A job in Spokane made me stop hating on click-lock laminate

I was doing a big kitchen floor for a retired contractor named Frank. He watched me groan about the click-lock stuff and said, 'Kid, you're fighting the tool, not using it.' He showed me his trick of putting a dab of clear silicone on the tongue of the first and last board in each row. Did it on his own floor to prove it. That was 8 months ago, and I haven't had a single call back for a gap or a squeak since. Anyone have other little tricks for keeping those long runs tight?

3 comments

3 Comments

danielm8026d ago

That line about fighting the tool really hits home. I was the same way, always cursing at the stuff and swearing it was junk. My trick is using a rubber mallet and a scrap piece with the groove cut off as a tapping block. You get way more control than just whacking the board itself, and you don't wreck the locking edge. It made those long runs so much easier to keep straight.

williamw7526d agoMost Upvoted

Glue trick is solid. Mallet and block is the real pro move though.

morgan.jason26d ago

Totally get the tapping block idea, that's smart. I started putting a little wood glue in the groove on the first few boards of a run, just a thin bead. It sets up slow and gives you a bit of extra grab so the whole line doesn't want to slide apart while you're working down the wall. Makes that initial alignment way less of a fight.

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