If there is a material, then there is a way to fit it to the desired parameters. Laminate was no exception. In fact, you can cut the laminate yourself, but without knowing some of the nuances, you can render the material unusable.
To properly lay the laminate, you will have to resort to sawing it, having found out in advance how to cut the laminate.
As a rule, sawing along is resorted to when laying the edge elements so that the gap between the laminate and the wall is 10 mm. This requirement helps to subsequently avoid the unpleasant squeak of the floor covering.
With the growing popularity of laminate, the list of tools for cutting it increases, and the buyer himself chooses which file is better to cut.
Let's consider the most popular methods.
Sawing with an electric jigsaw is considered to be the most popular and high-quality method. Nuances:
- We select a special file with fine teeth for sawing wood.
- It is worth smoothly moving the jigsaw over the material at high speeds.
- The plank must be laid face down on a hard surface, but if the saw teeth are serrated down, then face up.
Bulgarian
The grinder is the better way to cut the laminate. Nuances:
- To avoid cracks when cutting, you should opt for discs for metal, not wood, or you should buy a special disc for sawing laminate.
- The laminate plank is positioned on a hard surface with the pattern down. The cutting itself should be done slowly and smoothly so that the disc does not get stuck in the bar.
- When the grinder and the laminate come into contact, a specific smell appears.
If you don't have a grinder or an electric jigsaw at hand, you can take up a hacksaw. However, it is more suitable for sawing off small pieces, but sawing with a hacksaw along the bar is a rather long and laborious process. Nuances:
- Cutting the laminate with a hacksaw with large teeth should be excluded, as this will damage the material, chips and scratches.
- Preference should be given to a hacksaw for metal. It has a narrower web.
- the material can be previously rubbed with paraffin, which will somewhat strengthen the base and prevent the formation of chips.
- Cutting must be done on a hard surface.
- The right side of the material should be at the bottom.
- Additional pressure should be avoided when cutting.
Note! Working with a hacksaw with a thin blade is more laborious, but it is not the time spent on the work that is important, but the result.
Special tool
Laminate can not only be sawn but also cut. For this, there is a specially designed tool-machine for cutting laminate flooring. Outwardly, it is very similar to a paper cutting tool. The machine for cutting laminate is a support with a blade, the work with which begins with pressing the handle of this mechanism. This tool helps to make an even cut, while it does not make noise and prevents the formation of dust, sawdust and, most importantly, chips.
However, it is worth noting that its purchase will cost 2,000 rubles, and this is not entirely advisable for one-time use. If you are professionally laying laminate flooring, and this is your profession, then, of course, this machine is the first thing you should buy.
Another important nuance of the machine - they can only make cuts across, but for longitudinal cuts it is still better to use a grinder or an electric jigsaw.
The choice of a laminate cutting tool should be taken very seriously, since this material is a pressed structure covered with an acrylic resin film, and improper handling will deform the panel and form chips.
Measure a thousand and one times before cutting. The saw mark is placed on the back of the plank with a simple pencil. If the mark is needed on the front, it is recommended to pre-stick the masking tape.
It is also worth considering what the kerf width will be, it can vary depending on the tool used.
Note! Do not despair if the cut itself is not quite straight. This is not yet a reason to throw away the plank; irregularities can be covered with a skirting board. If scratches are formed during the cutting process, they can be masked with a special laminate paste.
Any woodworking involves wood dust, sawdust and debris. It is not recommended to engage in sawing the laminate in the room where it will be installed directly. For these works, it is worth allocating another room.
Before laying laminate flooring, you need to carefully prepare the surface in order to avoid the possible ingress of various grains of sand into the laminate flooring locks and under the material. The laminate itself should be wiped with a damp cloth. This procedure will subsequently help to avoid the creak of the laminate and increase its service life.
Video
This video shows a cutter working on a laminate.
Anyone who has installed laminate flooring at least once knows that it is impossible to achieve perfect coverage without cutting it. After all, no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to reach any of the walls and keep the full length of the boards.
And the chess classics in drawing cannot be observed without cutting. Laminate is not the material with which you can work with an ordinary kitchen knife: not every tool is capable of making a high-quality cut. That is why, when starting to lay the laminate flooring, you need to decide in advance on the cutting unit. Perhaps it will be a revelation for someone, but there are many answers to the question of how to cut laminate flooring. Each of the tools has its own advantages, features, potential, operational nuances. And you need to know about all the intricacies so that later, in the process of work, to avoid several problems at once.
Tool selection
How can laminate flooring be cut? Each craftsman has his own criteria by which he chooses a cutter for panels. Someone cares about its weight, work from the mains or exclusively by hand. Someone will choose from a variety of options the smallest tool, convenient and mobile. But for most masters of any level, thinking about how to cut a laminate when laying, an ideal cut, the ability to quickly execute it, will still be important. We list all the tools designed to work with laminate planks, designate the characteristics of each of them.
When asked how to cut laminate flooring, experts give at least 7 answer options:
- electric jigsaw;
- circular saw;
- grinder or machine for grinding corners;
- hacksaw;
- a cutter;
- construction knife;
- with an ordinary clerical knife.
Almost any of these tools will be able to get a smooth cut. Naturally, if you have the appropriate experience of handling. There is no single recommendation on how to cut laminate flooring at home, what to use more correctly or professionally, in this situation. Each master is guided exclusively by his own experience and practice. Therefore, we will begin in order to disassemble each of the above.
Power Tools: Jigsaw
This tool is number one in most classifications. There are several reasons for this. The electric jigsaw is an extremely convenient, simple, easy-to-use, very effective tool. Therefore, when looking for a solution to the problem, the better to cut the laminate, many people stop at the jigsaw.
Even a beginner can use it, even women's hands can handle it. And the result will be more than high-quality: the cut will be perfect, even, smooth, since the jigsaw produces a large number of revolutions. The main thing here is to choose the right file. Usually, in a set with a jigsaw, there are also accessories exclusively for the laminate. They have a special shape, pitch, set of teeth. But an ordinary file designed for metal can also cut the planks: with small narrow teeth.
Important! To shorten the panel correctly with a jigsaw, lay it on a flat surface with the wrong side up.
On the wrong side, all the markings should be done, that is, draw the cut line. How to cut a laminate if you don't have a jigsaw to get an equally perfect cut? You can use a circular.
Power tools: circular saw
This tool will indeed give an equally perfect cut than a jigsaw, but working with it is much more difficult. Therefore, a circular should be picked up exclusively by those who have decent practical experience, or those who have read, reviewed a large number of materials on how to cut a laminate. There are a lot of videos with this name on the network.
If the choice fell on the grinder, a disc for metal should be installed. He will cut the tree best. Before cutting, the panels are fixed on a perfectly flat surface, but in this case the wrong side must be on top. The disc in the process will not get stuck in the board or slip. All movements should be performed smoothly, without haste, special pressure. However, skill is still required here. If there are no other options, it is better to first practice on construction waste, before cutting the material needed for laying, which is called "fill your hand". But if you still want to learn how to properly cut laminate, but have no experience with circulars, give preference to a jigsaw.
Power Tools: Grinder
When pronouncing the word "Bulgarian", many will have one very persistent association with cutting metal. Most first got acquainted with this tool when they changed metal pipes at home to plastic ones. However, this unit has great capabilities. Grinding machines come in different sizes, capacities. Because of this, they have one main quality - versatility. Therefore, there is a certain category of craftsmen who do not have a question about how to cut the laminate. They automatically choose the grinder, because it is with it that they are used to cutting absolutely everything.
The grinder is very convenient to use, it gives a perfectly flat, smooth cut. For everything to work out, you need to install cutting discs:
- metals;
- concrete;
- ceramic tiles.
Important! Planks should be laid and fixed face up before cutting.
When working with this power tool, there are two important points to consider: a lot of dust, an unpleasant smell of burnt wood. If you are wondering if you can cut laminate flooring with a grinder, the answer is yes. You just don’t need to do it indoors. Better to go outside or onto the balcony.
Hand tools: hacksaw
If you are puzzling over which file or jigsaw to cut laminate flooring in small quantities, an ordinary hacksaw can help you. The only thing you should be prepared for is that working with such a tool will require some physical effort. In addition, it is a mistake to think that for cutting wood you should choose a hacksaw with large teeth for wood. They will only "rip" and crush the board, break the fragments out of it. To prevent this from happening, you should choose only a hacksaw for metal - with small, often spaced teeth.
A hacksaw is not suitable as the main tool, so professional teams do not use it. The disadvantages of using are the following: low productivity, high physical costs, danger of material damage. But in some cases, when it is not advisable to cut the laminate with a grinder or a jigsaw, when the volume of material is small, a hacksaw can even come in handy.
Hand tools: construction knife
When laying laminate flooring, various situations arise in which you can help out ... a simple construction knife or even a clerical knife. For example, just a couple of planks are left to trim or cut, the power tool is out of order, and the work needs to be finished. A construction knife refers to tools, the use of which does not require skill or experience. However, they will need to cut with the application of physical strength. It can be used especially when it is important to quickly decide how to cut the laminate on the floor without long fixing the panels. The board is placed upside down with a foil. The cut is performed along a ruler and with some pressure. It will not be possible to completely cut off the fragment: only a deep trace will remain on the surface. Then you just need to press a little to break off the cut piece.
Professional tools: cutter
This tool has an impressive design, narrow application, since the cutter is used exclusively for working with laminate. This is a professional, rather expensive manual device that does not require any skills or physical strength from the user.
The cutter is distinguished precisely by the fact that it cuts planks like a super sharp knife but butter. Outwardly, it resembles a guillotine, therefore, when cutting, it is necessary to make movements in the direction from top to bottom. When, before laying the material, the question arises of how to cut the laminate, the thought about the cutter arises almost in the last turn, since because of its narrow specialization, not everyone knows about it. And after that, its efficiency and power are quite surprising. Appointment "under the laminate" - not the only "minus" of the cutter.
Important! You can work with the cutter with planks only in the transverse direction.
It does not cut the panels along or figuratively, but it works quickly and simply.
Subtleties of the process
Getting started with this material, you should not only know how to cut the laminate at home, but also how to do it correctly. We list only some points related to the basics of working with laminate:
- in order not to crush the edges, not to damage them, choose discs and saws with minimal and frequent teeth (for working with metal);
- if damage occurs on the cut, such a plank should be laid "under the plinth" so that it naturally hides the flaw;
- before cutting, you need to double-check the calculations several times so as not to spoil the material;
- to get a perfect cut on the front side - the boards need to be placed inside out;
- when cutting panels directly, you do not need to apply special efforts;
- curly cuts with a jigsaw should be performed using a template, gluing construction tape to the cuts.
In conclusion, I would like to say: if you have even the slightest doubt about how to cut the laminate or whether you made the right choice of tool, consult with experts. Better yet, entrust the work to them. After all, the wrong choice of tool can result in damage to the material, which is not particularly cheap!
Laminate is the most common floor covering today, which is made from a compressed material - fiberboard (fiberboard). The appearance of the laminated board is determined by the decorative layer, usually imitating the surface of wood, although other options are possible. The board itself consists of 4 layers, sealed ("laminated") in a protective film, due to which the material got its name.
The material is quite simple to install, so both professionals and ordinary home craftsmen who try to do everything with their own hands as much as possible can be engaged in its installation. The technology is such that the laminate must be sawn at the time of installation. Accordingly, the question arises: How to cut the laminate so that the cut is neat and without chips?
About laminate
It can be seen from practice that it is almost impossible to fit laminate slabs to the size of the room; they need to be filed to the desired size. It is necessary to determine which file to cut the laminate with so that the cut is smooth.
For this, it is important to study the structure of the material being processed.
- The first, lowest layer of the product consists of unrefined paper... It protects against moisture penetration. Sometimes an additional substrate is added under this layer, which is designed for sound and heat insulation, but this makes the price of the product higher.
- The next layer is made of high density fiberboard and the higher its density, the better the fixation between the panels.
- Then comes a layer of decorative paper, which can be depicted imitation of various types of wood, stone, sand, marble and other natural materials.
- The topmost layer is colorless and consists of acrylic resin... Through it, the decorative pattern on the panel is clearly visible. It is its thickness that affects the class of wear resistance of the laminate and its service life.
Laminate flooring can be classified into household and commercial. The latter has an increased durability of the protective coating and is intended for rooms with an increased "human flow".
Sawing tool
When processing any structure, it is imperative to use tools that are suitable specifically for the given composition of the material. After all, it is impossible to cut ceramic floor tiles with a jigsaw, and metal products with a glass cutter. Likewise, the best cutter for one raw material may not be useful for another.
Any professional or just an "amateur" probably knows that to cut a laminate board, a special tool is needed to ensure that the structure of the material is not disturbed.
These tools include:
- jigsaw;
- a circular saw;
- hacksaw;
- laminate cutter.
Jigsaw
What is the best way to cut laminate flooring? The best cut is obtained with a jigsaw. The laminate jigsaw file must be designed to work with wood.
Advice!
Before making a cut, on the laminated side of the board, you must draw out the saw cut with a pencil, then cut the protective film with a painting knife.
The board should be laid face down on a flat surface and secured. At the time of cutting, it is very important not to make sudden movements, in order to avoid the formation of chips and damage to the structure of the material. A neat cut can be made in both the transverse and longitudinal direction.
Saw
In order to get a neat cut of the laminate board, you can use a hand-held circular saw with a disc for metal, called "grinder" As in the previous case, the board must be laid on a flat surface with its front side, securely strengthening it. Gently lower the disc of the "grinder" and draw along the line outlined with a pencil.
If neither tool is available, you can use a hand saw or a hacksaw for metal. When using this method, you need to work with the utmost care. And the whole process takes a lot of time. This method is not easy and the cut is not of sufficient quality.
It can justify itself only with a small amount of work.
Cutter
For cutting laminate in large volumes, you can use a special cutter that looks like a sharp blade that is lowered onto the material with a handle. Using this method, the laminate can only be cut in the transverse direction. The cutting line is very precise. This method is convenient for those who are engaged in the installation of laminate on a permanent basis, since the price of the tool is very "decent".
What file to cut laminate with?
If the tool has already been selected, then you need to decide on its components. Jigsaw blades for laminate differ in shape, pitch and method of setting the teeth, as well as in the material of the blade. The quality of the laying depends on the quality of cutting the elements of the material. If you try to cut the laminate with an unsuitable file, there is a good chance that multiple chips will be left at the edge of the workpiece.
If there is no special file for a jigsaw on the laminate, it is possible to use any file with fine teeth and a narrow blade. For curved or curved cuts, the narrower the canvas, the neater the cut will be.
The saw for wood should be with the direction of the tops of the teeth in the opposite direction. Due to this, the likelihood of chipping is excluded when cutting the material from the front side and will exclude the "turning" out of the decorative layer. The evenness of the cut is influenced not only by the size of the teeth, but also by the speed with which the panel blade is cut, as well as the quality of the metal from which the saw for the laminate is made.
If the household has a circular saw, it can also be adapted for cutting laminate flooring.
Instructions for cutting laminate using a circular saw looks like this:
- It is important that the saw blades on the laminate have fine teeth;
- A mark is applied to the front side of the laminate board at the intended place of the cut;
- After that, the bar is installed on the machine in a horizontal position and downward in a pattern.
- The edges of the plank must be firmly held with your hands and slowly push away from you in the direction of the rotating disc.
- When using saw blades on laminate flooring you need to be very careful not to injure your hands. The sleeves of the worker's outerwear must be buttoned, the disc is covered with a special casing.
The complexity of the entire cutting process is that the laminated saw blade is not designed for curved cutting. But an electric jigsaw can handle this task quite easily. Thanks to the use of this tool, you can make any curly cut.
When cutting a laminate with a hand-held circular saw, it is important to know that the disc rotates on it from the bottom up, respectively, if it is not sharp enough, torn edges will remain on the material. To avoid this, lay the board face down when preparing the board for the cut.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a little about what professionals saw laminate flooring. People who are faced with such work on a daily basis most often use a special machine for cutting laminate in their practice. It has a very sharp blade that makes a precise and even cut. It allows professionals to cut large volumes of material very quickly.
This tool is almost indispensable for the professional flooring professional. In order to make the whole process more visual, you can view photo and video materials on this topic.
Laminate is a relatively new material for flooring, but it has gained well-deserved popularity due to its practicality and aesthetic appearance. In addition, it is easy to assemble it yourself by performing all the necessary measurements.
During assembly, laminate boards must be staggered to give strength to the entire structure. Therefore, each row requires correction in length, both at the beginning and at the end.
Shortening boards or cutting out pieces of a certain shape is not so difficult, the main thing is to make the right choice - how to cut the laminate at home. Let's consider what kind of tools you can use to cut a laminate board.
Hacksaw: the nuances of work, safety
If the front of the work is small - one or two rooms - and there are no electric cutting tools, it is quite suitable hand saw. The hand saw blade should have very fine and frequent teeth.
A hacksaw is best suited for metal, since laminate is a hard, very strong, pressed material, and it is difficult to saw it with a conventional tool with large and rare teeth.
The laminate board is sawn from the front side, and in order to avoid chipping and chipping, masking tape must be glued along the cutting line. On top of the tape, an exact line is drawn under a ruler or square, along which the material will be cut.
The electric chewing will greatly facilitate and speed up the process, and the cut quality will be better. Using an electric or a hacksaw for metal, you can also make corner cuts in the laminate, but such tools will not work for rounded cuts (for example, under a pipe or arch column).
For cutting, the board must be laid on the work table so that the cutting line is from the edge of the table at a distance of at least 20 mm.
Sawing a laminate with a jigsaw
The best tool for cutting laminate can be called jigsaw. It is quite a comfortable and easy-to-use tool.
The main advantages of a jigsaw over other tools are:
- compactness, low weight;
- the ability to make a cut of any configuration (wavy, rounded with a different radius);
- simplicity, ease of use;
- high quality of a cut without chips and cracks.
The sawing of a laminate board with a jigsaw is carried out at high speeds, so the cuts are of high quality - both curly, and across the board, and along the entire canvas. The main nuance is the choice of a jigsaw file.
For cutting the laminate, special saws are intended with a special shape of teeth, frequency and method of divorcing. Standard reverse cut laminate file marked T101 BR.
Video: How to cut laminate flooring smoothly and without chips
A cut line is drawn from the back of the laminate (usually the manufacturer indicates which side is best for cutting). Then the board is laid on a table or on a special stand so that the trimmed part is outside the plane of the desktop.
The laminate board is pressed tightly by hand to the surface and the excess part is quickly cut off. The most important thing is to fix the board well so as not to damage it and avoid accidental injury. In the process of work, do not rush, press hard on the jigsaw.
Laminate circular saw
If you don't have a jigsaw, you can use a circular saw to cut the laminate flooring. This is a more complex tool and requires certain skills to use it. With a circular saw, you can get the highest quality cuts of the laminate board along and across the blade.
Cutting element - disc 16-20 cm in size, with a blade thickness of no more than 20 mm, the number of teeth - 48 pcs. When working with this tool, you must follow a certain sequence of actions:
- remove the protective cover, install and fix the cutting disc on the laminate;
- using a protractor, set the saw blade perpendicular to the lamella;
- make the markings on the front side of the panel and fix it so that nothing interferes with the movement of the saw;
- cut off the excess part in a smooth motion.
During cutting, the tool should be held strictly perpendicular to the laminate panels so that the cut is smooth, cut smoothly, without stopping or jerking, since they are the reason for the chips.
This sawing method has a rather significant drawback - a dusty cloud and the smell of burnt material. Therefore, you need to work on the balcony or outdoors.
Laminate cutter
Another tool designed for cutting laminate is a cutter that works according to the guillotine principle. In other words, it is a sharp knife, which, with the help of a handle, is lowered onto the board and smoothly cuts it. To work with the cutter, skills and the use of force are not required, the cut is very high quality, even, without chips, and the process itself proceeds without noise and dust.
With the cutter, you can easily achieve the perfect professional-grade result. But it is advisable to use this tool specifically for professionals, since it has a narrow specialization, it is intended only for cutting laminate. That's why for the repair of two or three rooms, it makes no sense to purchase this tool.
Another disadvantage is that it is impossible to cut the laminate panel along the web, but only across.
Many people, starting to repair their apartment with their own hands, simply do not know how to cut the laminate. As it turned out, the most convenient and easy-to-use tool is the electric jigsaw.
If you follow certain rules, you can quickly learn and achieve a good result. Each of the tools discussed above has some advantages over the others - the choice must be made in accordance with professional skills.
In recent years, among all floor coverings, it is laminate that has consistently held high positions in popularity. This is understandable, because the laminated board is very similar to wood, although it is made on the basis of high-density fiberboard. The design of the laminate is four-layer, and on the surface there is another layer in the form of a film, its purpose is decorative and protective. Laminate is easy to install. Like the vast majority of floor coverings, the laminate needs to be cut and adjusted to the size of the room, and a beginner may have problems with this, because it is not known how to cut the laminate so that the cut is without the slightest cracks and chips.
Sawing with a jigsaw
The jigsaw is one of the most convenient materials for sawing laminate flooring. Cutting should be carried out at increased tool speeds to reduce the possibility of deformation of the laminated board.
In order to do everything right, you must first prepare for the cut. To do this, from the outside, mark a line with a pencil along which the cut will be carried out. Now you need to draw the same line with a sharp object, for example, a knife or an awl, and apply some effort. This will cut through the top protective layer, which will further help create a smoother and more defined cut line of the board.
Now you need to place the board on a flat surface and fix it thoroughly. The part of the board to be sawn must be suspended. Actually, now you can start cutting.
You should also determine which file is best to use. Today, there are nozzles for wood on sale, including special ones for laminate flooring.
If the cuts need to be straight, then the file can be wide, although for more complex cuts it is still better to use a file with fine teeth and a narrow blade. The narrowness of the canvas especially strongly affects the beauty of the curly cuts, and the narrower the canvas, the thinner and more accurate the cut will be.
Also recently, reverse-tooth saws have appeared on the market, which perfectly cope with the task of neatly cutting laminate.
Using a circular saw
A circular saw cannot be called optimal for cutting laminate, but if a person has certain skills in working with it, then he should not have any difficulties. Most often, this method is used when it is necessary to cut the laminate lengthwise, that is, when it is necessary to go through the entire length of the board. The circular saw allows you to significantly speed up the cutting process and get quality material of the required size.
The disadvantages include the formation of the smell of burnt wood. The saw should be fine-toothed.
Using the grinder
When using an angle grinder to cut laminate flooring, it is necessary to select discs for concrete or ceramic tiles. The cut is made on the outside, front side to avoid the formation of burrs and chips.
When using a grinder, a lot of dust and burning is generated, and therefore it is necessary to protect objects in the room by first covering them with a film.
Using a hacksaw to cut laminate flooring
A fine-toothed hacksaw is required for high-quality sawing.
The obvious disadvantages include the length of the process. The use of a hacksaw can be justified if you need to file a small corner or make a cut across the board. Using a hacksaw to cut a laminated board along its entire length is a catastrophic waste of time.
Using the cutter
This tool operates on the guillotine principle, that is, its parts, as it were, clamp the building material that needs to be cut, and then, thanks to the pressure, are quickly cut off. The cut is very smooth. In addition, there is no noise and no dust generated when using the cutter.
The design of the cutter is such that it can only make cross-cuts, which significantly reduces the scope of its use, and therefore the cutter is not worth buying for a one-time laying of laminate.
Curly cuts
In some cases, for example, when a laminated board joins pipes, it is required to make a cut of a certain shape, which is called figured. Theoretically, such a cut can be made with a hacksaw and a circular saw, although the jigsaw is the generally recognized leader in ease of use.