Is Underlayment Needed For Laminate Floor

Without this support the boards can buckle when you walk on them and the seams may separate.

Is underlayment needed for laminate floor.

Underlayment for laminate flooring is a must since laminate is a floating floor it must be evenly distributed across your subfloor. In laminate flooring installations the underlayment is the thin flexible sheet of resilient material that is installed on top of a subfloor in order to act as a base for the laminate planks or tiles you re installing. The easiest way to figure out if you need underlayment for your new vinyl plank flooring is to look at your current floor. With many different underlayment options and flooring types available to the consumer we will list the benefits of underlayment and what to look for in underlayments.

Laminate flooring is thin and is constructed of a type of fiberboard rather than solid hardwood or even plywood as with engineered wood flooring. Besides all the other benefits underlay helps support a floating floor. If you re installing laminate or engineered flooring that snaps together and floats over the subfloor without nails you need underlayment even more. Laminate flooring is designed for quick and easy installation over almost any flat smooth floor surface.

It is rolled out between the actual laminate flooring planks and the subfloor very often particularly in a below grade installation on a concrete basement floor a vapor barrier is recommended in addition to the underlayment. Underlayment for laminate flooring provides proper support stability noise reduction and helps the click lock system to provide a structurally sound floor. If you re laying the lvp over an existing cushion backed vinyl floor or a below grade tile floor then you won t need to use an underlayment. While the subfloor provides the foundational support for the room the underlayment is what supports the flooring material itself intended to enhance and protect the flooring.

That vapor barrier would go between the subfloor and the underlayment. Underlayment is what allows the floor to float gives it stability support noise reduction and supports the locking systems in between planks to assure the sturdiest flooring project. The subfloor is wood and it s above a concrete basement the man where we bought the laminate said we needed a underlayment but the flooring already has it we put laminate in our hallway an 2 bedrooms about 9 years ago and never used extra underpayment. It s actually the best type of underlayment for noise and solid rubber underlay can even surpass cork or fiber based materials in that regard.

But the hard laminate material doesn t lie directly onto that surface. Rubber is an overlooked underlayment in the flooring world and usually not on a homeowner s radars when they are considering installing laminate flooring.