Laminate Flooring – Installing It On Your Stairs

When we say “having a good looking laminate floor”, we usually think of having concrete stairs finished with laminate to get that unified look with a designer feel. Of course, you could certainly cover concrete with laminate. In fact, the process is quite similar to covering wooden stairs, though the nosing installation is a bit trickier.

What You’ll Need

Here is a list of items you’ll need for a successful completion of this project:

* PL200 or stronger grade of construction glue
* Skill saw for cutting laminate
* Chop saw for cutting metal nosing
* Drill with a concrete bit
* Electric screwdriver
* Plastic plugs
* Broom

It’s better to use metal nosing, as these are stronger, and allow for a better hold on concrete stairs. Laminate nosing that is available in a kit form, is trickier to install as the tracks need to be very precisely in the right spot, and there is hardly any standardization for this product with the result that different manufacturers offer a slightly different size/style of laminate nosing.

What to Do

Step one is to sweep the stairs and get rid of any shavings or dust. Unless the surface is thoroughly clean, the glue would not adhere properly to the concrete and laminate. Having thus cleaned the area you can start with the risers.

Measure, mark and cut every laminate plank so that it fits the riser with the groove side facing downwards. Glue the riser and the rear of the plank, and lock the plank in place ensuring once again that the groove is at the bottom of the riser. Having glued all the risers, you can start on the nosing.

Measure and cut the metal nosing to fit. On the concrete mark the points where the screws will go, and using a drill that has a concrete bit, drill the holes. Insert a plastic plug in all the holes. Count the number of the nosing to match each one to the correct tread when they need to be screwed later.

Measure, mark and cut all laminate planks to fit the tread with the groove side facing inwards to meet the bottom of the riser. Positioning the planks in such a manner that the groove on the riser meets up the groove on the tread results to having a clean professional edge in the corner. Glue the tread and the backside of the plank and lock the plank in place, taking care that groove faces inward.

The purpose of stair nosing is to finish the look by capping the lip of the stair. Regrettably, with concrete stairs this is a bit tricky as the lip on the stairs is frequently thicker than the actual stair nosing. In such a cse, cut a laminate plank wide enough to cover the concrete lip, and glue it down to the face of the lip on each tread. Follow it up by securing the nosing over top by screw nailing it through the laminate tread into the pre-drilled holes in the concrete. (In case the lip-face is already covered with laminate, you can glue the nosing to the laminate for additional adherence, and then screw nails on the top of the nosing into place.