The installation of laminate flooring is much easier than that of hardwood flooring. This is one of the reasons why laminate flooring is more popular than hardwood flooring. For some installation projects, you may be able to finish the installation of the laminate flooring in a day. Laminate flooring is available in tiles or planks. Laminate flooring traditionally required the use of glue to keep everything in place. This technique would require that you spend a lot of time installing the laminate and cleaning up afterwards. But over the last several years laminate flooring manufacturers have come up with innovations that have made laminate floor installation much faster. One of these innovations is pre-glued laminate. Pre-glued laminate can be installed right after using water to activate the glue on the flooring. Another innovation is glueless laminate. Glueless laminate utilizes a locking tongue and groove design that allows the planks to be attached to one another. This innovation allows laminate floors to be installed as floating floors. A floating floor can be placed on a surface without gluing it down. The glueless laminate will provide the same secure bonds that you can get by using glue. Another advantage of this innovation is the fact that there is nothing to clean up. You can also immediately begin to walk on the floor right after the last plank is attached. If you move to a different home, you can even take the glueless laminate flooring apart and place it in your new home. However, glueless laminate is the most expensive laminate flooring available. Before you install your laminate flooring, you should carefully read and follow the instructions from the manufacturer. Doing this may keep you from invalidating the warranty for your laminate flooring. Warranties for laminate flooring can last between ten and fifteen years. You need to allow your laminate flooring to acclimate itself to the environment where it will be installed. You can do this by leaving the unopened laminate flooring in the location. This is an important step because this will prevent the installed laminate flooring from contracting or expanding which can ruin your floor. The acclimation process should last for a minimum of two days. You should install the laminate flooring planks at right angles to your window. This will make the joints harder to see. There are some brands of laminate flooring that also have an underlay attached to it. There are different types of underlays that are available. A damp proof membrane (DPM) underlay should be used on surfaces that store a lot of moisture such as concrete. This is because the humidity from the moisture can damage the flooring and the DPM underlay will absorb most of this moisture. There is also a foam underlay that can be used to absorb sound. There are other underlays available that both absorb moisture and soundproof your location. If you purchased a brand of laminate flooring that does not have any underlay attached to it, then you need to buy the underlay and lay it down on your floor yourself. The underlay can be placed either parallel or at right angles to the planks. You should also leave some room along the walls and obstacles while you are putting together the planks of the laminate flooring. This is a precaution against the possible expansion of the laminate flooring that can be caused by increased temperatures and humidity levels. The small space around the walls and obstacles should be covered with scotia bead, t-moulding, end moulding, or decorative skirting boards.