What Affects the Cost of Laminate Installation?

Laminate shares most of its cost drivers with LVP.

Subfloor flatness, leveling and moisture

Laminate floats on the subfloor and depends on it being flat. A low spot or a ridge lets the planks flex at the joints, which is hard on the click-lock. Prep runs from a scrape and sweep to patching, grinding or plywood. Moisture matters too. Standard laminate generally has a wood-fiber core that does not like water, and slabs, basements and crawl spaces push moisture upward. A moisture test comes first, and a barrier follows when the plank maker’s instructions call for one.

Removing the old flooring

Carpet and pad come up fast. Glued-down vinyl leaves adhesive to scrape, and tile and old hardwood are heavy and slow to remove. Hauling the debris away is part of the cost too. We have torn out old LVP and carpet in a Cumming home and family room tile in Woodstock before new floors went in. Send a photo of what is down now.

Underlayment, product line and plank format

Many laminate planks come with a pad attached. Floor & Decor lists the AquaGuard Performance plank we installed in Woodstock with an attached pad (per Floor & Decor). Other planks need a separate underlayment, and on a slab the maker may call for a moisture barrier. AquaGuard is the laminate line we install. If you already bought laminate, including at Floor & Decor, we can install it.

Stairs and nosing

Stairs are slow on any floor. Every tread and riser is measured and cut by hand, and each step needs a nosing so the plank has a finished front. They are usually the slowest part of a laminate job for the floor area they cover, so they are quoted on their own. Some homeowners leave stairs out; tell us at the start.

Transitions, baseboards and quarter round

Laminate needs a gap at every wall to move with the seasons, and baseboard or quarter round covers that gap. Where it meets tile, carpet, hardwood or a doorway, it needs a transition piece. The plank maker’s instructions also say when a large floor must be broken into sections, which adds trim. Door casings often get a trim cut so planks slide beneath. New trim is labor and material.

Appliances, fixtures and room layout

Toilets are pulled and reset, and dishwashers, refrigerators and ranges are moved or worked around. A fridge with a water line, or a range on a gas connection, takes more care than a sofa. Tell us which appliances stay, and the quote will spell out what we move. Layout matters too: an open room goes down quickly, while small rooms, closets and angled walls mean more cuts and more waste.

It is fair to want a number up front. Here is why we hold off. Two rooms of the same size can need very different work: one gets laminate over a flat, dry subfloor after a quick clean, the other has a slab to test, a low corner to level and seams to watch by the kitchen.

A figure pulled from a website, with no idea what is under your carpet, would be a guess dressed up as a quote. We would rather give you a real, itemized number for your actual floor. The same reasoning applies to refinishing; see our hardwood floor refinishing cost guide.