How to cut laminate flooring

Laminate flooring offers an affordable alternative to hardwood flooring—and it is easier to install. But it is important to understand how to cut laminate flooring properly. Once you have mastered this skill, the actual installation should go pretty smoothly, whether you are installing laminate in the kitchen, living room, or throughout the entire house.

Learning how to cut laminate flooring is an essential skill for a DIYer. Here we reveal what you’ll need to make cuts for corners, curves and any other shapes

You’ll need to know how to cut laminate flooring if you want a perfect fit for your new floor. Getting it right is essential. Get it wrong and you could be left short on length or width, or with an ugly angled cut that just doesn’t sit right. This means you will need another length of laminate to fix what could be an expensive mistake.
  Getting the cut right is an essential part of how to lay laminate flooring the right way. A poor cut can leave ugly chipped edges, which no-one wants to see. But, even worse you can produce the perfect cut and then find you haven’t accounted for an expansion gap. So you’ll need to make sure that you measure up properly before you cut.

Here we give you the lowdown on what type of saw you need and other tools for the job to get the right cut for your laminate flooring.

How to cut laminate flooring: What tools will I need?

Before you start you need to know how to measure up for laminate flooring and make sure that you have the right tools in place.  

• · Dust mask

• · Dust sheets

• · Pencil or chalk

• · Tape measure

• · Saw

There are a number of different saws that you can use to cut laminate flooring. If you have a hand saw or mitre hand saw handy use these. Alternatively, you can invest in a power saw such as a jigsaw or mitre saw. Here we take a look at each option.

Hand saw

A standard hand saw is a good all round choice if you don’t want to invest in a more expensive power saw. It's good for cutting across the width and length of a laminate plank. But you will need to make sure you have a fine tooth hand saw with at least 15 teeth per inch to make sure that the edge of the cut isn’t chipped.  
When using a hand saw, safely place your thumbnail adjacent to the blade where you want the cut and draw back the saw a few times to create a guide for cutting. Once done use the common back and forth sawing motion.

Mitre saw

The best mitre saws are a top tool for getting clean accurate cuts on laminate flooring. It is self contained, has its own surface to keep a plank steady and is great for getting accurate angles.
However, it only has a small cutting surface, so it is only really good for cutting the width of a laminate plank. To cut, power up the blade before slowly pulling down the blade to make the cut.
A powered alternative if you need to cut lengthways is a circular saw or a table saw, but neither are cheap.

Jigsaw

A jigsaw is an all-rounder when it comes to laminate flooring, however it does rely on a steady hand from the user to get a long straight line. That said, it is great for cutting unusual shapes and around pipes.
To get a decent cut you will need a fine tooth blade and like most power tools get the blade running before you start cutting.  

Tips for Cutting Laminate Flooring

If the boards are chipping when you cut them, try cutting upside down.

To cut around obstacles like posts or poles, make a paper template and trace it on the board before cutting with a jigsaw.

Make sure to choose saw blades that are specific to laminate flooring to get the cleanest cuts.

If there are rough edges, use sandpaper to smooth them before installation.

If the boards chip or get gouged during installation, you can use laminate floor putty and the stain pen that are typically included in your purchase to conceal any mistakes.