How to Lay Laminate Flooring With Baseboard Heaters

Fitting your new laminate flooring around your baseboard heaters will look messy. You'll need to leave an expansion gap between your floor boards and your heater, which will be hard to cover up. For the tidiest finish to your flooring project, you'll need to remove your heater units and fit the floor up to your wall. You can then reinstall your base heaters on top of your boards.

Screwdriver
Underlayment
Spacers
Cork expansion strip
Pen
Drill
Jigsaw

Instructions

- 1
  Turn off the circuit breaker to your baseboard heater. Secure the door to your circuit panel so no one can turn the circuit back on while you work.
- 2
  Remove your baseboard heater from the wall. The method will depend on the type of heater you have installed. You should be able to remove most models by unscrewing them from their mounting brackets or drill holes. Consult your heater's user guide if you are unsure.
- 3
  Lay your underlayment and flooring up to the wall beneath your heater as per the manufacturer's instructions. Remember to leave an expansion gap between your floor boards and your wall. This will need to be filled with cork expansion strips.
- 4
  Position your baseboard heater into place on top of your newly-laid floor and mark out new screw holes with a pen. The original holes will be too low now because your floor will be higher.
- 5
  Drill new screw holes into your wall and refit your baseboard heater.

How to Connect Panel Moulding to Your Ceiling

How to Cut the Sheetrock on Vaulted Ceilings

Floors & Ceilings