Which Side Do You Cut Laminate Flooring

However a diamond blade is recommended as laminate can be tough to cut through and may damage another type of blade.

Which side do you cut laminate flooring.

In fact you can cut the planks using a table saw miter saw circular saw hand saw or laminate cutter. To cut laminate flooring measure and mark the laminate s surface so you know where to cut then use a circular saw or a handsaw with at least 18 teeth per inch to make straight cuts. Make sure the teeth hit the good side and you shouldn t have any issues with chipping. If you are just learning how to cut laminate flooring understand that you don t need a special saw.

If you mix the two up and start with the groove side you will have difficulty completing the installation because you will essentially be. You will have to make a cut or two for your beginning and end piece. Which side to cut laminate flooring i m with wbrooks. With the correct setup and tools cutting installed laminate flooring is not difficult and it looks good when completed.

If you need to make curved cuts create a paper pattern first and place the pattern over the laminate to ensure accuracy when you re cutting. If you use a table saw make the line on the front of the piece. You can of course cut laminate flooring with a table saw circular saw or jigsaw just as you do solid wood flooring but the results can be disastrous if you don t take the time to do it right. Set your jigsaw to its highest speed and go slowly for the most accurate laminate cuts.

This will ensure that the blade teeth enter the face side first and this reduces chipping on the face. If you do use a circular saw make your cut line on the back of the laminate. The bulk of a laminate plank is made up of a high density fiberboard core and some planks have an. This coating chips easily so you need to cut laminate flooring boards with care.

A miter saw is nice because all you need is a simple little mark and the saw will do the rest of the work this is the ideal tool and can cut perfect 90 degree cuts or any other angle up to 50 degrees for most saws. Laminate flooring is layered like plywood and the top layer usually consists of a coating of hard plastic. Step 1 mark the laminate flooring along the desired cut line by using a chalk line. You want to somewhat have the laminate or vinyl plank close to where it is going to be so you don t cut a plank short or long.

The first thing that you want to do is lay out your first few rows of laminate flooring from wall to wall. If you re going to be putting baseboards or quarter round over the floor then i wouldn t worry about chipping as the boards quarter round will hide it anyway. A pencil or a permanent marker can also be used if a level is employed as a straight edge. You can use either a sliding model or a non sliding model just make sure the blade is large enough to cut the entire width of the laminate flooring in one pass.