An important detail for a professional look

I have seen some do-it-yourselfer floor installations that looked quite good except for one detail that kept it from looking like a professional job, and that is: they didn't undercut the doorways. If you are one of those folks who like to install it yourself and have it look like a pro did it, this is one detail you need to pay attention to.

Undercutting the doorway is simply using a saw to cut the bottom of the door jamb and trim so that there is a gap between the jamb/trim and the subfloor, allowing you to slide the laminate or hardwood flooring under the jamb and trim. The picture below shows an installation where the doorway was undercut so that the laminate could be slid underneath resulting in a professional looking installlation.

You can use a regular handsaw turned sideways to do this, or you can pick up an undercut saw from your local building supply. If you click on this link it will take you to Home Depot's website so you can see what one looks like: Home Depot Undercut Saw Most building supply places should have one, and maybe even a little cheaper.

When you are ready to undercut the doorway, use a piece of laminate along with a piece of the underlayment under the laminate piece as a spacer. Lay the those pieces up against the door jamb and lay the saw on top to cut at the right height.

If you are going to flow from one room into an adjoining room, you will want to undercut all the way around the jamb. If you are only doing one room, you will only undercut halfway through the doorway, as in the picture above.

Be sure to have patience and take your time. You don't want to rush through something like this. It's not as bad as it looks, and yes, a do-it-yourselfer can get the job done and have it look like a pro did it.