Laminate flooring install - any votes for a "flooring saw"?

[Henry W]

I am about to install laminate flooring in several rooms, none of them particularly large rooms. I have done this at home before, where the shop was a few feet away. This time the table saw will be miles away, so I am wondering about rip cuts. I have a miter/chop saw, hand held circular saw, and handheld jig saws. So I know I could accomplish this install without a new tool, and I am not interested in getting rid of my money (needlessly).

There is however considerable attraction of using one saw for cross and rip cuts. The vacuum attachment (with a shop vac) would allow a considerably cleaner install (or save a lot of steps by not having to walk outside for each cut). Lastly, I foresee wanting to have some help here, and I see this flooring saw saw a quite a safe tool for a relatively inexperienced operator.

Here's the saw - a Skil version, but I believe Ryobi makes one (online only at HD), as does Norge (Lumber liquidators)
http://www.skilshop.com/factory-rec...fault,pd.html?start=2&cgid=skil-flooring-saws

Any experience with such beasts? Worth it?

Henry

 

[Skymaster]

Henry; How about a better deal? You come to my shop in Zebulon, pickup MY used once skilsaw flooring saw, return it when you are done. How about that deal?

 

[medicfirefighter2005]

Definitely worth it I bought the Skil one used and it worked great and the blades are a lot cheaper than blades for TS and CSM. I did my whole house about 2000sf and used like 3 or 4 blades that laminate flooring is some hard stuff.

 

[CaptnA]

Where else do you see this kind of kindness, and on a regular basis?

 

[Berta]

Ncww rocks!

 

[Henry W]

Henry; How about a better deal? You come to my shop in Zebulon, pickup MY used once skilsaw flooring saw, return it when you are done. How about that deal?

Jack - that's definitely a better deal! Many thanks. I will be in contact as I determine the timing of the work.

... sounds like an endorsement of the usefulness of the saw?!

Henry

 

[Mark Gottesman]

I am about to install laminate flooring in several rooms, none of them particularly large rooms. I have done this at home before, where the shop was a few feet away. This time the table saw will be miles away, so I am wondering about rip cuts. I have a miter/chop saw, hand held circular saw, and handheld jig saws. So I know I could accomplish this install without a new tool, and I am not interested in getting rid of my money (needlessly).

I did a kitchen with a stone tile patter laminate and a dining room with a Pergo Hickory laminate. Used a VS Bosch Jigsaw with special blade for cutting laminates. worked just fine. All the cuts end up being covered by molding and all the other seams lock together.

There is however considerable attraction of using one saw for cross and rip cuts. The vacuum attachment (with a shop vac) would allow a considerably cleaner install (or save a lot of steps by not having to walk outside for each cut). Lastly, I foresee wanting to have some help here, and I see this flooring saw saw a quite a safe tool for a relatively inexperienced operator.

Again, the VS Bosch Jig saw handles both these tasks plus it doesn't fling dust allover. Use a framing square as a guide and it cuts just fine, square and vertical. It is about as safe and easy a tool to use. Also, don't discount the value of getting up and moving around when doing a flooring job. Easy to overwork yourself on a flooring job if you get on a roll.

Spend you money on a good set of kneepads. The laminate installs are easy, it is the prep and layout that make the job.

Here's the saw - a Skil version, but I believe Ryobi makes one (online only at HD), as does Norge (Lumber liquidators)
http://www.skilshop.com/factory-rec...fault,pd.html?start=2&cgid=skil-flooring-saws

Any experience with such beasts? Worth it?

Henry

My vote is for the jigsaw, but I would never tell someone not to get a new tool out of a job.

 

[Henry W]

Thanks Mark - Helpful perspective.

I have and enjoy using my Bosch jigsaw - I know I can both cross cut and rip with it, although I have not done so specifically on laminates. What kind of blade would be best for that?

I also have and use good knee pads (a bit of a story there - I had them listed on a Christmas wish list a few years ago. My sister-in-law bought them for me; when her husband saw them - he objected because they were way better than any knee pads he had! I consider these knee pads among my most wonderful and appreciated gifts ever!).

Looks like I will be able to try a variety of tools as I am going to borrow a flooring saw - see above posts.

Henry

 

[Mark Gottesman]

Bosch blade pack T503:

http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Accessories/Pages/BoschAccessoryDetail.aspx?pid=T503

 

[DaveD]

Considering you are going to have some kind of baseboard/shoe moulding hiding 99% of your cuts I'd say even a fire axe would do the job. A decent jigsaw is more than sufficient.

Personally I'd throw some kind of drop cloth down on the floor in the same room and have at it (cutting the flooring). Again it's not like you were going to cut hundreds of board feet or create much dust.

Then again for about $2k you could have one heck of a Festool setup to do the cutting.

 

[Henry W]

Ah yes - if my workload would support a $2K tool set, I would indeed go would Festool, especially for the dust capture capability. But alas, I am not there yet.

I will see how the jigsaw compares to the "flooring saw."

Henry

 

[JimD]

It wasn't laminate but I used my Bosch jig saw on it's aluminum table when we installed about 800 ft2 of pre-finished oak flooring in my wife's lake house before we sold it. She also had a cheap Ryobi table saw I used a couple times too, however. It is handy when you need a long piece cut. The flooring I used was made by Bruce and only 5/16 thick. Solid oak and only $1/bd ft. Available at Southeastern Salvage.

 

[Henry W]

Update -user notes on a "flooring saw"?

(Note - content also posted as a new thread in this forum)

Here are two shots of the laminate floor install - 4 rooms total, a few stairs and a landing. One room has the wall base re-installed, the second one not yet.

​

As to the tools I used - primarily a rubber mallet and a notched 20" piece of wood to distribute the force of the persuasion!

Cutting? For straight cross-cuts and rips I used the Skil flooring saw borrowed from Skymaster (Jack) Hats off and kudos to Jack for the timely and generous offer!. That proved to be a very useful tool indeed. A good jigsaw was also invaluable for the intricate cuts that were not straight rips or crosscuts.

Initially I had the Skil flooring saw on the floor, but quickly realized that meant one more cycle of dropping down and standing up again. Eventually I set up my WorkMate as a bench; the fit wasn't perfect for the saw, but it was very usable.

I found the Skil flooring saw to be quick to use and accurate (enough) for cross cuts (90% of the cuts), both at 90 and 45 degrees. I generally used a Sharpie to mark where the cut should be - and then simply lined that mark up with the kerf in the base table of the flooring saw. Zip the saw across and voila!
- Changing the cut angle was very quick, with presets at many angles; I only need 90 and 45.
- The time to change over between rip and crosscut functions was similar to my TS at home (where I remove TS fence, but have to find a place to put it - then find miter gauge and use it...). I would hate to change over frequently, but ripping is only required for one edge of the room - and a small minority of cuts.
- Rip capacity is presumably up to 9" or something like that, and the cross cut capacity is way more than that (material up to 3/4" thick). The rail mounts for the saw do however severely limit the size of the off cut on a rip cut; you can have a wide piece between blade and fence, but only a narrow (less than 1.5"?) piece being rip/cut off. I could make any cut I needed (the material had 7.5" face, and so about 7.8" with interlocking tongues), but sometimes I had to reverse my piece so the 'off cut' was between the fence and blade, instead of my piece of interest. With a few adjustments to account for the size of interlocking portions of the laminate flooring, it worked out fine. Test cuts on scrap are recommended for rips.

I had the saw and a vacuum plugged into a power bar on the floor, and left the vac on. I could use my foot to turn on the power bar switch with my foot - and therefore not have to find the vac switch each time. Also it meant not forgetting the vac, because the saw would not be powered without the power bar (and hence the vac) being turned on. The vac port on the saw is a relatively small diameter, but I have a mini vac that fit just right; the port is located in line with the blade in the upper blade shroud. Dust collection was quite good for cross cuts, but less so for rips; I'm unsure why that is quite frankly - maybe because for a rip cut I was positioned in front of the saw rather than behind it and I noticed more dust. It does not catch the dust released below the surface of the saw - and why would it? The floor below and around the saw needed a vacuum after moving the setup, but the rest of the horizontal surfaces in the room were just fine.

I found the dust spewing of the jig saw to be much worse - the cut on the up swing brought dust up - and into my face. I had no dust collection on the jig saw, but could envision a clear shield around the front of the saw with a vac port behind the saw - this idea is clearly from a Festool video I saw.

Overall the flooring saw tool performed well - and I am glad to be done! I was able to borrow the saw, but looking back I believe that for the 500-600 SF I installed in 4 rooms, this saw would have rather quickly paid for itself had I paid the $120 or so retail price for it. For one room - maybe not if you have a good jig saw and can rip with it. For larger installs, I would prefer to use this for the many crosscuts and use the jig saw for cuts where it is the only tool that will work.

This flooring is not built for every day pro usage - but I expect that it will survive considerable use before problems arise.

One significant plus to this flooring saw is safety - this is a tool I would have almost anyone use. The saw motor/blade is on rails and the work is held in place. The is very little blade exposure, and I believe you would almost have to try to get your fingers 'in there.' The potential for accidents is very minimal compared to cross cuts on a small TS, or even a relatively safe hand held jig saw. Rip cuts similarly are very safe, due to the very limited blade exposure. They even provide a push stick (that of course I did not use).

Henry

 

[CaptnA]

Re: Update -user notes on a "flooring saw"?

Henry thanks for the write up. Appreciate this kind of honest look into the process. I only wish you had done it before I did the laminate floors I worked on. We were able to set up a saw outside the window but having it inside would have helped. We were a man short inside to keep from running back and forth. Fortunately I had set the ezup over the work station as the rains did come. I just never thought about doing it inside and using the vacuum. I bought a hf sliding saw on sale and with coupons for less than $40. It was not ideal and I like the way Jack's saw clamped the piece. I got my money's worth out of the saw but it hasn't been plugged in since.

 

[Henry W]

Re: Update -user notes on a "flooring saw"?

... I like the way Jack's saw clamped the piece. I got my money's worth out of the saw ...

Yes with the fence for cross cuts, this is basically a slider miter saw - except the fence pivots for angles, the width capacity is quite large, and the thickness capability very small (3/4" or less).

Note that I had the saw set up in a second room, not in the room I was working in. The rooms were fairly small (8x12 to 10x13), and so I set up in the hallway or the neighboring room.

As to being a man short.... well I did this completely by myself, with one exception. I did have help to move a SOLID wood interior door outside to cut it down to create clearance for the new floor.

I also got (Jack's) money's worth out of the saw :eusa_danc:thumbs_up.

Henry

 

[Skymaster]

Re: Update -user notes on a "flooring saw"?

happy happy you is happy happy

 

[Len]

Re: Update -user notes on a "flooring saw"?

I did the kitchen in my old house with Pergo a few years back using my WorkMate, Ryobi trim saw, speed square for 90 & 45 cuts, and rip fence for narrowing fitter pieces. For notching around pipes, etc., I used a 40 year old B&D jigsaw with a narrow blade.