Jul
07
How do you install laminate flooring under sliding closet doors?
By
We have closet doors that aren’t on tracks, but just has a middle piece screwed to the ground to keep the doors in place. We plan on pulling up the carpet, which goes into the closet. So, I’m wondering what is the proper way to install the laminate flooring there? Should we stop the flooring just outside the closet door and leave the carpet in place inside the closet? Or are we supposed to screw the middle piece to the top of the laminate? Or what?
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6 Comments
July 9th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I would carry the hardwood into the closet as that is standard procedure. Remove the doors and the center glide and install the flooring. Once the floor is in, put the doors back up, if they drag, which is unlikely, saw a little off the bottom with a circular saw. Just screw the glide right to the floor.
July 11th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
knotcth around the brackets.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
The thickness of the carpet may be enough to cope with the thickness of the Laminate plus its underlay. I would actually try and work around the central wooden piece – measure acurately and cut a hole or two “Half holes”
in the lam. to allow the wooden bit to remain exactly where it is. That way, you are not having to remove the doors, hopefully not having to cut anything off the doors too.
Do a trial fit before you do any cutting, see if the doors are going to jam, see where the lam. edges are in relation to the wooden stop.
It will look naff if you stop the lam. before the cupboard. You could get away with it if you stop the lam. exactly under the door….but what will you gain? The doors still have to ride over the lam anyway. The extra lam. used in the closet can’t be more than a few square feet.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
You would lay the flooring the same as the rest of the house. Remove the doors and fittings before installing the floor. After completion reinstall closet doors. If you leave the carpet you will not be happy…and neither will anyone else if you sell. Most doors have adjusters to lowers ot raise the door if snug fitting.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Do take up the carpet and the center guide, and run your flooring into the closet. I’ve always left the guide off when installing in a closet with no bottom track. I think the little plastic guide looks really tacky on my beautiful new floor, and I haven’t had any problems leaving it off.
Stash the guide piece for now, and if you find that you need it, you can always put it in later (use a dab of construction adhesive (liquid nails) to adhere it to the flooring).
A tip in installing the flooring into the closet– If the flooring runs parallel to the closet, try to plan the layout so you’ve got a joint somwhere in the width of the door opening. It’s a b*tch to cut and fit it in if you end up with a plank that sits the width of the door opening. If your flooring is running perpindicular to the closet, I like to change direction at the closet so the planks in the closet and across the closet threshold run parallel to the closet. It takes some planning in the layout, but it looks super professional.
Another tip- It’s a bit more work, but I always take up the baseboards before installing the flooring and run the flooring right to the edge of the drywall (the drywall *should* be raised up off the floor – if it’s not, I trim it up 3/4″ from the bare floor). This allows you to trim out the floor with just the baseboard, and looks like a true custom install. To my eye, putting a fat piece of quarter-round tacked to the baseboard looks tacky and screams DIY. Yes, it adds some time to the job. But once you see it done that way, you won’t even consider doing the quarter-round solution.
July 20th, 2009 at 6:09 am
What ever you do, measure the doors first. If they don`t measure 80 inches, they`ve already been cut. If you need to cut them again, you may have to cut the top of the doors
Example; If your slab measures say, 79 1/2, you only have roughly a 1/4 inch of rail left at the bottom. ( for you who have done this before, notice I said “roughly”)
Depending upon what you need to remove, you could possibly cut the rail out, then you would have to rerail the bottom.(which by the way can be done, but that`s another “Question”)
Oh and by the way, floor through the opening and reinstall the parting bracket. The bracket not only prevents the doors from “banging” together, but it also keeps them from derailing.