Flooring Installation Greater Orlando, FL
A durable, wood-look floor installed start to finish: tear-out, subfloor prep, underlayment and trim.
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The short answer
Laminate flooring has earned a spot in a lot of Central Florida homes because it looks like hardwood, holds up to foot traffic and kids and pets, and costs less to install than solid wood. It is a floating floor made of a dense core board with a printed wood-look layer on top, and the planks click together without glue or nails, which keeps the installation clean and fast once the room is ready for it.
The part that gets skipped by rushed installs is everything that happens before the first plank goes down. Old flooring has to come out, the subfloor has to be flat and dry, and the room needs the right underlayment for sound and moisture control. MS Floors & Cleaning handles that full sequence on laminate jobs in Orlando and the surrounding cities, from the first piece of old flooring pulled up to the last baseboard set back against the wall.
Because laminate is a floating floor, it needs room to expand and contract with humidity, and it needs a flat surface underneath or it will flex, gap, or click at the seams over time. That is why laminate installation is really two jobs in one: the floor prep and the floor itself.
Real work from the MS Floors & Cleaning team.
What is included
Pulling up carpet, vinyl, tile or worn laminate and hauling it away so the subfloor is exposed and ready to inspect.
Checking the concrete slab or plywood subfloor for flatness and low spots, with self-leveling compound used where the slab needs it.
Confirming the concrete subfloor is dry enough for laminate before underlayment goes down, since trapped moisture is the most common cause of laminate failure in Florida.
A foam or combination underlayment installed under the laminate for sound dampening, a small amount of cushion, and a moisture barrier over concrete.
Laminate planks cut, fitted and clicked into place in a staggered pattern, with expansion gaps left at the walls and transitions.
Transition strips set where the laminate meets tile, carpet or another room, so the edge is finished and safe to walk on.
Baseboards reset after the floor goes in, or new baseboard installed and finished if the old trim does not go back cleanly.
Flooring Installation
MS Floors & Cleaning is fully insured for flooring work across Orlando and the surrounding Central Florida cities.
How it works
MS Floors & Cleaning looks at the rooms getting laminate, confirms square footage, and checks what is currently on the floor so the removal and prep steps are planned before work starts.
The old flooring comes out, the subfloor is cleaned and inspected, and any low spots in a concrete slab are corrected with self-leveling compound so the surface is flat for the laminate.
Underlayment goes down first, then the laminate planks are cut, staggered and clicked together room by room, with expansion gaps kept at every wall and doorway.
Baseboards and transition strips are set, the room is cleared of scrap and dust, and the finished floor is walked with the homeowner before the job is called done.
Most of what makes a laminate floor look good or go bad happens before the planks are ever opened. A flat subfloor lets the planks lock together evenly across a room; a subfloor with dips or high spots leaves gaps at the seams, hollow sounds underfoot, or planks that rock slightly when stepped on near a low spot.
In Central Florida, that subfloor is almost always a concrete slab, and slabs settle, crack, and get uneven over the life of a house. Self-leveling compound poured into low areas and screeded flat solves this before the laminate ever touches the floor, which is a step that is easy to skip and hard to see once the floor is installed over it.
A lot of laminate sold today is labeled water-resistant, and that is a real feature: it can handle a spill wiped up within a reasonable time without the core swelling. It is not the same as waterproof vinyl plank, though, and it is not meant for rooms with standing water, constant humidity exposure, or a slow leak that goes unnoticed for days.
For a primary bathroom, a laundry room with a washer that could leak, or a space prone to moisture, luxury vinyl plank is usually the better call. For bedrooms, living rooms, hallways and most of a typical Orlando home, water-resistant laminate holds up well and gives a wood look at a lower cost than hardwood. Part of the first walkthrough is matching the right material to the right room instead of using one product everywhere.
Laminate is a floating floor, meaning it is not glued or nailed to the subfloor. It locks together as one connected surface that sits on top of the underlayment, which lets it expand and contract slightly with Florida's humidity swings between the dry season and the summer rains.
That is why a small gap is left at every wall, doorway and transition and then covered by the baseboard or trim. A laminate floor installed without those gaps, or with baseboards nailed straight through the planks into the subfloor, loses the ability to move and ends up buckling or popping at the seams months later.
One team, both jobs
Installing new laminate floors kicks up fine dust and debris in every room it touches. MS Floors & Cleaning's post-construction cleaning clears that dust from floors, sills and surfaces so the space is ready to live in, not just ready to look at.
Where we work
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Read the guideSend a few details and we will get back to you with next steps for an estimate.
