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My question is shoould the flooring go down before the cabinets or cabinets first then the flooring. We will be installing in kitchen and living room

Ideally yes it should, but usually one thing gets ahead of others and the best of plans fall apart.

Greg

Having just installed about 600 sq ft of a similar flooring and my own preference for any flooring, flooring first. It just makes everything so much easier. Please read the install directions diligently. The internet is awash with complaints on installing "click" type flooring. It will take a few planks to get the hang of it if you pay attention to what you are doing. It should lay dead flat and the seams almost invisible if the pieces have locked together correctly. Remember, it is floating and can move around very easily, so you have to start at a wall. I can post some pictures if you care to see them.

That would be great i would appreciate seeing your flooring. Thank you

I would contact the manufacture and ask them what they recommend. I just read the allure installation instructions and didn't see anything about kitchen cabinets. I've never used allure vinyl but I've done some laminate in kitchens(not the best option in my opinion) and I don't like to run it under the cabinets. Laminate is a floating floor and I don't like to put that much weight on it to hold it in place. Allure also says it's a floating floor so from that alone I personally wouldn't run it under the cabinets, but I don't have experience with allure so can't say for sure. When in doubt I try to contact the manufacturer to get the best answer. They may say it's fine or they may say that will void the warranty. The laminate kitchens I've done I just run the floor up to the cabinets leaving a gap and caulk the edges and then cover with quarter round molding.

I have contacted the manufacturer and home depot and as of yet have not heard back. I've heard yes put it under the cabinets and no because its a floating floor. I just want to make sure before i void the warranty since it has a lifetime warranty on residential installation.

I have checked the web sight of both the store and manufacturer and nothing is mentioned on how to install as far as putting there flooring under your cabinets. All i have seen was good reviews so far on the product. The only installtion i seen on the stores web sight is for the peel and stick allure resilient plank flooring nothing on the allure ultra interlocking plank flooring. Sorry that i'm rambling on, i just want to maker sure I'm installing it correctly.

Sorry for the delay. Here's a few pictures of the 1970 I'm remodeling. Since the cabinets were in, the flooring just butts to them. Since the stove and the refrigerator are easily movable, the flooring is under them. This is Home Depot's cheapest Trafficmaster Glentown Oak locking/floating laminate flooring at $.67 Sq ft. The surface seems indestructible. The floor is dusty and a work in progress.

My other pictures didn't make it!

Haven't I put up multiple pictures before?

One more for the road!

I'd be very interested in in the reply you get from the manufacturer. Just thinking about it, I am with Ponch on this one. Seems like a floating floor needs to be able to float. That being said, I did install Allure glue strip type flooring under a vanity cabinet in a small bathroom, probably 5x6. My thinking is the floor can still expand away from the vanity and the total surface area would reduce expansion. If the floor does start to lift next summer, I can separate the flooring at the vanity with my Rockwell 3x Sonicrafter. At the worst, it is a tiny floor to replace.

Normally, I would cut the Allure flooring to the cabinet, but this vanity has front feet with a void under the bottom cabinet, where you can see a bit of the floor.

I would also not put a floating floor under kitchen cabinets. You need a t least a 1/4" gap all around for expansion. As for in a bathroom with a vanity, If it is a 36" or less size vanity I would put the flooring under it as long as you don't nail or screw the vanity to the floor. Most vanities mount to the wall and the floor will actually expand under the vanity if there are no restrictions.

Ron

Something you all might ponder. Is the floor not going to have furniture on it or as some as you have seen fit to dramatize putting anything on the floor is a no-no. Stop and think. It is a floor. It will be buried under heavy furniture. Wall to wall. Might hit a ton! And it's all on top of the floor.

calderhill wrote:Something you all might ponder. Is the floor not going to have furniture on it or as some as you have seen fit to dramatize putting anything on the floor is a no-no. Stop and think. It is a floor. It will be buried under heavy furniture. Wall to wall. Might hit a ton! And it's all on top of the floor.

You're correct that there will be a ton(maybe literally) of stuff on a floating laminate floor. Things like a fridge fully loaded. But all manufacturers recommend a gap wherever the floor butts up to something and they also say not to screw or nail it down. My thought is this means try to allow the floor to "float" as much as possible. Kitchen cabinets are going to act like a clamp to limit the floor from being free floating. Cabinets are screwed to the wall at the back and then loaded up with stuff so they put a bunch of weight on the laminate pinching it to the subfloor. And there is usually a good amount of cabinets in a small area.

Will the cabinets ever cause a problem if you run the flooring under it? I don't know for sure. But why chance it by going against the whole "floating" concept when there is no need to? Personally if a floor says it needs to float I'm going to limit the amount of restrictions keeping it from floating as much as possible. To me things like a loaded fridge is all the more reason to not have cabinets pinching the flooring. Plus it saves you money not having to buy the flooring. Also if your cabinets outlast the flooring you won't have to cut all the way along the cabinets to rip the old out. Just my thoughts and I'm not an engineer so my thoughts may or may not hold water but it seems very logical to me.

Here's the perfect link to show all you will ever need to know. It should also make you think about the manufacturers "Ease of installation" claims. Not everyone has the necessary manual skills and I might add, patience, at times. This type of flooring and myself go back many years. Practice, practice!

http://www.laminate-flooring-installed. ... ation.html

What I said previously was sort of tongue in cheek. I should have used a smiley I use my own experience as a guide. As an example, you can put together a whole bunch of panels and then slide the whole thing into place. The advantage is you have more freedom to lock the panels to each other. Easy, peasy!