Laminate and hybrid flooring both use a click-lock floating floor system, which is what makes them the two most DIY-friendly ranges we sell. No glue, no nails, no specialist trade tools. If you can measure a room and use a saw, you can lay your own floor over a weekend.
Here's the process from start to finish, and the mistakes that cause the most problems.
What you'll need
- Your flooring boards, plus 5–10% extra for cuts and waste
- Underlay, matched to your subfloor (foam for timber subfloors, an acoustic or thermal underlay if you're in an apartment with noise requirements)
- Expansion spacers (8–10mm)
- A tapping block and pull bar
- A fine-tooth saw or jigsaw for cuts
- A moisture meter, if laying over concrete
- Scotia or skirting and trims to finish the edges and doorways, see our guide to flooring trims if you're not sure which profile you need
Step 1: Acclimatise the boards
Leave your flooring in the room you're installing it in, still in its boxes, for at least 48 hours before you start. This lets the boards adjust to the room's temperature and humidity so they don't expand or contract after they're laid.
Step 2: Check and prep the subfloor
Your subfloor needs to be clean, dry, and flat, within about 3mm over a 2m span is the usual tolerance. Sweep or vacuum thoroughly, and fill any dips or high spots with a levelling compound from our floor preparation range. If you're laying over concrete, use a moisture meter first; a reading that's too high means you'll need a moisture barrier underlay before you go any further. Our guide to primer, self-levelling compound & adhesive covers this step in more depth.
Skipping subfloor prep is the single biggest cause of squeaky, uneven, or peaking floors down the track, so don't rush this step.
Step 3: Roll out the underlay
Lay your underlay in strips across the room, running it perpendicular to the direction your boards will go. Butt the edges together without overlapping, and tape the seams.
Step 4: Lay the first row
Start in the corner furthest from the main entry, with the tongue side facing the wall. Use your 8–10mm spacers between the boards and the wall on all sides. This expansion gap is essential, since floating floors need room to move with changes in temperature and humidity. Skip it and you risk buckling later.
Step 5: Click and stagger
Click each board's short end into the next at a slight angle, then press down flat, working row by row. Stagger the joins between rows by at least 300mm so the pattern doesn't line up board to board. Besides looking better, this makes the floor stronger.
Use your tapping block on the long edges to seat each row firmly against the last without damaging the click profile.
Step 6: Cut the last row and finish the edges
Measure and cut your final row to fit, keeping the same expansion gap against the wall. Once the floor is fully laid, remove your spacers and cover the gap with scotia or skirting, and finish any doorway transitions with the appropriate trim.
Common mistakes to avoid
- No expansion gap. The most common cause of a floor that buckles or lifts months after installation.
- Skipping subfloor levelling. Even a small dip will telegraph through as a squeak or a soft spot.
- Not staggering joints enough. Weakens the floor and looks obviously repetitive.
- Installing straight out of the box. Without acclimatising, boards can shift after they're already down.
When to call a professional instead
Click-lock laminate and hybrid are genuinely manageable DIY projects. A few situations are worth handing to a professional installer instead: herringbone layouts (the cutting and pattern-matching is fussy), engineered timber over large or irregular areas, solid timber (which is typically nailed or glued rather than floated), and any subfloor with significant unevenness or damage that needs structural attention first. Stairs are another one to hand over, since flooring on a staircase is direct stuck rather than floated, see our guide to stair nosing for why.
Not sure which category your project falls into? Our flooring comparison breaks down DIY-friendliness range by range, or you can book a showroom appointment and we'll talk it through in person.
Related Reading
Weighing up laminate against hybrid before you buy? Read our Hybrid vs Laminate comparison. Budgeting for the project? Our flooring cost guide covers boards, underlay, and everything else. Once it's installed, our cleaning and care guide will help keep it looking new.