Never walk on your laminate floor for at least 24 hours after installation, no matter how attractive it seems. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned it yet, but I've always heard that it's best to install laminate flooring perpendicular to the floor beams in the room. Often, the subfloor may be slightly uneven because there are high points along the beams and low points midway between the beams. If your laminate floor is parallel to the beams, it will simply follow the slopes and peaks of the subfloor. However, if it is perpendicular to the beams, it is more likely to encompass any gap and appear more level.
The argument in favor of the laminate is that it is cheaper, a good one should last a long time with care and can be disassembled if necessary to replace damaged parts. If you place the laminate floor perpendicular to the beams, it can float a little better over the differences than if you place it parallel to the beams. We hope you can avoid the seven problems mentioned above, and remember that installing laminate flooring requires a level of patience to do it right. Laminate floors come in a wide variety of quality levels, from extremely poor to fairly good, but they share a common trait.
If you take the laminate floor from a corner to a warm environment and install it right away, you'll need to change the recommended expansion spaces. In addition, from the point of view of returns, if you discover a series of defective sheets after having placed three boxes of laminate, it will be increasingly difficult to negotiate with the supplier for returns of your materials. You can't leave standing water on it, but with two children and a dog I had no problems using the laminate. When planning your new renovation project, you should plan to be outside the house for a while so that the ground can settle before you start walking on it.
However, if you notice serious defects in the subfloor, invest in a new one before installing the laminate. Laminates almost always float and invariably sound hollow and creak to measure that changes the temperature.
