it’s not optional.

The last row

The final pieces of any floating floor are the tricky part. Against a wall there’s no room to swing a tapping block, so the last planks are pulled into place with a flooring pull bar, a flat bar with a hooked end, or pried in carefully with a crowbar. The same tool gets them back out if a plank needs adjusting. It’s a small detail, but it’s the difference between tight, even seams along the final wall and gaps that open up later.

A straightforward job, done cleanly and on schedule. The best projects are the ones where nothing surprising happens.

Thinking about new floors? See what we install, or send photos for an estimate.