Almost every family in their life is faced with buying a home and finishing an apartment. One of the most crucial moments of repair is the design of the floor. Today, laminate flooring has become very popular in the building materials market. However, it is not only a matter of choosing the type of laminated coating, but also the method of its installation. The direction in which the laminate is laid depends on the visual perception of the room and the interior of the room.
Preparing tools and floor surfaces for laminate flooring
In order for the laying process to go smoothly and not take a lot of time, you should prepare the necessary tools in advance.
So, for laying the panels you will need:
- measuring instruments: tape measure, building level, square;
- simple pencil;
- electric jigsaw or circular saw;
- hammer or rubber mallet;
- electric drill and drills;
- adhesive tape;
- substrate;
- laminate.
Laminate flooring will look good and last a long time only on a flat floor. You can check this using the building level. Differences of up to 2 mm at a distance of 2 m are allowed. To eliminate uneven floor leveling, you can use a self-leveling screed. In addition, the surface must be clean and completely dry. After that, you should place a substrate under the laminate, which is hydro, sound and heat insulating.
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Laminate installation options
The direction of laying laminate flooring plays a huge role in the design of the floor. With the help of a competent approach, you can visually enlarge small rooms or, on the contrary, reduce too large areas, brighten up unattractive corners, add or reduce the amount of light in the room. At the same time, it should be remembered that the pattern of the material and the structure must be suitable for the lighting and the shape of the room being finished.
Laying the laminate also depends on the methods of attaching the panels to each other:
- Adhesive mount. Glue is applied to the edge of the laminate and 2 panels are pulled together. At the same time, the floor can withstand heavy loads and has increased moisture resistance.
- The click connection is the most popular method of fastening. The panels are laid using the tongue-and-groove method at an angle of 30° to each other and fastened with a lock. At the same time, the seams are almost invisible.
- The lock connection “Lock” works on the principle of driving in locks, in which the tenon of one panel is inserted into the groove of the other. In this case, the pieces of the laminate should lie parallel.
- direct laying;
- diagonal laying
- decorative styling: herringbone, square, English dressing.
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Direct laying
The most common method is the direct laying of the laminate. An important point is that it is necessary to take into account the angle of light from the window. It should not highlight the seams where the laminate is bonded. With straight laying, the boards are arranged parallel to each other. If the dimensions of the room are large, then it follows along the long wall of the room. The process of direct laying laminate flooring is very simple: the boards will lie in even rows one after the other.
In this case, the long side is parallel to the wall, the narrow side is perpendicular. The room visually narrows. The advantage of this method is the low consumption of material - it does not exceed 10%.
You can place the laminate along the wall of a shorter length. This is applicable for narrow rooms and corridors. In this case, the space visually increases in breadth. But if you lay the laminate across the line of light, then the seams between the pieces can cast a shadow. In this case, the floor in the room will not look perfectly flat.
Also, direct laying of laminate can be divided into 2 more varieties:
- Classic styling scheme. Laminate begin to lay from the window in the direction of the light. If at the end of the row there are trimmings larger than 30 cm, then they can be used at the beginning of the next. This method is mainly used in apartments and offices.
- Brick laying scheme. The method of placing the panels is brickwork. In this case, each new row begins with an offset of half the panel from the previous one. This laying of the laminate provides surface strength, but the consumption of materials in this case is about 15%.
Laminate deserved reputation for practicality and high aesthetic value. Laying laminate flooring is a simple and affordable task for almost everyone. If you want to save on the services of third-party specialists, you may well perform the laying of the coating in the room yourself. Of course, you need to familiarize yourself with the installation rules, for example, how to lay the laminate along or across. When choosing the direction of the layout of the lamellas, it is necessary to take into account some nuances.
Laminate layout options
You will have to choose from three possible directions:
- transverse;
- longitudinal;
- diagonal.
Choosing, take into account location of the source of natural light,those. windows, as well as the shape of the room. We note the features of each of the methods.
What does diagonal laying give
Diagonal styling can visually expand the room. She is more relevant for small rooms, unfurnished. Diagonal layout gives an interesting look to the floor and draws attention to it, but for a beginner it will be a difficult task. First, there will be a lot of undercuts. The slats will have to be adjusted against the walls, especially at the ledges or niches. In addition, this is not a very profitable option if you want to save on material. Of course, it is always worth buying material with a margin, but in the case of a diagonal arrangement, the margin can reach 30%. Not all trimmings can be used in subsequent rows. 
Longitudinal Advantages
This is most economical installation option and least labor intensive. Undercut minimum. You will have to work hard only by bypassing the heating pipes. In general, installation in a direct longitudinal way will not be difficult even for an inexperienced person. By shifting each row by a third of the board, you can use the trim of the previous row at the beginning of the next.
Laying in a longitudinal way is especially justified if the window is located on a short wall, i.e. the room is stretched out towards the window. The joints between the laminate lamellas will then not be visible. This is achieved due to the fact that the beam of light falls along the joint, and the joint does not cast a shadow.
The longitudinal layout allows even an inexpensive laminate to be presented from the favorable side.
This advantage of the longitudinal placement of the slats can be lost if there are two windows in the room - on a short wall and on a long one, i.e. on adjacent walls. From one window, the light will lie down as it should, and the lighting from the other will emphasize those very joints, and the effect of a solid canvas will disappear.
Features of transverse laying
The transverse layout is not as economical as the longitudinal one. Although it is more accurate to speak not about efficiency, but about labor intensity: it will turn out to put less whole boards here, you will have to cut more. And trimmings, as with the longitudinal arrangement of boards, can be used in subsequent rows.
The method of laying across has an advantage. Due to the transverse placement, the room visually expands, so this option is often used in excessively narrow rooms to offset this drawback.
If they try to hide the joints of a conventional laminate, then at the joints of boards with a chamfer, on the contrary, they focus attention. When laying lamellas with a chamfer, it is better to choose the transverse layout option.
On video: how to choose the color of the laminate.
How to choose the right laying direction
In general, the principle of choosing the direction of laying the laminate in the room should already be clear. However, both aesthetic and technical difficulties may arise.
Difficulties of the design approach
What to do if there are two windows in the room? See which window has more light: from the one located on the long wall, or from the other. If the lighting from a window on a long wall is more intense, then it may be worth abandoning the longitudinal installation. Sometimes the decisive role can be played not by natural lighting, but by artificial lighting. It all depends on the sense of taste and wishes. 
Most often they do this:
- In rooms with a shape close to a square, installation starts from the far corner, and the lamellas are placed along a longer wall so that the joints are across the window.
- To emphasize the unusual shape of the room, the irregular shape of the room, choose a diagonal layout. But you should not start this work if there is no experience in installing laminate.
- When choosing the direction of the location of the boards, they are repelled even from the height of the ceilings. For example, with low ceilings, it is preferable to choose longitudinal laying, and for high ceilings - transverse.
If the laminate flooring is installed in a high-traffic area, then it makes sense to place it in the direction of the movement of the human flow, discarding all recommendations regarding lighting and the shape of the room. Thanks to this trick, the life of the laminate is extended.
It may even matter furniture arrangement. When highlighting an element of the interior with the help of flooring, it may be necessary to neglect the general rules and focus exclusively on this parameter. Sometimes you don’t have to think about the direction of laying the lamellas. When it is decided to put a large enough carpet in the room, the laminate, which will be visible at the edges, will not have a significant effect on visual perception. Therefore, it is worth going the most economical way and mounting the boards along.
Technical requirements
When choosing how to lay the laminate along or across the room, it is important to consider one more parameter - the technical one. The fact is that a lot is decided by the base on which the coating is laid.
Laminate is very demanding on the evenness of the base. A surface that does not adequately meet this requirement may cause coating failure much faster than expected. Wooden floor boards should run perpendicular to the direction of the lamellas so that the coating does not sag along with the boards. Those. rooms where boards are laid along a long wall leave no choice to the owner. Here it is necessary to lay the laminate across the room. There is only one way to avoid this option, if it is not acceptable. You will have to additionally sheathe the base with plywood, which will make it more stable. Then the lamellas can be laid in any direction.
A novice master may be interested in something else: how to properly lay a laminate along or across the substrate. Traditionally, lamellas are placed across the substrate. When laying longitudinally, the coating may sag slightly at the junction of the substrate. Visually, this will not be noticeable, but it will be enough for the occurrence of squeaks.
Mounting the lamellas across the substrate helps prevent it from shifting under load.
How to put laminate in the hallway
Laying laminate in the corridor has its own characteristics. The layouts of most apartments are such that there are no windows in the corridor, which means that recommendations regarding natural lighting are simply discarded and not taken into account. Here, the property of the laminate to influence the visual perception of the room will be more important. The following tips apply:
- A narrow corridor can be visually expanded thanks to transverse or diagonal laying. Longitudinal in this case will visually stretch the room even more. At the same time, the lamellas are arranged so as to use as few short segments as possible - the strength of the floor will decrease if this requirement is ignored.
- You should not choose boards with a longitudinal narrow pattern, for example, zebrano. If, nevertheless, longitudinal laying is chosen, the stretching effect will increase, and with a transverse arrangement, the proper aesthetic effect will not occur.
- Sometimes a way out of the situation when installing the coating in the corridor can be a square laminate imitating porcelain tiles.
- In the absence of a window in the corridor, they are guided by an artificial light source. They work the same as natural. They look at how strongly the joints stand out with one or another option. Sometimes artificial lighting does not affect the appearance of the joints between the lamellas.
In L-shaped corridors, diagonal laying or herringbone is appropriate. Such an unusual arrangement of lamellas will emphasize the non-standard design of the corridor and at the same time “push apart” the walls. You can not limit yourself in choosing the design of the laminate and choose the pattern that you like. Boards with whitened stripes look especially good.
Note! For the "Christmas tree" you need a laminate with special locks.
Try to follow the above tips so that the laminate stays in a new state for a long time and corrects the imperfections of the room. These tips will help you put laminate flooring in any room.
How not to lay laminate (2 videos)
Modern laminate- it is not easy to imitate wooden or ceramic floors with a flat surface. Boards with a bumpy surface are on sale, as if the texture of a saw cut wood. There is also an embossing that imitates a surface scratched with a metal brush (“brush”).
Light focuses attention on the volume, the play of the resulting pattern created by the seams, the chamfers of individual floorboards and the texture of the laminate. If the floor becomes an additional decoration of the room, you should carefully consider the direction of laying.
The option is suitable for beginners and economical. With any choice of laying pattern and row offset size (for example, by a third of the board), only a few elements are trimmed. Some of the cut pieces will be used at the end or beginning of the row. Small pieces will also be needed for laying laminate around heating pipes. 
Important. If the laminate boards are without chamfers, longitudinal laying, taking into account the direction of light along the rows, will create the effect of a solid sheet without joints.
Installing floorboards in this way is a more time-consuming task: there are more elements for trimming. But if laminate boards with a chamfer (beveled edge) are chosen for the floor, such laying will additionally emphasize the beauty of the pattern. 
Advice. Choose transverse styling if you want to add extra volume to the space of the room. Rows of stripes visually expand a narrow room
Important nuances of laying laminate along or across relative to the window
Before starting work, determine what will serve as the basis for the new coating. You can leave linoleum, parquet, if:
- the surface is hard, even;
- no wet areas;
- there are no colonies of mold and fungus;
- the wooden floor is not damaged by a wood bug (grinder, bark beetle, shashel), rot.
Carpets, all types of soft flooring are removed. Laminate laid on such a base will quickly fail.
Small unevenness of the floor is eliminated with self-leveling compounds (for concrete and cement), sealant or grout.
Important. First, a vapor barrier is placed on the concrete floor, then a sound-absorbing substrate.
In narrow and long corridors, even if there are windows, the direction of light is usually not taken into account. It is more important to visually expand the space. In some cases, a few colored patches of laminate in different colors and widths turn an ordinary floor into a stylish element of the room.
Suitable for straight corridors:
- wide floorboards with a uniform pattern of one tone (light ones will further expand, and dark ones will visually narrow the space);
- Laminate with imitation of ceramic tiles, stone.
Attention. If individual elements have a “lock”, and not a regular groove - when laying, transverse to the direction of regular movement of people, fasteners quickly come out, creaks and cracks appear.
Many manufacturers apply a small pattern along the length of the board with a regular larger image (cut wood, stone). When combining individual rows, the joint is hidden, the seams become invisible. If the wear resistance of the laminate is high (see the package label), you can lay the floorboards on the floor both along and across.
Useful tips: how to lay laminate along or across the room
Traditionally, boards are laid on the floor in the direction of the light from the window. This decision is followed by:
- when a separate element is three-layer (not five) with low wear resistance;
- instead of the "lock" the usual groove.
The reason is simple. It is difficult to achieve a beautiful even distance between the joints. And the light falling from the window will emphasize the flaws. When the laminate is of high quality, there is no doubt about the skill of the workers, and the designer's idea is to visually expand the room, the planks are laid perpendicularly. However, such laying will be more expensive: more packs of laminate are bought with a margin for cutting.
When choosing a solution for the direction of the laminate board, consider:
- If the new coating is laid on wooden floors, the right choice is perpendicular to the boards. This prevents deflection of the floor sections.
- If there are no windows, and the room is narrow and long (corridor), laminate boards are laid across, achieving a visual expansion of the space.
- If the room has two or more windows, consider the overall intensity of the lighting.
- If you know the arrangement of furniture, take into account the load created. The legs of a chair or sofa should not put pressure on one floorboard - otherwise, the mount will quickly break due to the load. The degree of withstand load is shown by the marking.
- If the room is low, longitudinal laying is preferable.
The psychological perception of the pattern on the floor is also important. It is more comfortable to walk along a long row than to “step over” the floorboards. In some cases, after the repair is completed, the laminate is re-layed because of this.
Any doubts left? Lay a few planks of laminate on the floor. Turn on and off the chandelier, lamps, pull and open the curtains. By turning a piece of laminate flooring, choose the optimal pattern on the floor.
If you decide to install laminate flooring with your own hands, then quite often there is a dilemma - how to lay the laminate along or across the room. There are several methods for laying laminate flooring, including on uneven floors.
Basic Views on Installing Laminate Flooring
- The main points to consider when installing laminate flooring are as follows: the laminate floor is installed only on a flat plane.
- The height difference of the laid laminate should not exceed 5 millimeters, as indicated in the price list.
- In some cases, the laminate floor must necessarily have an additional waterproofing layer consisting of a waterproof film. The cost of the material in this case grows several times;
- The floor plane must be completely dry and clean before installing the laminate;
- When installing laminate flooring with your own hands, do not forget about laying a special substrate under the coating.
Important! Depending on the class of the laminated coating, the substrate for the laminate is also selected. The thickness of the substrate must not exceed 5 mm.
Joining floor panels
Laminate flooring has several different types of panel fastening:
- Click - locks;
- Lock - locks;
- Adhesive way of laying laminate.
Before laying the laminate, it is necessary to determine the direction in which the whole process will proceed; laying is carried out towards the source of daylight, that is, onto a window or other illuminating element.
Special attention is given to rooms where there is no constant daylight - corridors, hallways and pantries.
These requirements are due to the fact that with a perpendicular hit, the light bounces off the surface and makes the joints of the laminated coating visible. Because of this specificity, all types of laminate are laid in the direction of the light source.
CLICK panel locks - installation features
It is worth noting that the laminate panel snap-in system itself is characterized by a fairly reliable connection design and resistance to mechanical damage. The aforementioned connection system is quite simple to install and reliable, despite its simplicity.
This method of bonding laminate panels creates a small gap between the panels, which is called a seam. It can be made invisible due to the visual effect of the play of shadows (if the laminate is laid at the right angle to the light source).
Installation sequence
First, the area of \u200b\u200bthe room is measured and the latitude of the panel in the extreme row is calculated, which, according to the rules, is laid out along the wall. If you have lost the plan of the room, then the width of the room can be found using a tape measure.
The question arises, in which direction to lay the laminate? Laminate spread perpendicular to the angle of incidence of light.
Advice! When calculating, leave a small gap of 8 - 10 mm near the wall along the perimeter of the room. In the future, this gap will play an important role - to give room for the movement of the laminate flooring (as you know, the laminate is considered a "moving" flooring).
For rooms exceeding an area of 12 square meters, the gap between the walls and floor panels is calculated according to the formula: one and a half millimeters per meter. It is better to start installing panels from the left remote corner of the room.
Helpful information! The panels are always laid out along the room, and fastened in a locking way from the end of the panel.
The seam of each subsequent row of panels, at the request of the instructions, is shifted by 30 - 40 cm. This is necessary in order to achieve a uniform mechanical load on the floor plane. Each panel is mounted at an angle of 45 degrees.
In this case, each element is evenly lowered to a kind of click, which means that the lamellas have come together. The light source should always be directed to the end of the laminate, this is important. Further, the installation of the panels is carried out in a checkerboard pattern, subject to a step of 40 cm.
Helpful information! You can speed up the process of laying panels using a cut-out template, with which the probability of making a mistake is reduced to zero.
Laminate panel locks - installation features
It is worth noting that the installation of the Lock-system laminate does not differ at all from the above-mentioned click-mounting system. The only difference is that the panels must be placed during installation synchronously with each other.
The seam of the panels is fixed with special grooves at the ends of the plates. Despite the similarity of the installation system, a logical question arises: is it better to lay the laminate along or across the floor? And is it worth paying attention to the light source? Can it show all the seams when dropped at a certain angle or when staining the laminate?
Adhesive method of attaching laminate
Laminate floors using an adhesive installation system are particularly difficult to install. Experienced people advise not to start laying with their own hands and turn to professionals. Laminate floors of this fastening system cannot be dismantled after installation, so contacting a laminate laying specialist is the right decision.
The laminate is laid along the light source. In some cases, this laminate laying technique is not essential in rooms such as a corridor where there are no windows. In these rooms, it is desirable to lay the laminate parallel to each other.
In order to get a clear idea of \u200b\u200bhow to properly lay a laminate in your head, you can watch a video on the Internet. However, first of all, it should be noted that the choice of the direction of laying the panels along or across depends on the type of building. Also, the final decision is influenced by the interior of the room.
The main thing what you need to remember: the light source (window, gallery, backlight) should under no circumstances cast a shadow on the joints.
During the installation of the laminate, it is necessary to accurately determine the final result. For example, a laminate laid in the width of the room gives a visual increase in area, in length - the effect of elongated walls appears.
Laminated boards reflect differently depending on the installation direction. Moreover, the direction of the slats is important not only in relation to the location of the room, but also in relation to the location of light sources. Designers claim that knowing how best to lay the laminate, you can create visual effects by increasing or decreasing the volume, length and width of the room. This can be achieved by correctly coordinating the modules with furniture and interior items.
The main directions for laying laminate
In accordance with the laying technology, there are three main directions:
- along windows;
- across windows;
- diagonally.
I combine the first two options into one, and they call it direct laying of lamellas. Laying a laminate should take place not only in accordance with technology, but also in accordance with creative messages. If you need to visually lengthen the room, lay the laminate along the room. If the slats are laid across the room, you can achieve the opposite effect - make it shorter. In this case, designers are advised to mount diagonally. At the same time, it is necessary to reduce to a minimum the number of pieces of furniture and to exclude any carpet.
Laying laminate diagonally is a very laborious task. Real professionals can correctly calculate the angle of inclination. They also calculate, calculate the material, which will be required by 15% more than with transverse laying. With a simpler option, the material consumption is 4% more of the area.
What is the best way to lay: across or along?
What direction would be the most correct? Each of these options is a direct mounting method. In this case, the parts are installed parallel to the walls of the room. According to the rules, work should begin from the door from the opposite wall.
Laying along the light line
This is the most acceptable option and is considered a classic. This requires a minimum amount of material and professional knowledge. Despite these features, the finished laminate shield looks great.
For installation, determine the longest wall of the room and lay the material along it. With this approach, sunlight falling on the joints does not give a shadow. The seams are practically invisible. The result is a uniform, even surface.
This option for laying laminate is convenient in cases where the windows are not on long walls, but along short ones. If the sun's rays enter the room from two sides of the corner, this effect cannot be achieved.
Cross Laminate Laying
In this case, the installation is carried out relative to the longest wall of the room. Laminate is laid perpendicular or across the room. In this case, it is possible to achieve visual expansion. It is suitable for repairing corridors or narrow rooms in the house. When choosing this option, you must remember that it will take much more time to trim the boards than with standard installation.
Which is better: along or across?
Knowing the existing installation methods, you can choose the one that will help create coziness and a comfortable atmosphere in the room. If you have already decided what color, texture, laminate manufacturer you will have, but have not decided in which direction to install, pay attention once again to a few nuances.
There is only one window in the room. Laminate installation should start from the far corner to the window. It is better to place the lamellas perpendicularly. The sun's rays will hide the connections, creating the feeling of a single canvas.
Windows are on adjacent walls. The main reference point in this case is a window that gives more light.
Be sure to model the future space. To do this, stand at the entrance and imagine where the pieces of furniture will stand, if it makes sense to perform a labor-intensive diagonal installation or to get by with the usual longitudinal one.
Laminate laying technology
Having chosen the appropriate installation method, you can get to work. The process of laying technology in any case consists of the same steps. To get started, prepare a set of tools and fixtures.
- Roulette and pencil;
- Hammer and hand saw;
- Electric jigsaw;
- Wedges for spacers;
- Beam, which is necessary for padding panels.
Most manufacturers offer customers laminate flooring with a modern clinker system. But in some places, adhesive mounting solutions are still preserved. This is a much more time-consuming option, which is recognized by the last century.
When starting installation, start from the wall. Fit the first row under the wall, connecting the slats with a tongue-and-groove system. The ridges from the side of the wall on the first row should be sawn off with a hacksaw so that they do not take up extra space. Leave a few mm of space between the net and the first row so that the material can contract and expand during operation. In the second row, lay out the boards in a checkerboard pattern. The part that interferes can be removed with a jigsaw. The arrangement of lamellas in a checkerboard pattern increases the resistance of the flooring to loads.
After the second row is assembled, insert it into the grooves of the first. This work requires attention and concentration. You will need the help of a second person.
Using a hammer and a tamping block, gently push the laminate closer together. Tap along the entire length of the row.
Start collecting the next row, keeping the checkerboard pattern.
The gaps that remain along the walls are hidden with a baseboard or other decorative elements. Moreover, the plinth is always attached to the wall, and not to the floor covering, regardless of the direction of the slats.
