Was wondering, when installing a “floating floor” (ex. Pergo) in a kitchen, Why can’t you install the floor first and then the cabinets??? After all, there will be weight on the floor from refrigerator, other appliances, tables, etc. Thanks
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Weight is not the same as the proverbial "immovable object." A few PSI from a table leg would be insignificant to the force of expanding wood, but a fixed cabinet base would be another story: Something would have to give.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
As I understand it, (and I am sure others will have other opinions), but even an engineeered floor, such as a Pergo, needs to move, but it moves as a unit. That is, the joints lock together, and the entire sheet expands and contracts. Locking the perimeter, with cabinets or whatever, could result in buckling in the middle, or opening of the joints, dependent on the relative humidity and moisture content of the floor at the point of installation.
Lots of floors go for $6-$12 a sq ft, so using less has it's advantages.
Jake Gulick
[email protected]
CarriageHouse Design
Black Rock, CT
Edited 2/26/2005 3:08 pm ET by LATEAPEX911
There's no reason you can't do the floor first. You will have to work over a finished floor which is something that those of us that do it for a living try to avoid. It will take extra material and if you want to remove the floor later, there will be a lot of cutting around the cabinets and toe spaces. You won't be able to lay tile or many other types of flooring over Pergo sometime in the future. If you use stone counter tops, they will squish the foam backing in time. I don't know if it will cause buckling of the floor or not. Some folks are daunted by having to fit around cabinets with flooring. Pergo does need some space to move, how much will depend on humidity. The easiest way to deal with it is to add furniture base around the cabinets, looks high class and allows the gap that some floor materials need. Typical manufactured cabinets don't get screwed to the floor. If you are building the toe kick in place and screwing through the Pergo or anchoring an island you could get buckling. I've only done a couple very small rooms with floating flooring, someone with more experience will have a better sense of how much it moves over the seasons.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
I understand the concern for movement, but if the floor would buckle, there must be some serious issues in the home. I wouldn't think that a little movement would cause that much of a problem. I am going to install the floor after the basecabinets are in. Just wondering why.
A floating floor is separate from the sub-floor and acts like a single big piece of wood. As humidity changes the big piece will expand and contract. As long as there is some space for it to expand and shrink into, no problem. If it is anchored the piece will still expand but with no where to go but up, hence the buckling. With some products the expansion may be minimal but others can move quite a bit.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Does all this apply to engineered wood floors that are not glued down? I will be putting this in my LR and hallway, and eventually down the road want to put a built-in bookcase in the LR. Will that be a problem?
My suggestion is, when the time comes to do the bookcase, just remove the floor from that area. Should be pretty straightforwrd from there.
Jake Gulick
[email protected]
CarriageHouse Design
Black Rock, CT
Edited 2/27/2005 9:46 pm ET by LATEAPEX911
I don't think a bookcase will effect a floating floor. The issue in the kitchen can be islands and peninsulas as well as heavy counters and appliances. Normal furniture won't restrict movement the way a cabinet attached to the floor will. There are many types of engineered flooring, some are absolutely stable while others need room to move. The most important thing with any material, floors windows or paint, is to follow the manufacturers recommendations.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
the bookcase would be pretty heavy once filled with books. However, I guess it would also be attached to the wall, so some weight would be there instead of the floor. The floor can expand in the other 3 directions as well. I'll be sure to ask the floor installer what they recommend.
Thanks for your reply, and Jake's. I recently became a homeowner for the first time, and it's great to have a place to ask these kinds of questions.
Indeed, the manufacturers recommendations carry the most weight.
Think of the expansion as starting from the middle and expanding to the perimeters, or vice versa. Anchoring one end, while allowing the recommended margin at the other actually could result in half the expansion area.
Again, you might be fine, but if you hired me to do it, I would only do it in the most conservative manner. There is no way I want a phone call telling me about gaps or buckles, no matter what we talked about beforehand!Jake Gulick
[email protected]
CarriageHouse Design
Black Rock, CT
I ignored the "Cabinets First" rule only once. It is the only floor I have ever had a call back on! The floor absorbed enough moisture and expanded enough to buckle. I had to use a right angle grinder to cut the flooring loose from the edge of the cabinets and install shoe moulding to cover the "grinder kerf," what a pain. You never know what you can or can't get away with until you try.Don't tempt fate on this one.
thanks for the info. I don't need any extra headaches. cabs first, floor last. Thanks again
check this out - lots of good info on laminatte flooring
http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jlconline.storefront/4221d57f0023962527187f0000010597/Product/View/0502choo
hopefully "the management" won't mind
Not sure about Pergo, but I did an Armstrong floating floor recently - and was surprised that it went over a cushiony foam pad, about 3/16" thick. If you set cab's on top of the flooring, you'd likely get a low spot around the cab's from the constant compression of the pad. Its kinda weird because when you walk on the floor by the edges, it pushes down and it creates a temporary gap at the base-shoe.