How to lay hybrid flooring

Hybrid flooring is laid as a floating floor. The planks click together and rest on the subfloor, which is the floor under your new floor. They are not glued or nailed down. In November 2026 we read the installation instructions of 12 suppliers of hybrid flooring. The main steps are similar from supplier to supplier. The numbers are not. This guide shows the steps and the numbers we found. Your own floor comes with its own installation instructions. Follow those.

How hybrid flooring is installed, in short

1. Rest the boxes in the room, if your instructions ask for it.
2. Check that the subfloor is flat, dry, solid and clean.
3. Lay a plastic film first, if your instructions ask for it.
4. Start at a wall, most often in a corner, and leave a gap at every wall.
5. Click the planks together, row by row.
6. Stagger the end joints. This means the short ends of the planks do not line up from row to row.
7. Cut the last plank of each row and the last row to fit.
8. Undercut the door frames, so the planks slide under them.
9. Fit skirting or trims to the wall, to cover the gap.

Before you start: rest the boxes

Resting the boxes in the room is also called acclimatising. Suppliers do not agree on it.

• 5 of the 12 state that the boxes do not normally need to rest. They must rest if they were very hot or very cold before laying. Four of the 5 give a time for that case, from 12 to 48 hours.
• 4 state a resting time for every job: 24 hours, 24 to 48 hours, or at least 48 hours. One of them states at least a week when the room is hotter or more humid than the supplier allows.
• 1 calls resting a good idea, and states up to 24 hours for packs that were stored hot or cold.
• The other 2 give no resting time.

Where a room temperature is stated for resting, it is between 15 and 30 °C. Several suppliers add that the boxes lie flat while they rest.

Before you start: check the subfloor

All 12 suppliers state how flat the subfloor must be. The limits differ.

• 2 mm over 1 metre: 5 suppliers. One of the 5 gives a second number in another part of its document: 3 mm over 1 metre.
• 3 mm over 2 metres: 2 suppliers.
• 3 mm over 3 metres: 2 suppliers.
• 4 mm over 2 metres: 2 suppliers. One of them states 2 mm over 2 metres for its thinnest planks.
• 5 mm over 3 metres: 1 supplier.

Five suppliers add a limit for short bumps: 1 mm over a length of 150 to 250 mm.

The subfloor must also be dry. For a concrete slab, 7 suppliers state a limit of 75 or 80 per cent relative humidity. Relative humidity is a measure of the moisture in the slab, read with a test tool. 3 more suppliers state a different limit or test, and 2 give no number.

Carpet must come out first: 7 suppliers state this in plain words.

Our guide to hybrid flooring over tiles, concrete and floorboards explains the checks for each kind of subfloor.

The plastic film

A plastic film under the planks is a moisture barrier. Suppliers call it builder's plastic or a damp-proof membrane.

• 3 of the 12 suppliers state a film under every floor.
• 1 states it on every concrete subfloor.
• 4 state a film, or another damp-proof layer, on concrete where the moisture was not tested or where the reading is too high.
• The other 4 documents do not speak of a film under the planks.

Where a thickness is stated, it is 200 microns, or 150 microns or more. A micron is one thousandth of a millimetre.

The gap at the walls

A hybrid floor moves a little when the room gets warmer or cooler. So the floor needs a gap at every wall and at every fixed thing, such as a kitchen cabinet, a pipe or a door frame. The gap is also called an expansion gap. Spacers hold the gap open while you lay. All 12 suppliers state a gap.

• At least 10 mm: 5 suppliers. Two of them give a second, smaller number in another part of the document.
• 10 mm as the recommended gap: 1 supplier.
• 8 to 10 mm: 3 suppliers.
• 8 to 18 mm, by the humidity of the area: 1 supplier.
• At least 5 mm, and more for large floors and sunny rooms: 1 supplier.
• 3 mm or 7 mm, by the thickness of the plank: 1 supplier.

Several documents give another number for some places, for example around pipes or kitchen benches. So read the gap for your own floor in its instructions.

Clicking the planks together

Hybrid flooring is a click flooring, also called click lock flooring. The edges of the planks are shaped to lock into each other.

• The long side. You hold the new plank at an angle, push its edge into the row before, and lower it. Suppliers state angles from about 15 to 45 degrees.
• The short end. On some floors you angle it in. On others you lower it and press or tap it down. Your instructions name the way for your lock.
• Tapping. Where a plank needs a tap, instructions name a tapping block or a rubber mallet. A tapping block is a block that you put against the edge of the plank, so you tap the block and not the plank. 2 suppliers state that you must never strike a plank directly with a tool.
• The last plank at a wall. A pull bar is a flat metal bar with a hook. It pulls this plank tight into the joint.

How to stagger hybrid flooring

The end joints of one row must not sit beside the end joints of the next row. Suppliers state how far apart they must be.

• At least 300 mm: 5 suppliers.
• At least 200 mm: 2 suppliers.
• At least 150 mm: 1 supplier.
• At least 400 mm: 2 suppliers.
• No number: 2 suppliers.

Several instructions start the next row with the piece cut off the row before. The last row must not be too narrow. 5 suppliers state at least 50 mm for it, and 3 of them name the starting row too. If the last row would be narrower than that, the planks of the starting row are cut narrower, so that both rows get a similar width. One more supplier gives this advice for a last row under 40 mm.

Which way to lay hybrid flooring

6 of the 12 suppliers give a direction, most of them as advice. All 6 name the longest wall or the longest run of the room. Two of them add that the planks run in line with the light from the windows. Two state that in a hallway the planks run along its length. One of the 6 adds that the planks can be laid in any direction.

Large rooms and doorways

A very large floor needs a break, called an expansion joint. It is a gap in the floor, covered by a strip. 11 of the 12 suppliers state how large a floor may be before it needs one.

• 6 state a room size, from 10 m by 10 m to 20 m by 20 m.
• 4 state a length in one direction: 12 m, 13 m or 15 m.
• 1 states it by the thickness of the plank.

The 12th asks you to contact it for a floor longer than 20 m or wider than 10 m.

Most suppliers also speak of an expansion joint in doorways between rooms. Some state a joint at every doorway between rooms. Others recommend it, or state it for large floors or for floors that run through several rooms.

Kitchens, cabinets and heavy things

A floating floor must be able to move. 10 of the 12 suppliers state that kitchen cabinets, island benches or other fixed things go in first, and are not put on top of the floor. The floor is then cut in around them, with the gap. 5 suppliers name 200 kg as a limit for heavy things on the floor. Above it, some say no and some say to ask the supplier first.

Can you glue down hybrid flooring?

On a normal floor, no. All 12 suppliers describe a floating floor. Glue or nails would stop the floor moving.

• Stairs are the exception. 7 suppliers state that planks on stairs are glued.
• 1 supplier states that a floor that is to be glued down needs its own advice first.

Some instructions also name glue in the joints between planks. 1 supplier asks for it over a heated slab. 1 recommends it on the short-end joints. 1 names it for the end joints of the last row. Others state that the joints are not glued. This glue joins plank to plank. It does not fix the floor to the subfloor.

Can you lay hybrid flooring yourself?

Suppliers differ on DIY hybrid flooring.

• 6 of the 12 state that a professional installer should lay the floor, or recommend one.
• 2 point the other way. One calls its floors very easy to install. The other calls floating floors part of the DIY market.
• 4 do not say.

Three more things help any job.

• Mix the planks. 9 suppliers state that planks are mixed while laying, and 5 of them say from several boxes. This spreads small changes in colour.
• Order some extra. 3 suppliers state a number for normal planks: between 5 and 10 per cent more than the floor area.
• Walking on the floor. 2 suppliers state that you can walk on the floor at once after laying.

How to take up hybrid flooring

A floating floor can be taken apart, because it is not glued. 4 of the 12 suppliers describe it. You lift a whole row at an angle and unlock it from the row before. Then you lay the row flat and slide the planks apart at their short ends. One supplier warns that you must never fold a single plank up, as this damages its lock. One supplier states that you should keep some spare planks for later repairs.