The Cost Of Laminate Flooring

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I've got few emails about my last post so I decided to write a bit more about laminate flooring for basement. Since you guys wanted to know how much will this kind of flooring cost you, here is another long post for you all. I hope it will help you determine the real value of basement laminate flooring so you can install one in your own home. Enjoy!

The cost of installing laminate flooring for an average-sized basement of about 100 square feet varies from $600 to $ 1500 and would largely depend upon the kind of laminate flooring you decide to have in your basement. The wide variation in price is due type of laminate flooring that may be glued laminates or glue-less variety or a floating flooring. Further, depending on the kind of flooring, you need many different tools for an installation of the same.

A helpful feature of floating laminate floors is that it doesn’t require many tolls and the installation is rather easy. On the other hand, glue less laminate floors or the glued laminate floors necessitate the use of many tools for getting the flooring right. In any case you have to prepare your floor before you proceed with the installation of a laminate floor. the list of tools for the purpose includes a pry bar for removing and trimming the shoe molding, a level to check that the floor is evenly leveled, a cold chisel to pull out the cold flooring and a ball-pen hammer to hit the chisel. You’ll also need a putty knife for preparation work and a floor scraper for removing all the residue from the floor.



In case you have a wood sub-floor, a belt sander will be required to smoothen the surface. You could require a jamb saw for cutting the doorjamb or other trimmings to get the clearance needed for the flooring. But, you need not necessarily buy a jamb saw, and hire one for the purpose. Then, you need a trowel to smooth the leveling compound. All these tools along with a rented saw will amount to about $100.

You’ll need additional tools for the installation of the basement laminate flooring. These tools are a backsaw and a miter box, needed for making angular cuttings on the floor. You make straight cuts with a circular saw that has a carbide blade; while curves are achieved by using a saber saw that has a laminate blade. You really don’t have to buy these. Instead, hire these from your local hardware store. Normal rent for these will be in the range of $20-30 a day. The basic tools needed for the installation of laminate flooring in the basement will be around $100.

You will require coping saw, hacksaw, utility knife, screw clamp, straps, pull bar, driver, electric drill, tape measure, marker, caulking gun, a tapping block, claw hammer, clamp, and nails. The long list of needed items need not upset you as you also get laminate floor installation kits. The kit contains all the tools you will need to complete the job. Its price varies from $350 to $500 and saves you a lot of time in collecting each and every item. The kit may work out to be slightly more expensive than if you bought the items individually.

If you intend installing glued laminate flooring, you will need to have glue also. While you consider having laminate flooring in the basement you should use glue even with glue-less laminate flooring. This goes to provide extra sealant in areas that tend to remain humid or attract moisture, for example areas beneath the dishwasher or the refrigerator.
The additional protection provided by glue and sealant gives additional life to your floor, making them last longer. The cost of glue and sealant for the basement will be around $40, whereas the cost of laminate flooring varies from $0.65 to$3.0 per square foot, depending upon the kind of flooring you opt for. The total expense for an average-sized basement of about 100 square feet may vary from $100 to $600. It all depends upon the kind of flooring, whether you like to go for glue-less planks or the glued laminate flooring. The quality of the laminate and the protection provided to it makes all the difference in costing.

Laminate flooring also needs to have an underlay. That comes in the form of rolls of 100 square feet. Its average price is about $0.30 per square foot or $30 for a roll of 100 square feet. When buying the underlay or the laminate itself, you should buy a little more than the actual measurements of the basement. That extra length will take care f the errors that one makes while installing the floors. Depending on the actual size of your basement and the kind of flooring that you decide to have for your basement the project cost for installing laminate flooring in your basement may vary from $600 to $1500. Of course, you have that choice of buying the tools separately or buy a complete kit.

As you know the basement area tends to have mold around the sink, refrigerator, dishwasher, as all these appliances are associated with water in some form the other.
Therefore it would be worthwhile to provide more protection to the flooring there, else you might have make recurring expenses for its maintenance. For the same reason, you should consider having better quality laminate flooring for the basement.