[Home](https://www.referralflooring.com/)/[Services](https://www.referralflooring.com/services)/Laminate Laminate # Laminate flooring installation, with the underlay and transitions included. Laminate is a floating floor with a wood-fibre core under a hard printed wear surface. Its surface is generally the harder wearing of the two common floating floors, which is why it still makes sense in a busy living room, a hallway or a bedroom. Its core swells if water reaches it, which is why it does not make sense in a laundry or a full bathroom unless the product is specifically rated for wet areas. We will tell you which room you are in. Supplied and installed, with the underlay, the transitions, and the baseboard and casing refitted afterwards. Old floor out the same day. The figures below are the published tolerances for comparable floating work, quoted with the source; your product's own instructions win where they differ. How it goes down ## A floating floor, done as one panel that has to be free to move. ### Underlay Attached or separate - Some boards have it bonded on; the rest need a separate roll - Over concrete the underlay carries the vapour retarder, or a separate one goes down first - It is what makes laminate quieter and warmer than it is on its own ### Expansion and transitions Set by the product - Gap at every wall and fixed object, covered by baseboard nailed to the wall - T-moulding at doorways once a run exceeds the product's stated maximum - Overlap stair nosing at any step down, fastened to the subfloor, never through the boards ### Over what is already there Usually yes, flat and dry - Over tile once the grout lines are dealt with - Over hardwood, run across the direction of the old boards - Never over carpet or underpad - Height at doors and appliances checked before anyone commits ### Included, not extra Ask what other quotes leave out - [Removal and disposal](https://www.referralflooring.com/flooring-removal-and-disposal) of the old floor - Underlay and transitions - Baseboard and casing refitted, painted or stained to match - Furniture moved and doors cut The measurable part ## What decides whether laminate lasts. ### Flatness The published tolerance for floating and glue-down work is flat to within 1/8" over 6 feet, or 3/16" over 10 feet, measured across the span of each room rather than spot checked.[1] Laminate locking edges are thin. A hollow under them is a hinge, and a hinge eventually breaks. The [subfloor work](https://www.referralflooring.com/subfloor-repair-and-levelling) is the same as for any floating floor. ### Nothing pins it A floating floor must be free to move as one panel. The guidelines describe the overlap stair nosing used with floating floors as a profile that must be attached to the subfloor in order to maintain adequate expansion space.[1] The same logic covers baseboard, an island, a bookcase screwed to the floor, or a doorway with no gap: each one is a pinch point, and a pinched floating floor peaks. See [why a floating floor lifts or opens at the seams](https://www.referralflooring.com/why-new-floors-squeak-cup-and-gap). ### Concrete gets tested first Over a slab, the moisture reading decides the vapour control, and the recognised tests are in-slab relative humidity probes to ASTM F2170, calcium chloride to ASTM F1869, or calcium carbide.[1] A fibreboard core over an untested slab is the laminate failure everyone has seen: swollen edges a year in, with no spill to blame. ### Where it does not belong A laundry, a full bathroom, a mudroom that gets snowmelt, or a basement with any history of water. Those rooms want [vinyl plank](https://www.referralflooring.com/vinyl-plank-flooring-installation), whose core does not swell. This is not a rule from a document; it is what the two cores are made of, and we would rather say it now than replace the floor later. Sources 1. National Wood Flooring Association, [Wood Flooring Installation Guidelines](https://nwfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/NWFA-Installation-Guidelines.pdf), revised 2025. Subfloor flatness tolerances for floating and glue-down installations, how flatness is measured, the overlap stair nosing in floating floor installations, and concrete moisture test methods. Quoted as the published tolerances for comparable floating work. Standards last read 9 September 2026 Permits ## Laminate is named as permit-exempt in Hamilton. If you are in Hamilton, Waterdown, Dundas, Ancaster or Stoney Creek, the City's own list of projects that do not require a building permit includes, in its words, "installing minor millwork, cabinetry, and flooring such as carpet, laminate or hardwood". Repairing the subfloor underneath is a different matter there. The [Hamilton page](https://www.referralflooring.com/flooring-hamilton) quotes both lines with the source, and the [service area pages](https://www.referralflooring.com/service-area) cover Burlington, Oakville and Grimsby. Related ## Read next. - [Vinyl plank vs laminateCore, wet rooms, surface hardness and feel underfoot, in one table.](https://www.referralflooring.com/which-flooring-to-choose) - [Laminate over tile or over hardwoodYes in principle. The height at the doors and the grout lines decide it.](https://www.referralflooring.com/what-can-go-over-an-existing-floor) - [Stair nosing for laminate and vinylWhy a purpose-made profile is not optional on a floating floor.](https://www.referralflooring.com/stair-nosing-treads-and-spindles) - [Cabinets, paint, baseboards: what orderSequencing costs more than material choices when it goes wrong.](https://www.referralflooring.com/flooring-order-of-work) Next step ## Compare the laminate and the vinyl on your own floor. Both come to the house with the free estimate. Which one your room wants is a ten-minute conversation once we have seen it. [Book a free estimate](https://www.referralflooring.com/#book) [Call 289-689-4242](tel:+12896894242) Phone [289-689-4242](tel:+12896894242) Email [referralflooring@gmail.com](mailto:referralflooring@gmail.com) Warranty 1 year on floor repair and installation. Area [Burlington](https://www.referralflooring.com/flooring-burlington), [Hamilton](https://www.referralflooring.com/flooring-hamilton), [Oakville](https://www.referralflooring.com/flooring-oakville), [Grimsby](https://www.referralflooring.com/flooring-grimsby) and the [wider Golden Horseshoe](https://www.referralflooring.com/service-area). --- Source: https://www.referralflooring.com/laminate-flooring-installation