Tired of the floor you have in your home right now? Ready for a change? Swapping out your old flooring for new flooring can be a great way to revamp the space. Of course, if you’re not so jazzed about shelling out for the labor to install the floor, you might be tempted to tackle that project yourself. Depending on the type of flooring you use, it’s a viable option.
Laminate
Laminate is a solid contender as a good option for DIY flooring. It comes in click-together planks, which make it easy to install. Ours use an angle angle system, which means that you assemble a row of laminate and then click it together with the previous row. Don’t make the mistake of installing the laminate as soon as you get it though. Let it sit in your home for a couple of days. Laminate needs time to acclimate to your home’s humidity and temperature. Otherwise you risk it buckling or gaping at the joints.
Interlocking Rubber
Interlocking rubber is arguably one of the easiest floors to install yourself. The pieces all connect with one another, a bit like a puzzle (except that it’s easy to solve). You just start in a corner with your first piece, connect the next one to it, and continue until the room is full. Just because it’s easy to do doesn’t mean you should use it for the whole house though. Interlocking rubber floors in the living room just look strange. They’re pretty great for a home gym and maybe the kids’ playroom though.
Engineered Hardwood
Hardwood can be tricky to install. Engineered hardwood, on the other hand, is arguably the easiest wood floor to install. It comes in click-together planks, which means it’s another good option for a DIY installation. Because they are made from real wood, it’s important to give the planks time to acclimate, just like you would for laminate. Just remember that engineered hardwood is still a wood floor, so it’s important to be wise about where you install it.
Some types of flooring are surprisingly DIY friendly. Laminate, interlocking rubber, and engineered hardwood are all pretty easy to install yourself, especially compared to some of the other types of flooring out there. Think about the room you’re reflooring and what you want it to do. That will help you choose the right flooring to use for your DIY project.
Check out our selection of engineered hardwood to choose the color that will bring your vision to life.