laminate at doorway

[AndyL]

Quicky question,

Ripped up some carpet on the weekend, replaced with laminate...

Laminate at interior doorways... how do you trim around the door frame? I kept the 1/4" away per the directions... but it looks bad, as now there's a gap...

If I cut it tight, the laminate no longer floats... and you cant exactly use 1/4 round in a door jamb to hide...

What do I do here?

[Tarrantula]

Caulking?

[510-Trevor]

Cut the door frame/trim to allow the laminate to run under it, if you cut it too high you can use silicone to fill the gap.

[gretz]

Use a door jamb saw to undercut your frames, run the laminate under the frames...

[mr2mike]

Great advice, I always wondered this but never tackled a laminate floor project... yet.

[bimmere92]

will use this advice next month... thanks!

[AndyL]

So addendum to the question, undercut and slide in works if its a starter course... but whaddya do on the back end? I cant tip up to interlock it... starting to think trimming laminates flush to wall then using 2 transition strips and a separate piece in the doorway itself...

[garnet]

the pieces wont have to underlap the door frame casing much, so one side can slide under more, drop down, then slide back to even out
pre-measure your laminate installed height, and cut the jamb/casing 'slightly' less, so then the laminate will push up under for a snug fit
sand and paint touchup the jamb/casing cuts before hand
use a paintable caulking, white if your jambs/casing are already
laminate is just a picture of wood bonded on top of mdf, so it doesnt expand/contract like hardwood, meaning you can put it right up close to the wall, and that way ensure you dont have any gaps show from under your new base board
you dont have to "hammer" laminate together, so many i see or redo are cupped or have damaged interlocks for that reason
check the interlocks ahead of time, clean them out, and cut/sand and broken parts so the chunks dont get caught inbetween and cause a problem at install
i personally check at purchase time, you'll discover many boxed have been hit, and the frail mdf interlock edges show breakage
lastly, even click together, use some glue, just a drop here/there on both the length, and defintely on the ends, that will ensure they dont seperate over time, which i commonly see too
good luck

[garnet]

Originally posted by AndyL
So addendum to the question, undercut and slide in works if its a starter course... but whaddya do on the back end? I cant tip up to interlock it... starting to think trimming laminates flush to wall then using 2 transition strips and a separate piece in the doorway itself...

do you mean where two pieces butt together like in pic above^^ ?

what i do, is sand the interlock down a bit, so it doesnt need to tip up, and glue the two together
the interlock still is there, just sand down the ridge inside till the two slide togther on the same plane