What is the best way to cut the laminate at home?

Types of tools for cutting laminate

Because of its structure laminate is very easy to cut with woodworking tools and is extremely easy to work with for craftsmen of all levels. from professionals with many years of experience to beginners.

The peculiarity is that the material is cut directly on the place of laying. In this case it is very important to achieve a qualitatively smooth cut and not to spoil the panel.

Turning to the experts with a question, how to cut the laminate quickly and accurately, you can get a variety of tips. Every craftsman has his own criteria for tool selection, his own specifics and knowledge of the technology, his experience and natural ingenuity. For one it is important to work with a light and mobile tool, for the other it is important to be connected to the mains or manual. However, all agree in one opinion: cutting laminate must be done qualitatively, providing a perfect cut.

All tools for cutting laminate can be divided into two categories: hand tools and power tools. Advantages of the first category are universality of use and affordable price. The use of the second group of tools, despite the higher cost and dependence on the place of connection to the power grid, can significantly speed up and facilitate the process of installation of the coating.

Choosing what to cut laminate, you can count up to seven tools:

• hacksaw;
• jigsaw;
• circular saw;
• angle grinder;
• special cutter;
• utility knife;
• and even an ordinary office knife.

The use of any tool from the list above, with experience, will allow you to get a good and accurate cut. A general or unified recommendation than cut the laminate at home, what equipment or device to choose in a particular situation does not exist. Each craftsman, based on personal practical experience, knowledge and professional training, has his own preferences and “chips”. It is important to consider that in any of the chosen methods one should be guided by the popular wisdom: “Measure twice, cut once.

Let’s briefly consider the purpose and principles of each type of tool for cutting laminate.

Hacksaw

Let’s start with the simplest and most accessible. a hand held wood saw or a hacksaw. It is a manual tool that is available in almost every home. A hacksaw requires physical effort and can be used when cutting small amounts of material. On a large volume its use is not effective. In this case, the choice of a hacksaw with large teeth can lead to the destruction of the decorative surface of the lamella coating. To prevent such consequences, it is better to use a hacksaw with fine teeth or a hacksaw for metal.

Tip: Before you start cutting, this place should be covered with masking tape, which will prevent the formation of chips in the place of the cut. It is recommended to lay the board in this case with the facing upwards.

A hacksaw is not the main tool for cutting laminate by professionals because of low productivity, high physical costs and the danger of damaging the decorative layer of the panel. But in some cases for small volumes, when it is inexpedient to use an electric jigsaw or angle grinder, a hacksaw can be useful.

A direct alternative to the hacksaw is the electric sabre saw. There is a large selection of such tools on the market now. However, an electric saw will not add much to the convenience and speed in the work. Therefore, in our review we will not dwell on it in detail.

Electric jigsaw

An electric jigsaw is a handy, simple and very productive tool. In most cases, it ranks first, due to its ease of handling, accessibility in operation and efficiency of use. Therefore, when searching for options to solve the problem, what to saw laminate at home, many of the users stop at it.

To use the jigsaw does not require special training or years of experience, anyone can successfully cope with it. The result will be high quality, the cut will be even and perfectly smooth, given that the tool operates at high RPM. The main thing in its use is the correct selection of saws for laminate.

Usually a set with a jigsaw includes several blades designed for processing wood or laminate. If you do not have them, you should take care of buying them in advance. The laminate saw blade for jigsaws has a special shape and a fine tooth pitch. Look for the appropriate marking on the packaging. Using the wrong jigsaw will cause chipping on the cut edges. Therefore, it is better to cut panels with a special saw for the laminate jigsaw. If you can not find one, you can use a blade for metal, but the productivity will be slightly reduced.

Important! Marking is done on the underside of the panel. To cut with the jigsaw it is necessary to lay the workpiece on a flat clean surface with the decorative side facing down. This way the saw’s teeth damage the panel less during the cut.

An important advantage of the electric jigsaw over other types of tools is the ability to make not only straight cuts, but also curved. This is very important if you want to put a laminate floor in places where there are pipes and communications. The jigsaw will easily cut slots and starts underneath them.

Circular saw

A circular saw produces a flatter and much flatter cut of the laminate floor than an electric jigsaw, but it is also much faster. However, working with such a tool requires a lot of attention and is much more dangerous. Therefore, to use a circular saw is recommended only to those who have experience and skills to handle a similar tool, or familiarized with the details of the order of work, watching video.

Usually only professionals use a laminate circular saw for very large jobs. This tool is rarely used at home because of its high cost, cumbersomeness and danger of injury.

As in the case of the jigsaw, for sawing laminate, the circular saw must have a disk designed for this particular procedure. The cut is made with the face upwards with smooth movements in longitudinal or transverse direction.

angle grinder

Angle grinder or in common parlance “angle grinder” for cutting laminate is used quite often. This tool is easy to use. It is equipped with a clean-cutting wood blade that can easily cut through a laminate panel.

The workpiece is fixed on a flat plane with the decorative layer upwards. Cutting it should not be hurried, smoothly, without strong pressure and clearly following the marked straight cut. Make sure that the laminate disc of the angle grinder does not jam or slip in the workpiece while cutting. It requires some skill and skill, so it is better to test your strength and skill on the waste before sawing laminate at home.

For many, the angle grinder is associated with metal cutting. But this power tool has great features and a wide range of sizes and power, which allows you to classify it as a versatile tool. A certain part of masters don’t make another decision when there is a question of choice of cutting tools. they prefer to cut laminate with an angle grinder, because it is with its help they cut almost all materials.

When cutting laminate material with an angle grinder the cut is perfectly flat and smooth. To get the best quality surface it is important what kind of disc is used for cutting: for wood, metal, concrete or stone. The right wheel will help to achieve the best results.

Important! Before cutting, the workpiece is laid and secured face up. You should cut smoothly without applying too much pressure and in a straight line. To cut laminate, you need to use a saw blade for wood with a clean cut.

It generates a lot of dust and an unpleasant smell of burned wood. Therefore, when choosing an angle grinder is not recommended to perform work indoors: it is better to go to an outdoor balcony or outdoors for this.

How to cut a laminate worktop cleanly.

Cutter for laminate

The laminate flooring guillotine or cutter is a highly professional and rather expensive hand tool, designed exclusively for cutting laminate flooring. It does not require skills and physical strength.

The cutter looks like a guillotine equipped with a sharp knife. When it comes to deciding on the right tool, the laminate cutter is usually not the first choice, because little is known about this narrowly professional tool to the general public, despite its effectiveness.

• Quiet operation;
• High working speed;
• No dust;
• No previous experience or usage skills are required;
• High quality of cut.

Important! The cutter should only be used transversely.

A construction knife and a box cutter

Most often a construction or office knife can be used to cut laminate in situations where you want to trim or cut a small piece of board. You can also use a construction knife if you need to cut a piece of laminate, and there are no other tools at hand. It is necessary with strong pressure several times to make a cut of a decorative layer on a marking (it is not possible to cut off a fragment completely as a saw), until a deep trace is left on the surface. Then you need to put under the line of the cut the handle of a hammer or other stop and break off a piece, pushing on the far edge. The cut can be cleaned with the same knife or emery cloth.

Drill and electric screwdriver

A drill or an electric screwdriver are not basic tools for installing laminate flooring, but are often used to make cutouts for pipes and utilities, and to install baseboards and thresholds when the laminate flooring is finished.

Taking the hacksaw in hand

Of course, a laminate flooring can be sawn with a hacksaw, but it is not very suitable for this kind of work. After all, the teeth of a hacksaw designed for woodworking are scary big, and the upper layer of the floor covering is so thin. You can’t help but wonder if those teeth will leave ugly marks. And sawing the compressed structure of laminate with a hacksaw is a bit heavy. Your hands get tired.

To get a better result, we’ll arm ourselves with a fine-toothed hacksaw. For example, a hacksaw designed for sawing metal may be quite suitable. You can avoid chipping on the cut, but it will be harder to cut with a fine toothed hacksaw than with a woodworking tool. By the way, if you do not plan to saw large quantities of laminate, this method will do the job. The quality of the cut is certainly not ideal, but it is quite bearable.

And here are the little tricks that were promised: before sawing, put a piece of masking tape over the area. If you do so, the chipping at the place of the cut will not be formed. And the laminate board must be laid with the face up. And for the cut to be smooth and clean, the hacksaw should have fine and frequent teeth.

Since the laminate flooring is pressed with special mechanisms, then, of course, and saw it better not manually, and the electric tool.

For example, for this purpose it is quite suitable electric hacksaw (sabre saw), which is increasingly used by home craftsmen.

Electric jigsaw

Using an electric jigsaw allows you to achieve high speed and with some skill quality of cut. But when working with a jigsaw you need to follow some rules.

• To make it easy to work, the marks are made on the front side of the laminate board. In order that when cutting does not occur tearing the decorative coating, choose a saw with the opposite direction of the tooth. A standard one picks up the material from below and can damage the upper layers of the laminate.
• If it is not possible to use a saw with the teeth pointing backwards, the marks must be made on the back side of the board. In this case the decorative coating will remain undamaged around the edges of the cut.
• At zero feed and high speeds, special saws with a straight tooth can be used.
• If you want to achieve a very precise and clean cut of the material, it is recommended to use special thin shape-cutting saws.

Work with an electric jigsaw according to the expected pattern: draw the cutting line depending on the type of saw and pass the material. The advantage of using an electric tool is that it is possible to make long cuts, for example, along a wide strip. This will require attention or support over which the sole of the jigsaw will move.

A construction or stationery knife acts as quite a successful tool for cutting laminate. This should be done according to the following pattern:

• After marking the future mowing line cut on the front side, set the support, preferably a metal corner or ruler;
• Slide the blade firmly along the laminate along the support.

You need to keep the support in place and make several passes with the knife until the blade has penetrated more than half of the laminate board thickness. It is then gently shaken apart. It is not recommended to apply excessive force, so as not to deform the edge with a decorative coating.

A plastic knife (along with a construction knife and a stationery knife) looks to be the answer to the question of what is the best way to cut vinyl laminate. This material is quite malleable and easy to handle with a steel blade. The special laminate knife allows you to go deep into the material without excessive pressure thanks to its curved tip, helping to keep it straight.

What you need to cut laminate?

Laminate is a popular flooring because of its chic design and long service life. Products of this type consist of a wood base and a special decorative layer. The technology of manufacturing laminate allows you to give it not only different colors, but also the structure of different types of wood. Installation of this material is relatively simple, but almost always requires trimming boards. Therefore, before you begin installation work, be sure to find out what you need to cut the laminate.

What to saw laminate at home without chipping and damage

Technology of work with laminate provides that in the process of laying will need to perform trimming cloth in length or width. The average buyer who has decided to carry out this work himself, there is quite a reasonable question than to saw laminate at home.

To trim the laminated board can be used as a hand tool, and electric equipment. The quality of the sawing in each case is different, but if you follow the basic instructions the result is almost always positive.

Sawing laminate with an electric jigsaw

The best tool for cutting laminate can be called an electric jigsaw. It is quite comfortable and easy to use tool.

The main advantages of the jigsaw over other tools are:

• compactness, low weight;

• The ability to make the cut of any configuration (wavy, rounded with different radius);

• simplicity, ease of use;

• High quality cut without chips and cracks.

Saw a laminate board with an electric jigsaw is made at high speed, so the cuts are qualitative. and curly, and across the board, and along the whole blade. The main nuance is the choice of jigsaw saws.

For sawing laminate designed special saws with a special form of teeth, frequency and manner of separation. Standard backstroke laminate saw blade is marked T101 BR.

How to cut the laminate evenly and without chips

The cut line should be drawn on the back side of the laminate (the manufacturer usually indicates the side that is best for the cut). Then the board is laid on a table or a special stand so that the cut part is outside the plane of the table.

The laminate board is pressed tightly by hand to the surface and quickly cut off the unnecessary part. 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 should not be in a hurry, forcefully press the jigsaw.

Cutting laminate with an angle grinder

Perhaps in our country you can not meet a man who has not heard the word “angle grinder”. Many people do not even know what you can replace the slang name of the electric tool. angle grinder. At any specialized retailer you can purchase replacement accessories for the angle grinder. sanding discs, abrasive elements for cutting metal or cutting blades for wood.

Using this machine entails a huge risk to humans if you are not skilled in handling it. To work with an angle grinder you need to know the following nuances:

• The tool does not have any locks and the correctness of its positioning depends solely on the experience of the master. In most cases, you have to work with it in the weight.
• Most commercially available angle grinders have no gear shifting function. This means that at the slightest error the sawing will not be performed according to the marking, and to correct the situation is not easy.
• When using an angle grinder, it is necessary to wear a protective steel guard, despite the fact that it covers the view. Only then is relative safety guaranteed.
• Before you begin, make sure that the material to be cut, freely hanging from the work table, because if the working body of the tool meets an obstacle during the cutting, the hand of the master may not hold the tool.

Now clamp the board tightly (face down). The speed of the power tool should be high. Try to saw smoothly enough, without jerking the jigsaw, so as not to chip. Once you have gotten the hang of it, you can cut through the laminate boards quickly and accurately.

How to cut laminate at home

No markings with laser beams or pointers built into the jigsaw or renovator should be used. The second condition is a slow feed speed of the cutting tool.

Let’s equip ourselves with an electric jigsaw

It’s a good idea if you have a jigsaw at home with a jig saw for wooden surfaces.

Using this tool is the best way.

Before sawing, mark the cutting line with a pencil, and then use a knife or an awl to cut through the laminate film. Now clamp the board tightly (face down).

The speed of the power tool should be high. You should try to saw smoothly enough without jerking the jigsaw to avoid chipping. By practicing, it is possible to saw laminate boards quickly and accurately. And both crosswise and lengthwise cuts are equally good. It seems the answer to the question what is the best way to saw laminate is clear. of course with the jigsaw.